Of all the promises the tech industry has made over the years, none has been more surprising, and more satisfying, than the promise of the wireless home. Until a few years ago, the only way to get whole-house video and audio was to run wires behind walls and through floors. A single whole-house wiring job could run six figures and sometimes quickly became obsolete. But now there’s a better way.

With the rise of  WiFi—the wireless computer networking standard that has taken homes, hotels, and Starbucks franchises by storm—and a growing number of wireless audio and video products, multiroom entertainment need not be a costly or even difficult endeavor. Custom installers and even PC-savvy homeowners can build and install entire wireless systems in a day or two using off-the-shelf parts that connect directly into any stereo or home theater system.

Before we begin a tour of some of the latest systems, let’s talk a bit about the current possibilities—and impossibilities—of wireless A/V.

Wireless Inside  
WiFi, or 802.11b, is best known in business circles as a technology that lets employees access the Internet from anywhere in an office building. The 802.11b standard and its successor, 802.11g, both run on the same 2.4-megahertz frequency as many cordless phones, thereby bypassing the expensive process of leasing other bands from   the Federal Communications Commission. Early versions of the standard often interfered with other wireless devices, but most of these problems have been ironed out. As long as your 2.4 MHz cordless phone is far removed from your wireless access point or router (the transmitter/receiver for a WiFi network), there should be almost no interference.

Unfortunately, plain old WiFi isn’t very good at media, for the same reason that the Internet makes a dicey medium for live delivery of entertainment. Data travels over WiFi in packets. These packets can arrive in any order, meaning that e-mails and still images are reassembled like jigsaw puzzle pieces. However, when video or even high-quality streaming audio are broken into packets, you can experience annoying gaps and skips in playback. That may be acceptable when you are watching a news short on a PC, but it’s horrible if you’re listening to music or watching a movie on a home theater system.

The solution? Quality of Service (QoS). Many wireless home device manufacturers are using proprietary QoS software to ensure that all the pieces of your movies, TV shows, and music come together in the right place at the right time. And performance will improve further as new, improved versions of WiFi come on line. After decades of sorting through the spaghetti in our A/V racks, we are finally being delivered from the mess and confusion of wires.

Setting Up a Wireless Home Network  
A wireless home network—the starting point for any wireless audio/ video distribution system—is simple to set up. If you really don’t want to bother, your custom electronics installer will be happy to do the job for you, but it’s usually easy enough for most people to do themselves. First, find a central location in the house, preferably close to your main Internet connection (either through a DSL modem or a cable modem). Your best bet for maximum security and convenience is to purchase a combination wireless access point/firewall/router such as Buffalo Technology’s WBR2-G54PK, a full package that includes a card for laptop users.

Wireless Stampede
Buffalo Technology’s WBR2-G54PK WiFi router includes a security software package and a WiFi card for your laptop. (Click image to enlarge)

Your next step is to make a rough map of your home. Drawing to scale, imagine a 50-foot circle from the location of your access point. This is the best area for wireless access. The next circle, at 100 feet, is your medium range where speeds may dip depending on walls and furniture. Finally, at 500 feet the speeds will drop precipitously, so you should consider installing a repeater like the Linksys WRE54G, which amplifies wireless signals over a wider range.

Wireless Wonders  
There are already many products available that let you stream audio files, video files, and pictures from your digital camera to any room in the home. Place one of these within range of your wireless access point, plug it into a TV, a stereo, or a full home theater system, and from any room in the home, you can enjoy whatever entertainment is stored on your computer. Let’s examine a few of the products now available.

Wireless With Watts
The Sonos Music System incorporates a wireless receiver with a 50-watt-per-channel stereo digital amplifier built in—a staggering amount of power for a device of this sort. Combine the Sonos system with a pair of high-quality speakers, and you can enjoy extraordinarily good wireless sound from the iTunes music player running on a PC or Macintosh. (Click image to enlarge)

Sonos Digital Music System: Unwire your entire music system with the Sonos, a unique mix of style, substance, and technology that is leaving competing systems in the dust. The Sonos connects to your PC or Mac and streams music to any ZonePlayer receiver in your home. A unique and stylish remote with a color screen and an iPodlike scroll wheel lets you pick and choose a separate song list in any room.

Sonos, which uses its own proprietary networking system based on WiFi, creates a “relay race” of data, with each Sonos receiver passing data onto the next one, thereby ensuring constant connectivity in hard-to-reach corners of the home.The remote works anywhere within range of your access point. For every room where you want sound, you  will need a Sonos ZonePlayer, which incorporates a WiFi receiver and a 50-watt-per-channel stereo amplifier. A ZonePlayer or two coupled with a remote equals a unique, simple listening experience.

Bottom Line: This system is for those who want whole-house wireless A/V without installation headaches. A system with two ZonePlayers and one remote costs $1,199.
 
JVC EX-D5 Bookshelf System: Tired of paper and faced with the daunting task of folding fine wood into a usable speaker cone, JVC’s Japanese design team took to a spot of sake. The spirit, while tasty, also enabled the engineers to soften the fibers of thin pieces of wood, then form them into speaker cones.

Office Party
The compact, credenza-friendly design of JVC’s EX-D5 audio/video system conceals myriad entertainment options, including a DVD-Audio/Video player, an AM/FM radio, and WiFi capability that lets you access music from your computer without requiring a wired connection. (Click image to enlarge)

Although the EX-D5 has a built-in DVD Audio/Video player and an AM/FM tuner, it can also receive MP3s streamed from your computer over WiFi. An 18-watt-per-channel stereo amp powers the sake-soaked speakers. The system can also connect directly to your computer through a USB cable.

