New powerline networking technology from Panasonic at CES

| Commentary | At this week's Consumer Electronics Show, Panasonic announced a new technology called HD-PLC. HD-PLC transmits one or more digital television (HDTV) feeds through a home's power lines. Powerline networking is an old idea that has traditionally suffered from reliability problems and low performace. Yet Panasonic, a company not traditionally associated with home networking, figures HD-PLC can support up to 170 Mbps. In comparison, high-definition TV signals require only about 30 Mbps.