3D HDMI Specification Is Set Free

An anonymous reader writes "The licenser of the HDMI specification has announced the intent to 'secure the application of 3D' by making the 3D portion of the HDMI 1.4 Specification available for public download, as well as extracts from the upcoming HDMI 1.4a. While the spec includes a 3D component, apparently not everyone has decided to sign up to adopt it. Given the developments happening in DisplayPort v1.2, the next year in displays looks like it will be an interesting one."

Comments

3D HDMI Specification Is Set Non-Free

[El_Muerte_TDS]

Sure you can download part of the spec. But it has a restrictive license (and only valid 1 year, after that it will self destruct), and it is actually quite useless without the rest of the HDMI spec.

Free to read != Free to use

[l2718]

Very nice of them to allow us to read the spec. Now what about the patents? the rest of the HDMI spec on which this piece depends?

If you can't implement the standard, what good will it do you to be able to read it?

Re: what good will it do...?

[Joce640k]

You'll be able to have a massive nerdgasm imagining owning your your very Blu-ray copy of Avatar as you read it.

They won't release the 3D version right away of course. Oh no... First it will be the 2D theatrical version, then the 2D extended version, then the 3D theatrical version, then the 3D extended version ...the 3D director's cut where Jake and Neytiri plug their hair together in the love scene {ooooh!} and *finally* the R-rated 3D extended director's cut with topless Na'vi. All versions will also be sold as boxed sets with collectible blue plastic dolls.

HDMI mess

[timmarhy]

yes because the consumer is going to know the difference between HDMI 1.1,1.2,1.3 and 1.4

between DLNA, HDMI and the 3d crazy that's comming i'm predicting lots of ripped off people. consumer electronics in 2010 is going to be a mine field.

Re:HDMI mess

[ledow]

I have a hard enough time convincing people they need to re-buy cables (and peripherals) for their new TV as it is.

"You need an HDMI cable"
"But I already have this SCART thing and this composite thing"
"Yeah, but you only have HDMI on your new TV"
"Is that because it's HD?"
"Well, no, you can send an HD signal over SCART or composite just the same, but they just don't want to let you. They want you to buy HDMI leads and TV's and equipment with HDMI."
"Who's they?"
"The people who license the HDMI technology."
"Er... so I have to throw away my DVD player unless I pay extra to get legacy ports too?"
"Or buy a Blu-Ray with HDMI or a newer player with HDMI. The new ones upscale the DVD so it *looks* like HD but isn't really."
"Mmm..."

And then add an hour of conversation as you explain the various *revisions* of HDMI and everything else, and why they can't just buy a £10 signal-splitter or cable-switcher without it potentially interfering with their recording of HD programmes, or why some models just won't negotiate a HD signal with some other models, or why the cheap, shit imported versions of DVD players and Blu-Ray let you just use a composite output, or why all this was to stop pirates when you can find and download HD-anything online in the same time as you used to be able to download SD content.

Call me when consumers get bored of this crap. Then I might have a look and see if there's a *standard* (i.e. unchanging, common, open, useful) cable set I can use to watch TV and record the stuff I want. To be honest, there already is - it's called "ADSL over a phone line from a widescreen laptop".

"Free"?

[perrin]

The document has an EULA. While that is bad enough on its own, in it you find this gem: "The term of this Agreement is one year. Agent in its sole discretion may terminate or extend this Agreement at any time and without prior notice. Upon expiration or termination of this Agreement, You shall immediately destroy and cease all use of the Specification Portion and all materials and information related to the Specification Portion." To add insult to injury, they also slap an indemnification clause to the document's EULA.

So, you agree to not distribute it and to destroy the document after one year. If they are sued for whatever reason, and they can blame it on you, you agree to cover all their expenses. Yay for openness!

Re:Truly

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Actually, it has already been the year of displayport on the desktop for a year or two now. The basic cheap dell business boxes we buy as bulk word processing/web/email/light other stuff machines all come with it(soldered right onto the motherboard, not some option card).

Curiously, the year of DisplayPort on the Monitor does not seem to have arrived yet. The monitors that come paired with these machines are VGA/DVI only, and you have to go a fair ways higher up the line before you get a displayport option. I don't know if Dell just refreshes their desktops much more often than their monitors, or whether they have some dream that everybody is going to start buying 22' widescreens for their office drones...

Re:More important for gaming than Hollywood?

[delinear]

You know, what you're describing as "virtual reality" is really just the interface. It's like calling your monitor a first person shooter. The actual virtual reality is the programmed world, and sure we were promised virtual reality immersive headgear which didn't really transpire (augmented reality is the new virtual reality, it seems), but the promise of an interactive world certainly came to pass in any number of online multiplayer games.