Yikes. I just went to a conference on HDMI, and it was NOT pretty. Had representatives from HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, Microsoft, two cable companies, and various manufacturers of A/V equipment, in addition to some industry experts like Joe Kane.
I knew we were in trouble with HDMI standards when right off the bat, the Denon representative admitted that before they sat down for the panel, he didn't even know that there was a new standard beyond HDMI 1.3. So far, we have HDMI 1.1, 1.2, 1.3a, and 1.3b category II. We've got all sorts of problems with HDMI that is making performance and implementation difficult. I had a hard time keeping up with the panel that was presenting at the conference, so I won't even pretend to speak like an expert and teach all info, just pass on some more basic stuff. I personally, over the course of listening to the panel, went from feeling secure about the good performance I was getting with my own HDMI 1.1 equipment, to virtual terror seeing the future of the industry, back to optimistic hope.
As most of you know, where we stand at this point in time is really with consumer electronics putting out HDMI 1.1 and 1.2. HDMI 1.2 adds few aspects to HDMI 1.1 that most people currently use, such as SACD transmission. We are just now starting to see HDMI 1.3 appear in products, with many new products being released this summer and fall. It's fairly clear that the future of the industry is a single digital connection carrying all audio and video in high-resolution. As the industry has put all their eggs in the basket of HDMI, it's headed that direction, but not without troubles. At the conference, they pointed out that of all their custom installers, only one even used HDMI for their customers, as they had too many problems getting reliable performance without repeat servicing calls. They're still using component video, so it's far from dead!
HDMI 1.3 (both a and b) add various features--I couldn't even fully remember and explain them all, but things like a deeper color space. The biggest thing we emphasize about HDMI 1.3 is the capability to transmit high-res audio from Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. However, the big problem is, if any manufacturer says that their product is "HDMI 1.3 compliant", it could be capable of any number of the HDMI 1.3 features, but not necessarily all! So for example, you could have a situation where out of your player, cables, A/V processor and/or HDMI switcher, and video display, if even one is not compliant with any feature, say deep color, you won't get that performance out of your system. We all found it rather odd that for a "standard", it is "optional" which features you comply with.
So the only answer for a consumer is, that he/she must ask each manufacturer of a product they're purchasing WHICH features of HDMI it offers. Of course, the next issue is determining whether the info you get (or don't get) from the manufacturer is accurate. Do you even want to guess what kind of info you'll be able to get from the store salesmen?
Every person on the panel also bemoaned the construction of the HDMI plug, as well as the lack of a lock on the plug. Denon had tried securing the plug to panels when it's mounted parallel to the panel and the cable lies against it. That works well, but it's rarely the situation. More often, the plug sticks out perpendicular to any panel faces, going to the back of a cabinet.
To be fair, the panelists did describe the people of the HDMI group themselves to be good folks, really wanting to work to make things better. But we don't seem to be going in a very good direction. Matter of fact, I think it was Joel Silver that made the statement that HDMI is the worst implemented standard in the industry since NTSC was created. Nobody else disagreed with him. Scary! In the end, everyone seemed to agree that there's always problems implementing a new standard, and we A/V geeks are the ones on the front lines of early adopting, so we'll see problems, but they think we'll get it figured out.
Consumers are just going to have some big challenges implementing HDMI 1.3 over the next year, and that even goes for us A/V geeks that think we know a thing or two about our gear.
I knew we were in trouble with HDMI standards when right off the bat, the Denon representative admitted that before they sat down for the panel, he didn't even know that there was a new standard beyond HDMI 1.3. So far, we have HDMI 1.1, 1.2, 1.3a, and 1.3b category II. We've got all sorts of problems with HDMI that is making performance and implementation difficult. I had a hard time keeping up with the panel that was presenting at the conference, so I won't even pretend to speak like an expert and teach all info, just pass on some more basic stuff. I personally, over the course of listening to the panel, went from feeling secure about the good performance I was getting with my own HDMI 1.1 equipment, to virtual terror seeing the future of the industry, back to optimistic hope.
As most of you know, where we stand at this point in time is really with consumer electronics putting out HDMI 1.1 and 1.2. HDMI 1.2 adds few aspects to HDMI 1.1 that most people currently use, such as SACD transmission. We are just now starting to see HDMI 1.3 appear in products, with many new products being released this summer and fall. It's fairly clear that the future of the industry is a single digital connection carrying all audio and video in high-resolution. As the industry has put all their eggs in the basket of HDMI, it's headed that direction, but not without troubles. At the conference, they pointed out that of all their custom installers, only one even used HDMI for their customers, as they had too many problems getting reliable performance without repeat servicing calls. They're still using component video, so it's far from dead!
HDMI 1.3 (both a and b) add various features--I couldn't even fully remember and explain them all, but things like a deeper color space. The biggest thing we emphasize about HDMI 1.3 is the capability to transmit high-res audio from Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. However, the big problem is, if any manufacturer says that their product is "HDMI 1.3 compliant", it could be capable of any number of the HDMI 1.3 features, but not necessarily all! So for example, you could have a situation where out of your player, cables, A/V processor and/or HDMI switcher, and video display, if even one is not compliant with any feature, say deep color, you won't get that performance out of your system. We all found it rather odd that for a "standard", it is "optional" which features you comply with.
So the only answer for a consumer is, that he/she must ask each manufacturer of a product they're purchasing WHICH features of HDMI it offers. Of course, the next issue is determining whether the info you get (or don't get) from the manufacturer is accurate. Do you even want to guess what kind of info you'll be able to get from the store salesmen?
Every person on the panel also bemoaned the construction of the HDMI plug, as well as the lack of a lock on the plug. Denon had tried securing the plug to panels when it's mounted parallel to the panel and the cable lies against it. That works well, but it's rarely the situation. More often, the plug sticks out perpendicular to any panel faces, going to the back of a cabinet.
To be fair, the panelists did describe the people of the HDMI group themselves to be good folks, really wanting to work to make things better. But we don't seem to be going in a very good direction. Matter of fact, I think it was Joel Silver that made the statement that HDMI is the worst implemented standard in the industry since NTSC was created. Nobody else disagreed with him. Scary! In the end, everyone seemed to agree that there's always problems implementing a new standard, and we A/V geeks are the ones on the front lines of early adopting, so we'll see problems, but they think we'll get it figured out.
Consumers are just going to have some big challenges implementing HDMI 1.3 over the next year, and that even goes for us A/V geeks that think we know a thing or two about our gear.
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The only way I could get more retro, I guess, is if I went all tube amp for my HT mains and surrounds. Hmmmm, interesting idea.... :B
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