Optical Video?

[jermwhl]

Will there ever be optical video/audio? It seems that would be the purest way to go with respect to HDMI. Fiber has an enormous throughput, and i am quite surprised nothing ever evolved more than audio! Does anyone have knowledge to this topic?

[Blu Tiger]

Isn't digital coaxial better than fiber optic cable. That's what I read anyways.

[jermwhl]

I don't know what is better audio quality wise. I do know that the throughputs of fiber are 10Gbps and beyond. With that type of throughput, I would think that you could put uncompressed everything through the pipe and still have TONS of room for more. I mean if we're talking about 1.5M audio coming through, and i'm not sure what video thru-puts are but with 10Gbps or more possible to boot. Theoretically, you could put almost 1/5th of the discs current capacity through the pipe in one second!
Does anyone know HDMI's max. throughput?

[WriteSimply]

You can look up the HDMI specs but it's well under 10Gbps. It's not about the materials being used, however. It's the interface issue. If the interface allows you to do at most 1.5Mbps like Toslink, then that's all you're going to get even though the material used can do more than that.

The higher the bandwith, the higher the quality of the material that must be used. Toslink works with cheap plastic cables. To get 10Gbps, I think it's got to be pure silica glass.


fuad

[Ascended_Saiyan]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

You can look up the HDMI specs but it's well under 10Gbps. It's not about the materials being used, however. It's the interface issue. If the interface allows you to do at most 1.5Mbps like Toslink, then that's all you're going to get even though the material used can do more than that.

The higher the bandwith, the higher the quality of the material that must be used. Toslink works with cheap plastic cables. To get 10Gbps, I think it's got to be pure silica glass.


fuad

That is true. With high end single mode optical cables, like those made by Corning, the only thing that limits throughput are the devices inputing and receiving the signals. There are DWDM (Dense Wave-Division Multiplexers) devices that can easily send the equivalent of the entire Library of Congress...4 times every second (40Gbps...also known as an OC-768 transmission speed).

[jorg]

optical wont until Ultra HD lol hdmi 1.3's bandwidth is doubled to i think 10 gigs a second or around there.

[HDTV1080P]

Fiber optics is faster, has more capacity, and is immune to EMI and RFI interference. It would be neat to have a high quality Fiber optic version of HDMI some day in the far future. Perhaps in 10 years with 4K projectors someone will make a Optical HDMI interface for consumer use.

[jermwhl]

So does anyone know why it never went anwhere besides audio? Is it really just a price/connection issue? I've seen HDMI cables for over $200! Changing to a diff. connection and higher grade glass doesn't seem all that big of a deal. We could still stay way under $200 for a six foot cable. I can get SC patch cables alot cheaper!

[jorg]

Originally Posted by jermwhl

So does anyone know why it never went anwhere besides audio? Is it really just a price/connection issue? I've seen HDMI cables for over $200! Changing to a diff. connection and higher grade glass doesn't seem all that big of a deal. We could still stay way under $200 for a six foot cable. I can get SC patch cables alot cheaper!

i see 6 feet hdmi cables for like 20$ but there only worth 20$ i would say the max a hdmi cable is worth in like 150$ its like using electrical wire for speekers instead of speeker wires.

[jermwhl]

Oh absolutely. I can buy cheap cables....but i live with the philosophy, "you get what you pay for" which is why i didn't buy a 360..LOL!

Well anyways, HDMI is here to stay for awhile anyways...I was just wondering why glass never took off.

Thanks for all the info!

[jorg]

sorry if this is off topic but can optical cable be bent like wired ones?(my set up use all anologe)

[Ascended_Saiyan]

Originally Posted by jorg

sorry if this is off topic but can optical cable be bent like wired ones?(my set up use all anologe)

They can be bent to a certain degree. I wouldn't make a loop any smaller than 6 or 7 inches in diameter. I think you will find them to be pretty durable.

[Deciazulado]

bent, as in slightly curved, if you bend it too hard an angle it will break. (imagine a glass rod being bent and broken as opposed to bending metal)

[fragglerock585]

Originally Posted by jermwhl

I don't know what is better audio quality wise. I do know that the throughputs of fiber are 10Gbps and beyond. With that type of throughput, I would think that you could put uncompressed everything through the pipe and still have TONS of room for more. I mean if we're talking about 1.5M audio coming through, and i'm not sure what video thru-puts are but with 10Gbps or more possible to boot. Theoretically, you could put almost 1/5th of the discs current capacity through the pipe in one second!

Dont mix up your bits and bytes! 10Gbps ==> 1.25 GBps.

Transmission speeds are measured in bits (binary digits ie 1 or 0)
Storage is measured in bytes(series of bits that are 8 bits long).

But yeah, wouldnt 50+ft range, lossless/uncompressed audio and uncompressed video be great with no interference and 1:1 pixel mapping?

[jermwhl]

Sorry, i'm a network engineer, I speak in bits, not bytes..........totally forgot about that!!!!

[MatrixS2000]

Originally Posted by Ascended_Saiyan

That is true. With high end single mode optical cables, like those made by Corning, the only thing that limits throughput are the devices inputing and receiving the signals. There are DWDM (Dense Wave-Division Multiplexers) devices that can easily send the equivalent of the entire Library of Congress...4 times every second (40Gbps...also known as an OC-768 transmission speed).

Absolutely agreed - the optical part is not the limiting factor...its money. In order to get the laser to switch on and off faster, the electronics will cost more - so no more cheap players. The equipment Ascended described is well into the 6 and 7 digits before the little dot.

The other factor is consumer confusion...imagine we have a BD player that can send video and all the audio info on a single optical cable. That link would be working at a higher speed than what we have today for "regular" audio optical out, but the interconnect is the same...so you know there will be people out there trying to connect the BD player to a DD/DTS processor and cursing the manufacturer when it doesn't work!

So between the extra cost and to avoid confusion....hey why don't we just create a new interface?

[Filterlab]

Originally Posted by kiddtigger

Isn't digital coaxial better than fiber optic cable. That's what I read anyways.

Yes, always and doubtlessly as there is a proper electrical connection. Far more stable and all the hi-fi magazines will tell you to go Coaxial.

[HDJK]

Why have some posts been removed???

Anyway, at least in the professional field A/V over fibre is becoming easier to handle, so eventually it will find its way to CE:

http://svconline.com/cables/features...sics_03282007/