Facilitating HD content distribution throughout the home, the High-Definition Audio-Video Network Alliance (HANA) announced its plans to release a HANA Entertainment Box reference design based on the new 1394 Over Coax international standard from the 1394 Trade Association.

 

To Allow HANA to complete the reference design and make this easy to use solution a reality for manufacturers, content providers, and ultimately for consumers, the 1394 Over Coax standard is considered to be the final step. Because of its high bandwidth, guaranteed quality of service and “Hollywood approved” DTCP security, HANA chose to use the 1394 standard for the whole-home distribution of content. HANA can use DTCP link protection and localization solutions already approved by CableLabs (News - Alert) for cable content and by AACS for Blu-ray DVD with the help of 1394 standard.

 

The reference design will offer a simple to use yet fully protected and trustworthy environment for HD movies and TV programming with the help of the ASCCT content protection system.  

 

Earlier this month, the 1394 Trade Association approved the new standard for networking that allows high-definition and multimedia content to be protected and transported at over 400 Mbps. By getting rid of the need for new wiring, the 1394 Over Coax standard opens the retail market for home entertainment networks. HANA anticipates that the reference design and initial prototypes will be available Q4’08.

 

Facilitating a high-speed multimedia home network that works with all 1394 and IP-enabled devices over coax wiring, the “no new wires” home networking standard utilizes Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology. The standard uses Pulse (News - Alert)~LINK’s CWave UWB technology to ensure the minimum 400Mbps required for 1394 are delivered and achieves the fastest data rate networking performance available over in-home coax in a manner that co-exists with all coax usage.

 

“HANA is developing a breakthrough design that lets consumers connect the online libraries of HD content to their TVs,” said Bill Rose, HANA President. “Instead of watching online content on their PC or having to run new wires to their TVs, the 1394 Over Coax standard will let consumers easily connect all of their HANA-enabled services throughout the home using only the coax wire and communicating with the devices through a single remote. This solution creates a simple whole-home networking solution that anyone can use. By enabling 1394 to operate over coax, consumers will be able to use the FCC (News - Alert) mandated 1394 port on their HD STBs to distribute cable content to other rooms as well, assuming their cable provider supports it.”