Sigma Designs has finally gotten clearance to acknowledge that its chip is powering Netgear’s Push2TV box, introduced nine months ago at CES. The chip enables what appears to be a unique feature – the ability to take anything on a laptop display and transfer it to a TV screen via Wi-Fi.
Part of the attraction of the box is that it circumvents restrictions on some online content. Hulu famously makes it difficult to forward its streaming video to televisions.
The wireless PC-to-TV capability works only in conjunction with PCs that incorporate Intel Wireless Display technology. Sigma Designs notes that there are now more than 40 laptops available that come with Intel Wireless Display.
Relying on the Sigma chip, Netgear’s Push2TV acts as an intermediary between PCs with Intel Wireless Display and TVs. (The box supports both a Wi-Fi bridge and an HDMI connection.)
The chip, called the SMP8653, is presumably available to other equipment manufacturers.
