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HDMI and What it Will Do for You
CrzyP writes "AnandTech has whipped up a short but informative article on the new HDMI digital audio/video connection standard that is said to be the successor of DVI. Take a look at what this new standard is all about and what we can expect from it in the future!"
OOOooooooooo!
DVI with DRM!
Sign me up!
Its not really possible to capture video off of DVI at the moment (DVI is basically uncompressed video - 180MB/s), so I dont see HDMI as a big deal. It'll encrypt the audio, but that doesnt seem like a big deal (I'm going to have optical out going to surround sound receiver, not digital audio to my TV through HDMI).
Its not like people are capturing video off VGA/DVI now, at most it'll affect KVM switches, projectors, etc.
The biggest issue with HDMI is the fact that it may become an exclusive output system. IOW, no way to support VGA, DVI, etc. I dont see video card makers and companies like nVidia and ATI saying "you have to buy a new HDMI compliant monitor to run this new video card". Its in their interest to sell the most video cards, not raise barriers to entry to purchasing their products.
The Doormat
If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
...a massive drawback. Audio support over the connection in exchange for DRM? No thanks. My TOSlink cables work just fine for digital audio. I can see no compelling reason to switch to a connector that potentially takes rights away from me in exchange for one less cable per component in my home theatre rack. I'm sure the content creators are creaming themselves over it, though.
Premium digital cables are a rip-off. Just go to a discount electronics place, or even eBay to get cheap/decent cables.
In the analog world, a logical case could be made for high quality cables because any interference would be propogated through the system and hurt audio quality.
In digital cables, it's just ones and zeros.. As long as the digital data is there, it's not any better or worse regardless of the type of cable.
If your digital cable is not working well, it should be very obvious in the audio/video output.
HDMI
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
HDMI
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
HDMI is something that I despise
For it means destruction of fair use rights
For it means tears in thousands of users' eyes
When they try to record a show, but it's called a crime...
I RTFA, and I still don't understand how this is useful to anyone.
For the DRM to work, the market will need to reach a point where the only input connector that TV's and speakers have will be HDMI ports. I expect this to happen around the year, hmm, let's say 3000. Here we are, a year away from the alleged switch to HDTV, and a huge percentage of the television sets sold still have good old-fashioned analog coaxial antenna jacks on the back of them. Good luck getting Every Electronics Manufacturer In The World to stop offering their customers the feature of analog connections. (We'll have direct-to-brain optical implants running on a descendant of Bluetooth before this happens.)
Audio connections won't go entirely digital until sometime around AD 4500. There's too many audiophiles with investments in $100/foot speaker cable to EVER accept an all-digital interconnect.
Another thing -- my video and audio signals don't output to the same device. The video goes to the TV, and the audio goes to the home theater system. Putting both signals on a single cable doesn't do me any good, I'll just have to break them out further down the chain.
Methinks this standard is just an attempt by Belkin and co. to make a lot of money selling aftermarket HDMI-to-DVI adapters.
HDMI and What it Will Do for You
It's not so much what it'll do for you, it's more about what it'll do to you.
You replied:
I think you misunderstood tji. I think that he meant "As long as all the bits are getting through reliably, you don't get more fidelity from an expensive cable." Which is, of course, true.
-Peter
Yep. The "no one's holding a gun to your head and forcing you to buy it line" is really weak.
Pretty soon, if you want a modern computer or TV, you'll be using this technology whether you like it or not. Sure, you can get along without a TV, but good luck finding a spouse who's also willing to completely give up TV because of your philosophy. But no computer? You're basically exiling yourself from modern society if you try to live without one. Are you going to go back to paying all your bills by check, dump email and write letters to people, etc.? What about a job? Unless you're planning to leave the tech industry altogether and go into construction or janitorial services, you can't even send someone a resume without a computer. Who'd hire a programmer or network admin who can't email a resume?
There's lots of things about society I don't like. I don't like how corrupt local governments are in regards to traffic laws, in that their police issue baseless tickets, and the cost of the ticket is the same as the court costs (which you have to pay even if you win), in order to generate revenue. Am I going to stop driving and just walk everywhere because of this? No; I wouldn't be able to hold a decent job that way.
Unless you're going to seriously cut all ties with society and move into the woods and live in a tent for the rest of your life, please drop this stupid argument.
Meanwhile, the rest of us have real lives to lead, within society. Of course, some of us will hopefully spend a little time trying to break these chains that bind us (i.e., reverse engineering).