HDMI Versions?

[ellldiablo]

Question about the versions of HDMI. Right now the latest are 1.3 and 1.3a. If you have a component that is 1.3 compliant, when v1.4 or something higher comes out, is that a hardware change or can that be updated with an update? It would seem crazy to have to go buy a new component or tv because of a new addition.

[WickyWoo]

No, it's a physical chip on the board.

All devices are backward compatible though. You're fine.

[DavePS3]

I would imagine that would depend on what the differences actually are between versions. Here's an excerpt...

As far as 1.3 goes, this is a version that arguably has narrow appeal and not nearly as critical as everyone believes. It may well be preferable but certainly not a gory painful death if you can’t go there. It assumes the source rez will go up from 1080p at some point, and as such, may have an even higher colour count but by the time resolution goes up, it’s safe to assume version 1.4 will be there. It’s important to note by the way, that even HDMI has resolution limits and not boundless bandwidth like many would like to think. Version 1.3 also carries auto-lip-synch since some displays seem to be periodically thrown off, making some movies look like they were badly dubbed in someone’s garage (usually the fault of receivers). If your source material has more colour/shades in it, 1.3’s ‘Deep Color’ and/or ‘xv.Color’, will take advantage of that and at the same time reduce some of that ’banding’ of shade differences caused by the binary language of Digital. An example would be an evening sky where the shades of orange & yellow are not graduated but look more like stripes.

The audio carried by HDMI seems a bit confusing right now because ear-candy like DTS-HD Master Audio, and Dolby True HD can only be run through HDMI, not Toslink or Co-ax but the fine gent I talked to at DTS via phone and e-mail, added that their backwards compatible core can be decoded at 1.509Mbps by your legacy receiver. That’s pretty much the highest your current receiver can do depending on the manufacturer. That, is still greater than what you’ve been pushing with standard DVD which was encoded pretty much with 758kbps—usually to save space. This is why, when you hear ‘regular’ DTS (or possibly DD as well but this is not confirmed), on your current system from Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, the voices are more distinct, the LFE is tighter… not as muddied and your steering tends to be a bit more precise. I’ve definitely confirmed that on my setup at home.

According to the DTS website, Blu-Ray’s HD audio capacity has a higher ceiling for the new ‘Hi-Definition’ audio than HD-DVD. How much higher? Well, with Blu’, the site states 24.5Mbps per HD Master Audio compared to 18.0 on HD-DVD. The DTS High Resolution Audio is 6.0Mbps on Blu and just 3.0 on HD-DVD. That’s not a choice, it’s simply the space restriction on the latter format. The other important thing to note about the new HD audio formats, is that you DON’T necessarily need HDMI 1.3 to carry them. My contact at HDMI says all previous versions of HDMI will carry the new HD audio paths. DTS on the other hand says that’s not entirely true. DTS says more specifically, that if the PCM output is used, the DTS-HD can be run through analog outputs but add, earlier versions of HDMI were tested in their labs and as a result, any previous version of HDMI other than 1.3, will NOT carry DTS-HD via bitstream. That, you need 1.3 for. Since HDMI’s inception, it’s always been able to pass 8 channel 192khz/24 bit but the boys at HDMI add that if you want your AV receiver to perform the decoding INSTEAD of your source such as a Blu-Ray player, 1.3 will be necessary. DTS agrees.

So, one might surmise that much like early DVD players and post-ProLogic receivers, who you actually let do your decoding will in most probability, be moot. Everyone wants the newest form of digital and will likely end up letting the receiver do the work via HDMI 1.3. because it’s the easiest route and that, is what the boys at HDMI and the receiver manufacturers prefer you to do. However, you know that running long lengths of HDMI can be fatal. At 1080p running 50ft or more can result in speckles, dimness or even no picture at all. So now that you’ll be running HDMI cables from your sources to your receiver/switcher then one or two to the display, depending on length, real Fiber Optic cables will become more of a necessity. If long lengths have the uncanny ability to lose signal strength, it stands to reason the HDCP handshaking will become rather limp-wristed at best and for long lengths of HD, copper will go the way of the Dodo. (By the way, despite reports of the theoretical ability to run 1080p via Component, advocates forget about the audio side of things. HDMI was introduced to pass HDCP & HD audio). So, now I can work with HDMI and it’s parasitic ally HDCP because I work around that sensitive connection. Once made I don’t budge it and more to the point, I always remember to open the garage door before I drive the car in. I get it.