> SPE has no obvious advantages for home users over something like Monoprice's Micro SlimRun cables, which are extremely thin and flexible, for example.
PoDL does have real advantages over PoE. I agree that there's no home-user-ready products at this point, but I could see future exploration of this space for that reason alone.
I'm curious, what advantages are you thinking of? PoE++ can deliver more power than PoDL, last I checked.
I guess the option for lower voltage could be nice in some very specific applications? I think the minimum for PoDL in the spec is 12V, which would still require conversion for pretty much any use case.
PoDL and PoE are both limited to SELV (< 60 V) for safety reasons, so no win there. On paper, PoE can handle more current; but PoE current is limited by center-tapped transformers, which tend to overheat if you push too far. Just due to the ease of getting a wider range of inductors, it's pretty easy to build PoDL systems that go up to wire current capabilities; and SPE runs better than you'd expect for tens of meters over some ridiculous high-gauge wire, since it really is tolerant of out-of-spec wiring. 5A - 10 A (300 W - 600 W) over a, let's say, "PoDL-inspired" system is quite achievable.
As far as I know, the PoDL spec tops out at around 50W, but you could be right that a “PoDL-inspired” system (which I found amusing) could potentially go much higher than that.
