The licensing arm for the HDMI standard governing the wired transfer of high-definition multimedia content between consumer electronics devices said an upgrade to the spec will be ready for industry-wide adoption by the end of next month.
Called HDMI 1.4, the upgrade represents an important milestone because of the additional enhancements to the high-definition content experience that it will bring to PCs and home consumer electronics, HDMI Licensing President Steve Venuti said.
“The 1.4 specification will support some of the most exciting and powerful near-term innovations, such as Ethernet connectivity and 3-D formats,” Venuti said. “Additionally, we are going to broaden our solution by providing a smaller connector for portable devices and a connection system specified for automobiles, as we see both more and different devices adopting the HDMI technology.”
IP Content at Ethernet Speeds
As the industry’s first all-digital interface to deliver digital video, multichannel surround sound and advanced control data over a single cable, HDMI has already proven its worth as a global standard for connecting a variety of high-definition devices. The upgraded HDMI 1.4 spec will push the evolution of the spec one step further by enabling high-speed bidirectional communication between multiple devices at 100Mb/sec Ethernet speeds.
Any HDMI 1.4-enabled device will be able share its Internet connection with other compatible entertainment-system components — as well as share content between multiple devices — without requiring the use of an extra Ethernet cable. Even better, HDMI 1.4 will offer support for HD resolutions that are four times greater than the maximum 1080p resolution of today’s HDTV sets, which is comparable to what is achieved in many digital theaters.
Other new capabilities that have been added to the HDMI upgrade include the delivery of 3-D video content to compatible home-entertainment systems via dual-content streams at 1080p resolution. Moreover, HDMI 1.4 incorporates…