# Intel Unveils "Light Peak"



## LightingPenguin (Oct 1, 2009)

While not directly related to multimedia and projection, it has the capability to be

Intel has unveiled a new cable connection, called Light Peak, that they predict will carry a "10 Gb/s" stream with the capability to go up to 100Gb/s.
Video: Intel's Light Peak running an HD display while transferring files... on a hackintosh
Intel unveils Light Peak 10Gbps optical interconnect for mobile devices
Intel's Light Peak Technology - Optical Cabling For the Masses - Technology News by ExtremeTech

Does anyone think this will become useful in multimedia and projection?


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## NickJones (Oct 1, 2009)

Nice that it can transfer a BluRay in 30 seconds, but no commercial disk drives can spin that fast, I think USB3.0 will be great, the standards got finalised this week by the gods of USB. I think the idea of it being taken up more than USB3.0 is great, I love fibre, I can shine a torch in it and it bends, but by the time they finalise a standard and get it into devices (USB thumb drives would be bigger and need there own power supply if they were to employ this technology) it will be forever, and die like the old Zip Drives, they were a better technology than floppies, but just came too late.
Nick


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## museav (Oct 1, 2009)

When addressing digital media it is all just data and the more the better. One rub with this is that while constantly pushing the envelope can be nice, introducing new connectivity and signal formats is not without problems. We just got a new flat screen and the only audio out on it is Toslink and that only passes audio from the HDMI inputs. Since the analog sunset will start having an effect long before we plan to replace the display (heck, long before the extended warranty on it expires), we had to spend an additional almost $200 on cables and interfaces just to get the digital audio out of the display into our existing perfectly good and very high quality analog audio system. On a larger scale, many schools and corporations are currently struggling with how to handle integrating computers or other sources that only support DVI, HDMI or DisplayPort into existing systems when there really are minimal advantages to these forms of connectivity in those applications.

Another factor is just how much bandwidth do you need? It looks like the concept here is to be able to transfer multiple signals over a single cable but in a pier-to-pier relationship that commonly exists with presentation audio and video that may be a limited benefit. It's great that it can transfer a Blu-Ray disc content in 30 seconds that would seem to be of limited benefit in projection and many similar applications.

I do see the ability to run long distances as a benefit for professional applications, that is one of the problems with most of the current digital media formats that were developed out of the consumer market. So I can see something like this gaining acceptance in some markets, but backward compatible formats and connectivity are going to be more readily accepted in general.


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