Technology Preview: Haier Completely Wireless Television

Performance

It's difficult to make any meaningful evaluation of the performance from this experimental Haier TV. The actual display technology is simply running off a 2009 32-inch mid-level LCD model (the HL32K1), presumably chosen because there was a lot of extra space in the chassis to fit new components. We never reviewed the HL32K1 in our labs, so we could only make the cursory observation that it's not a great TV.

We noticed a fine field of horizontal lines running across the screen. The lines weren't rolling or blinking, but it was noticeable when the screen was displaying an all-black or dark monochromatic shot.

Haier did not elaborate too much on the Wireless Home Digital Interface that sends the video signal to the TV. The maximum data transfer rate is supposed to be as high as 3Gbps, but it's unclear if the demo product here at CES is operating anywhere near that speed.

As for the wireless power transfer, Haier was understandably not letting us touch anything. We'd love to see how far we could separate the two coils until the power was interrupted, and if if came close to the reported 1-2 meters maximum distance.

Future Use

WiTricity, the company that developed the wireless power transfer, is developing technologies for several applications, from small portable electronics to televisions to automobiles. It's unclear from their website if any publicly available products are actually selling right now, but there's a noticeable groundswell gathering around wireless power. Though products like the Powermat operate under a different technology (requiring contact between the two surfaces), once consumers start to expect wireless power, the market demand will surely drive innovation.

Haier did not specify if or when a product like this wireless television would hit the market. If this company, one of the world's largest white goods company with virtually no market share in televisions can make their name on a cutting edge technology, things could get very interesting in the next few years.