Transporting High-Def Video Broadcasts: Standards Finalization, A Vendor Confession And Other Impressions

This blog post references my feature article ‘Transporting High-Def Video Broadcasts: Are Wireless Networks Up To The Task?‘ in EDN’s August 20, 2009 edition. It’s one of a series of web addendums to the print writeup.

As my month-back writeup (along with prior coverage) noted with no shortage of dismay, the IEEE had not yet finalized the 802.11n wireless specification in spite of roughly seven years’ worth of development to date. Thankfully, however, as of a few days ago I no longer need to insert the not-yet-an-official spec qualifier. And, true to the word of Broadcom’s Stephen Palm, who I interviewed last summer, it looks like ‘draft’ silicon will indeed be compatible with the finalized specification with little to no companion firmware updates required. Both Belkin and D-Link, for example, announced that their existing networking gear complies with no upgrades or other changes required.

The IEEE and Wi-Fi Alliance’s 802.11n work isn’t over, of course. For example, as I most recently mentioned in mid-April, serious effort is underway to translate the diversity of frequency bands, antenna array configurations and numbers-of-streams supported by the specification into consumer-friendly selection-and-purchase verbiage. Reflective of the challenge facing the industry, iFixit’s recent teardown of Apple’s fifth-generation iPod nano revealed a Broadcom single-stream 802.11n transceiver inside, although the device’s current software stack seems to restrict it to 802.11g-only capabilities.

As those of you who’ve already read my article or the series of blog posts which form its foundation already know, I’m relying on a hybrid network containing both Wi-Fi and powerline networking segments in order to obtain (relatively) smooth video playback of content sourced from my Dell laptop. This necessity is contrary to the high definition video capabilities touted by 802.11n advocates, though admittedly the situation is complicated in my case by Windows Media Center’s continued reliance on archaic, bit-hungry MPEG-2 for its video codec. However, I was pleasantly surprised to recently read a confession of the gap between next-generation Wi-Fi promotion and reality in a GigaOM interview with Joe Del Rio, a senior marketing manager at Broadcom, conducted by Stacey Higginbotham. Nice job, Stacey, getting Joe to fess up to the truth!

My reluctant continued adoption of powerline networking technology has encouraged me to entertain evaluations of next-generation devices. My article’s sidebar mentioned my underwhelming initial experimentation with Belkin and Gigle Semiconductor’s Mediaxtream-based F5D4076 gigabit power-line-networking adapters. The adapters are back at Gigle for firmware upgrade and augmentation by a sixth unit, and with much better performance promised by the silicon supplier. Keep an eye on Brian’s Brain to see if optimism translates to true improvement in my particular setup. I’ve also got a suite of NETGEAR XAV1004 adapters on hand and queued for evaluation, based on next-gen Intellon 6400 HomePlug AV IC technology and claimed to deliver 10-15% higher performance than the NETGEAR XAVB101 adapters I’m currently using. And speaking of Intellon, the company was just acquired by Atheros. I wonder if this move will encourage competitor Broadcom to revisit its past powerline networking pessimism?

I haven’t given up on my longstanding aspiration to free my network from its flaky powerline networking shackles, however. In my article, I listed a number of alternative routers that I planned to test as potential replacements for the Apple Airport Extreme N model I’m currently using. Notably, I showcased NETGEAR’s WNDR3700, a review unit of which the company provided to me in pre-production firmware (and full production hardware) form. I’m happy to report that the WNDR3700, first shown at January’s Consumer Electronics Show, is now finally shipping (stay tuned for a detailed review):

In closing, some of you may have already heard recent sensationalist claims that WPA-TKIP encryption has been cracked. Glenn Fleishman does a nice job of fleshing out the far less worrisome (at least in the near term) reality behind the hype. And anyway, as you already know if you’ve read my article, I’m using more modern WPA-AES