Now regarding HDMI 1.3 Spec's

[JimPullan]

I just got off the phone with my contact in Sony. Our conversation revolved around the HDMI 1.3 Specification. From my understanding the only difference from 1.1 spec's to 1.3 spec's is it will carry the new Dolbly Digital HD and the DTS HD. In other words 'all audio formats'. My question was "will 1.3 spec's be in the BDP-S1 in October ?" the answer was "Maybe". Sony wants to see more activity from the Audio side of the house (Arcam, B&K, Lexicon, Pioneer Elite, and so on, incorporating this capability into their Pre-Amps and Receivers, and it appears that they 'won't have' these products in place for CEDIA, maybe the first quarter 2007. Even Sony's Receivers will be introduced with the 1.1 spec's for CEDIA. Read into this what you may. That's the answer I got !!!

Jim

[JTK]

Thanks!

[Shadowself]

Not to knock your source too much, but s/he has an extremely (and unnecessary) limited view of the HDMI 1.3 spec versus earlier versions of the spec (even 1.2a).

From this press release:
http://www.hdmi.org/press/pr/pr_20060622.asp

The major advantages of the new 1.3 spec over earlier versions are
(quoted from press release)
* Higher speed: HDMI 1.3 increases its single-link bandwidth from 165MHz (4.95 gigabits per second) to 340 MHz (10.2 Gbps) to support the demands of future high definition display devices, such as higher resolutions, Deep Color and high frame rates. In addition, built into the HDMI 1.3 specification is the technical foundation that will let future versions of HDMI reach significantly higher speeds.
* Deep color: HDMI 1.3 supports 30-bit, 36-bit and 48-bit (RGB or YCbCr) color depths, up from the 24-bit depths in previous versions of the HDMI specification.
o Lets HDTVs and other displays go from millions of colors to billions of colors
o Eliminates on-screen color banding, for smooth tonal transitions and subtle gradations between colors
o Enables increased contrast ratio
o Can represent many times more shades of gray between black and white. At 30-bit pixel depth, four times more shades of gray would be the minimum, and the typical improvement would be eight times or more
* Broader color space: HDMI 1.3 removes virtually all limits on color selection.
o Next-generation “xvYCC” color space supports 1.8 times as many colors as existing HDTV signals
o Lets HDTVs display colors more accurately
o Enables displays with more natural and vivid colors
* New mini connector: With small portable devices such as HD camcorders and still cameras demanding seamless connectivity to HDTVs, HDMI 1.3 offers a new, smaller form factor connector option.
* Lip Sync: Because consumer electronics devices are using increasingly complex digital signal processing to enhance the clarity and detail of the content, synchronization of video and audio in user devices has become a greater challenge and could potentially require complex end-user adjustments. HDMI 1.3 incorporates an automatic audio/video synching capability that allows devices to perform this synchronization automatically with accuracy.
* New lossless audio formats: In addition to HDMI’s current ability to support high-bandwidth uncompressed digital audio and currently-available compressed formats (such as Dolby® Digital and DTS), HDMI 1.3 adds additional support for new, lossless compressed digital audio formats Dolby® TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio™.
unquote

Now as to whether any of the new systems will have 1.3 or an earlier version (why not 1.2a or at least 1.2 rather than the stated 1.1?) remains to be seen. There have been several reports the PS3 will have 1.3 so why don't some of the players?

[Psiweaver]

Because the players had probably already started production when 1.3 spec was finalized.