Consumers Worldwide Overwhelmingly Choose Best HD Audio/Video Quality When Selecting Wireless Home Entertainment Solutions

Survey Finds Consumers Choosing Highest Quality Image in a Single Room vs. Compressed and Lossy A/V in Multiple Rooms
CES, LAS VEGAS, January 6, 2009 -- WirelessHD™, a consortium of the world’s leading consumer electronics and technology companies, announced the results of an independent survey today, which found that when upgrading to wireless home entertainment systems, consumers prioritize solving the wiring and connectivity problem in their primary viewing area/room as well as achieving the best HDTV image possible in a single room.
In a survey of almost 2,000 consumers worldwide, 75% of respondents stated it is most important to have the highest quality wireless connectivity in one room, rather than lossy, compressed video delivered around the whole home. These sentiments were strongest in Korea (86%) and Japan (84%). Just over 70% of American consumers surveyed shared this view.
“The results of this independent survey demonstrate overwhelmingly that consumers worldwide are most interested in having the best video quality, best gaming experience and highest-quality images on their HD TVs,” said John Marshall, chairman of WirelessHD. “They are clearly not in favor of viewing compressed or degraded images, even if they gain the ability to view these in multiple rooms.”

At CES, WirelessHD will host an invitation-only reception to provide an update on additional data as well as the WirelessHD™ standard and associated products. To request an invitation, please contact wirelesshd@stearnsjohnson.com.

Other principal findings of the research included:

• Consumers will pay a premium for WirelessHD home entertainment components:
Despite the weakened condition of the worldwide economy, surveyed consumers stated they are willing to pay on average 15 percent more to purchase WirelessHD home entertainment components. Asian consumers are generally willing to pay even more and stated they would accept an average 20 percent premium.

• Equivalent reliability is consumers’ most important consideration:
When naming the most important audio/visual features to consider when purchasing home entertainment with WirelessHD technology, consumers emphasized the importance of video quality again and again. Specifically, they noted that maintaining their current wired video quality critical with 58 percent of consumers most interested in ensuring equivalent reliability to a wired/cable solution and 56 percent stating their preference for a wireless solution providing the best video performance possible. Rounding out the top three, 47 percent of consumers surveyed stated that lossless transmission was a critical feature.

• Wireless capabilities key determinants to purchasing/replacing components:
Overall, better and easier connectivity is of high importance to consumers. Three of the top five factors for consideration relate to wireless capability. Consumers named easier installation (70 percent), flexible placement of devices (61 percent), cable clutter removal (60 percent) as three of the top five most significant considerations when determining whether to purchase or replace a home entertainment system component.

• Consumers recognize WirelessHD applications beyond home entertainment:
After watching entertainment (70 percent), consumers cited virtual PC docking (52 percent) as the second most important characteristic of WirelessHD-based connectivity. This includes PCs and laptops automatically and wirelessly connecting to printers, docking stations, external hard drives and other devices.

“Consumers on average worldwide are willing to pay a premium to quickly and easily connect home entertainment components wirelessly and enjoy the best images through WirelessHD technology,” Marshall added. “In addition, consumers are quickly recognizing the extensibility of WirelessHD solutions for connecting computer network components. This represents a tremendous opportunity for WirelessHD in that it provides highest-quality, lossless connectivity for audio/video on both CE and PC platforms.”
About the Survey
Survey Sampling International, a leading provider of sampling solutions for research, conducted the survey, commissioned by WirelessHD. SSI completed 1,990 online surveys broken down geographically as follows:
U.S. – 342 interviews

Europe
France – 266 interviews
Germany – 275 interviews
United Kingdom – 275 interviews

Asia
China – 312 interviews
Japan – 263 interviews
Korea – 257 interviews

Respondents were at least 18 years old and either own or plan to purchase HD multimedia components in the next two years.

The majority of respondents best described themselves as able to connect new home entertainment components themselves, but would not repair components or install upgrades.

For more details about the survey, please visit www.wirelesshd.org to review the Executive Summary.

About the WirelessHDTM Specification
WirelessHDTM is a wireless high definition digital interface standard operating in the unlicensed and globally available 60 GHz frequency band and represents the first consumer application of 60 GHz technology. It is suitable for a wide range of devices including televisions, HD disc players, set-top boxes, camcorders, gaming consoles, adapter products, as well as other source devices.
About WirelessHDTM
Formed in 2006, Broadcom Corporation, Intel Corporation, LG Electronics Inc., Panasonic Corporation, SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD, SiBEAM Inc., Sony Corporation and Toshiba Corporation, have joined together to create the next generation wireless interface specification for HD media streaming and transmission. WirelessHD will facilitate technical advancement by creating a specification focused on fixed and portable devices. WirelessHD is the first consumer electronics and technology industry-supported, high definition digital wireless interface for simplified media streaming and HD content portability. For more information on WirelessHD, please visit www.wirelesshd.org.

WirelessHD PR Contact:

Pamela Njissang, Stearns Johnson
+1 415-397-7600
wirelesshd@stearnsjohnson.com

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Pamela Njissang

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Stearns Johnson Communications

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