Intel shows Light Peak streaming two HD videos at once

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Intel let folks get hands-on with its speedy Light Peak technology this week at its European research show in Brussels. The interface has been showcased at several public events since being teased last September, but this marks the first time the company has let people actually experience it up close and personal, according to PC Pro.

Light Peak was reportedly placed inside a standard USB cable, with optical fibers running parallel to the electrical wiring. Intel demonstrated how data traveled through the cable by shining light into one end, which resulted in two little dots of light visible to the naked eye appearing at the other end.

Light Peak was shown in action with a laptop feeding two separate, lag-free HD video streams to a TV. The laptop housed a 12mm square chip tasked with converting optical signals into data the machine can understand. That wasn't implemented in the TV, though, which required an external box for conversion.

Intel said its optical technology provides seemingly limitless bandwidth. "Light Peak begins at 10Gbits/sec, simultaneously in both directions," said CTO Justin Rattner. "You'll see multiple displays being served by a single Light Peak connection. There's almost no limit to the bandwidth -- fibers can carry trillions of bits per second."

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https://www.techspot.com/news/38840-intel-shows-light-peak-streaming-two-hd-videos-at-once.html

 

[Guest]

Can you say FREAKING SWEET. But seriously this is something that even though has been around for sometime, just thinking about the use/applications of this large scale and even home base is awesome. Many of ya'll probably have already seen this clip, but if shows lightpeak in action and like stated the applications of this can be endless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfGevFIVKw4

 

[Wendig0]

Man this is exciting stuff!

 

[Armanian]

Pretty awesome.. but onto a different topic, we all know fibre optic is awesome but broadband companies still insist on giving us crap connections :~(

 

[Tekkaraiden]

I'm till wondering why they are using a usb end. I can see that causing confusion with the non tech savvy.

 

[Richy2k9]

hello ...

the dark days of slow connection will be over with the use of light ...

it costs too much that's why still not deployed everywhere, some ISPs are looking seriously into this & has already started, well the 1 i work for is @ least LOL!

Using an USB end, because the technology not yet implemented for actual machines, so using some kind of existing ports with some adaptors.

will look further for this ...

cheers!

 

[Guest]

I guess light peak is what usb should be.

 

[Guest]

Using USB cable is clever, because they use the existing technology and extend it with future proof technology.

If you have a broadcaster with light peak on it but you plug just a regular laptop, HD TV etc or any receiver into it than the data can be passed just USB 2.0 or 3.0 but when the receiver also supports Light Peak than the broadcaster just switches the speed up!

 

[Guest]

This will be great for providing compact, multiple connections to multiple monitors or other Lightpeak enabled devices for data transmission. Ideally, this would be the next-gen of connecting all your devices, elminating much of the cable clutter we have now.

But the same issue still exists of Lightpeak being limited to devices that are self-powered. USB 2-3 can provide power to a device, like a keyboard or external hard drive, if necessary, but I have yet to see what the solution is for using Lightpeak on devices, that today would require power from the USB cable.

 

[Guest]

That's why they are using usb connector - for backward compatibility and to deliver power to devices. Probably this is some sort of combo connector like the eSata-usb.

 

[Guest]

They mention they they did not remove the power wires in the USB cable:

"Light Peak was reportedly placed inside a standard USB cable, with optical fibers running parallel to the electrical wiring."