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Wireless Monitors?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the step-in-the-right-direction dept.

antiopus writes "I didn't think it was possible anytime soon due to bandwidth considerations, but ViewSonic has announced a wireless monitor. At only 10 inches and 800x600, I don't know if it'll be replacing my CRT anytime soon, but I can certainly foresee some interesting applications for wearable/portable computing."

3 of 299 comments (clear)

  1. This isn't a wireless monitor by Hulver · · Score: 5, Informative
    It's a MS tablet PC, running WinCE. Looking at the site will show you that.

    Sheesh.

    --
    -- Hulver's site
  2. Re:What's the point? by MouseR · · Score: 3, Informative

    Shoot.. no:

    Rechargeable 1800 mAh Lithium Ion Battery Pack

    This is no monitor. it's a remote tablet for your PC.

  3. Wireless Monitor? Not happening... by jgore26785 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I work in the RF industry as a software engineer... I'm by no means an RF engineer, but I have to comment.

    First of all, this is not a wireless monitor. It is a portable PC that communicates with other PCs via a network card. The video signal is NOT sent over the air.

    The bandwidth requirements for a wireless monitor are impractical. It's certainly possible, but the amount of RF bandwidth and/or power required to do it would either kill you, cook your intestines or give you a nice bout of cancer, depending on how you implement it.

    Just a quick estimation (please don't criticize this, I have other work to do):

    800 x 600 = 480,000 pixels
    480 pixels x 16-bit = 7.68 Mb = 960 kB
    960 kB x 60 Hz = 57.6 MB / s!

    Given that 802.11b provides 11 Mb as a MAXIMUM (yes, that's bits, which translates to 1.4 MB / s), we'd only have about 1/50th the bandwidth necessary. And that doesn't account for automatic rate switching, interference, and other nodes on the network.