CeBIT: Linking HD with All Things Wireless

Linking HD content to wireless units is reportedly among the key attractions this week at CeBit, the world's largest technology confab, now underway in Hanover, Germany.

Among the HD demo content expected throughout the show floor this week are expected to be a ton of World Cup images. The world's biggest televised sports event is to be played in Germany this summer, with soccer matches set to be aired for consumers of large-screen 16:9 HD sets, as well as tiny mobile TV units. Plenty of new HD hardware is expected at CeBIT (Centrum der Büro und Informations Technik).

CeBIT exhibitors are counting on this week's array of HD wares to help raise the buzz level on HD services, according to Reuters and other published reports, which are coming via OTA and DBS to Germany and other parts of Western Europe (notably Britain and France) in the next year or less.

And where there is HD, of course, you can be sure the next-gen DVD format wars are not far away. Both Blu-ray and HD DVD will be suitably represented on the exhibit floor, according to CeBIT. The annual trade show in Hanover, now in its 20thh year, is expected to host about 6,000 exhibitors and up to 500,000 attendees, which would be about the same numbers as last year's show. (There are much smaller regional CeBITs, as well, although the last U.S. version of CeBIT was cancelled for 2005.)