Bottom Line: For music lovers in the den or kitchen with a PC nearby. The unique functionality of the $605 EX-D5 makes it perfect for an out-of-the-way home office.
D-Link MediaLounge DSM-320 Wireless Media Player: Perfect for early adopters, the D-Link MediaLounge can stream audio and video from a distant PC using the 802.11g standard. Fans of Internet radio, MP3 players, or online content can send songs, images, or video from a PC to a television with a few easy clicks.
 
Designed to blend in with the rest of your home theater gear, the DSM-320 makes getting your media from point A to point B as easy as plugging in speakers and a television.
Offering component video and S-video outputs, this $189 stereo media player supports most image and audio formats as well as video files encoded using the MPEG4 and DivX standards. The system also includes a full-featured remote.

Bottom Line: For gadget freaks who want to send audio and video from their packed PC to their big-screen TV.Nokia 770: The $350 Nokia 770 is an unusual addition to the wireless home. The 770 uses WiFi and Bluetooth to offer web browsing and media playback in a tiny package that takes advantage of Nokia’s unique aesthetic. In an effort to cash in on the WiFi craze, Nokia has created the first digital mini-tablet system designed for the couch or cyber café.

PC Lite
The Nokia 770 is the vanguard of a new product category: the “mini-tablet.” It lets you browse the Internet wirelessly, and access audio files, video files, Internet radio, and digital photos streamed from a networked home computer. Despite its impressive capabilities, it measures only 5.5 inches wide. Nokia rates battery life for 3.5 hours of Internet browsing, and up to 10 days in standby mode. (Click image to enlarge)

About the size and shape of a PDA, the 770 has no address book or calendar. Instead, it has a dedicated web browser and media playback system; you can access audio, video, Internet radio, and digital photos. Nokia imagines this little device taking the place of a second laptop or PC on a kitchen counter or bedroom end table. With instant “on” capability, this tiny color tablet with touchscreen and Voice-Over-IP calling capabilities is a great way to make a quick call or bring up the day’s e-mail or sports scores from ESPN.com.

Bottom Line: Devices like the 770 will definitely become the new “spare PC.”

Roku SoundBridge M2000: Not quite ready to cut the cord? The SoundBridge M2000 includes a WiFi card but can also connect directly to your wired home network. Setup is simple: Plug it in and the Roku will automatically hunt down your music files for playback on any audio system.

Bridge to the Future
Roku’s SoundBridge M2000 wireless digital music player combines a unique form factor with a large display that’s easy to read even from across a room. Its 17-inch-wide extruded aluminum chassis looks just right in a rack of audio/video equipment. Roku also offers two sister units, the M1000 and M500, which have the same capabilities but are fitted with smaller displays. (Click image to enlarge)

 
The ultra-bright LCD display and small size make the Roku an excellent choice for a bedside audio source and the built-in alarm clock seals the deal. The Roku has dual RCA ports as well as optical audio output and supports most popular audio formats, from iTunes music to Windows Media Files. One caveat: Music purchased from the iTunes music store may not be supported.
 
Bottom Line: Easy setup and slim form factor make this great for a bedroom or kitchen.

The Future of Wireless  
Hardware manufacturers know about the limitations of WiFi as a media transport system and they have been hard at work on a number of possible replacements.

Ultra Wide Band (UWB): This standard sends multiple, sometimes concurrent, signals over a wide wireless spectrum. Called a shotgun method, it saturates a certain frequency with data, ensuring that everything gets through on time and that interference won’t knock out a stray bit or two en route. Look for it in video streaming devices in 2006.Bluetooth: Your cell phone and your television may soon have something in common. Bluetooth is unique in that it is relatively stable and is able to create a connection with compatible devices without user intervention.Technologists foresee the day when most of your devices, from MP3 players to surround-sound speakers, will use Bluetooth to communicate with each other.

Wireless USB: Companies such as JVC are already sneaking Wireless USB into audio gear. Based on the USB standard, Wireless USB just cuts the cord. Devices like hard drives, mice, and even stereo systems can connect to each other with a few steps, and Wireless USB is designed with quality of service and security in mind. Expect the first real Wireless USB-equipped A/V products to appear this holiday season.

Sights and Sounds
Most of today’s wireless entertainment products focus on audio, but D-Link designed its MediaLounge DSM-320 as a full-fledged multimedia link to your PC. Through WiFi, it can access practically any type of visual or audible entertainment stored on your computer. Because it is about the same size as many current DVD players, it looks like an ordinary component when it’s sitting in a rack of audio/video gear. (Click image to enlarge)

Magnetic Induction: Pioneered by NEC and Nokia, magnetic induction devices use a weak magnetic field to send signals between products. The devices—for example, a pair of powered speakers and an MP3 player—pair with each other through physical contact and then stay connected without radio interference. Magnetic induction, which is similar to the radio-frequency ID technology now finding use in retail stores and warehouses, can be used like Bluetooth to connect cell phones and other portable devices.

ZigBee: A dark horse in the wireless race, ZigBee offers complete control of multiple devices as well as complete security during data transmission. Designed as a low-power alternative to other wireless systems, ZigBee can also be used to control home lighting and security systems as well as stream data and audio/video signals from room to room.

Wired audio/video systems may always be with us. But in cases where running wires is impractical, expensive, or just annoying, it’s starting to make sense to switch to wireless. In tech-unfriendly environments like apartments and older homes, wireless already makes a lot of sense. And depending on how quickly and smoothly technology proceeds, wireless may soon find its way even into high-performance home theaters. The journey is just beginning, but the road is definitely paved.

Buffalo Technology, 800.456. 9799, buffalotech.com
D-Link, 800.326.1688, dlink.com
JVC, 800.252.5722, jvc.com
Linksys, 800.546.5797, linksys.com
Roku, 866.400.7658, rokulabs.com
Sonos, 800.680. 2345, sonos.com