HDMI Labeling Requirements Promise a Stew of Confusion

An anonymous reader writes "In many ways HDMI has revolutionized the way we connect devices. By unifying video and audio into a single cable manufacturers have been able to make their products easier to set up than ever before. Until recently there hasn't actually been much difference in HDMI cables. But things are about to get confusing with the introduction of HDMI 1.4. By the 1st of January 2012 manufacturers of products with HDMI ports won't actually be able to call HDMI 1.4 by its real name. In fact, come November 18 this year those selling cables won't be able to use HDMI 1.4 or HDMI 1.3 to delineate between different products. Instead cables that support version 1.4 of the HDMI standard will have to use one of five different labels. The new labels? Well, as this story explains, they're going to cause a new level of confusion for anyone hooking up a home cinema. Add to this the fact that the HDMI organisation keeps the details of its specifications secret, and translation between version numbering and marketing-speak will be well nigh impossible."

Comments

why not REALLY simple?

[Polo]

Why not just name them HDMI 1 and HDMI 2?
(or HDMI 3, etc)

Re:why not REALLY simple?

[maxwell demon]

Because people could actually understand it, and then buy just what they need.

Re:why not REALLY simple?

[SETIGuy]

If "high speed" cables are tested up to 1080p resolution, they ought to work for lower resolutions as well, right? So why not just make that the new standard?

Five dollar unlabeled cables you find at the flea market work fine with 1080p, so you know it's not a very tough spec to hit. Has anyone ever seen an HDMI cable that couldn't?

It's about what it's always been about: selling essentially identical products under tiered pricing. "You want to do 1080p? You'll need the $75 cable. See, on the purple package it says 1080p. On the blue package it says 1080i. So you'll need the purple package unless you also need digital audio. That's the $100 cable."

Remember kids

[Pojut]

Unless you are doing a permanent wall installation, if you spend more than $10-$15 on an HDMI cable, you got Effed in the A!

Re:Remember kids

[gstoddart]

I don't really fault an employee that's making $8 an hour with no commission for talking out his ass, I just thought this was funny.

I don't fault him, but as soon as one of them lies to me out of either ignorance or greed, that is when I tell them to leave me alone.

If you know it's a lie, get away from me. If you don't know it's a lie, you're not qualified to help me shop for it.

If you insist I buy the cables that give you the extra commission, I'll cancel the whole damned sale.

Re:Remember kids

[tophermeyer]

Don't forget the all important "playing games" category where retailers try to come up with the most outlandish explanations for the premium widgets and compare stories in the breakroom. I understand it stems from the unending boredom of the job.

Ha! I used to work part time at the electronics section of a big box retailer during college. Obviously we weren't individually commissioned, but our store manager would reward us with food and free crap if the department posted good sales numbers. We used to really enjoy pulling off outlandish justifications for fun and profit. We would even refer distrusting customers to our "cabling specialist" for more information. At the time, we felt like we needed to have fun with it to stay sane.

Now grown up me wants the chance to meet up with the smart-ass 19 year old me and punch me right in the face for trying to sell me junk.

isn't that the point?

[girlintraining]

Confuse customers so the only guidance they have is the price. "Well, it's more expensive so it has to be better!" Once you get consumers thinking that, they're easy pickings. Oops. I should have sugar-coated that with some intellectual discourse to obscure that simple truth... Oh well.

Which one will work - most expensive

[RichMan]

Welcome to marketing ploy 101.

There are a myrad of confusing options. The only real solution is the really high end that does everything costs the most. Anything else is "it might work". It can also be sold with the "you are going to get the 4K TV someday arn't you?" approach.

There is only one solution and it will cost the consumer. It was planed that way.
Are we surprised ?

Re:Which one will work - most expensive

[Iron Condor]

Every tool has three price points (hammers, cameras, AV equipment...)

The lowest is for the layman. The layman doesn't know the differences between the various hammers, ti the layman all hammers look the same. So why spend $20 or $100 if you can buy one for $5?

The highest is for the amateurs: the amateur understands that there are differences in quality and how they manifest and the amateur understands that the cheapest device doesn't exactly tend to be the best quality. That's why amateurs buy $100 hammers and $2000 cameras and $500 AV cables.

The middle price point is for the professional. The pro understands that he doesn't want the cheap crappy hammer that'll ruin his carpals in a day of framing, but he also understands that the laser guide and designer handle on the $100 hammer are just crap to bilk the amateur DYIer. So he buys the $20 hammer that does the job, is well balanced and skips on the frills. Because he's a pro and confident in his ability to pick a *good* $20 hammer.

Re:Which one will work - most expensive

[dangitman]

The middle price point is for the professional. The pro understands that he doesn't want the cheap crappy hammer that'll ruin his carpals in a day of framing, but he also understands that the laser guide and designer handle on the $100 hammer are just crap to bilk the amateur DYIer. So he buys the $20 hammer that does the job, is well balanced and skips on the frills. Because he's a pro and confident in his ability to pick a *good* $20 hammer.

That's pretty much wrong for all your examples, except perhaps for hammers. The amateur photographer buys the mid-priced camera, $1,000 to $2,000. The professional buys the $2,000 to $20,000 camera. The amateur in AV systems might buy a 2,000 to 10,000 home theater system. The professional buys a $100,000 to $500,000 Digital Cinema system.

It probably even applies to hammers. An amateur buys an expensive hammer, the professional buys an industrial-strength nail-gun system. (Disclaimer: I don't know that much about construction tools, so my example might be way off, but I know that professional builders use some pretty specialized equipment beyond the budget of non-professionals).

Re:How hard was it

[Pojut]

That depends. If you're asking the "average" consumer, the answer would be "very!"

Re:My only question is...

[clang_jangle]

No, but using your computer with a FOSS OS to watch video and a decent p2p setup will render them irrelevant. It's called "opting out of being ripped off". Until Big Media shows a little respect, that's what they deserve because they set it up so that either they steal from you, you steal from them, or you do without. Fuck them.

Re:How hard was it

[EvanED]

Depends. Do you have a nice setup, or are you reaching your arm in back of your A/V equipment trying to do things by feel? Avoiding the need to pull out the components to actually look at them (since you can't do color by feel, obviously), is a reasonably nice benefit.

Meh...

[BlueStrat]

I refuse to own any HD-enabled TVs & etc. HD is simply the shiny bauble to get people to adopt a system that is controlled by those other than the consumer purchasers of the equipment in order to plug the "analog hole", further raise barriers to entry for non-corporate/non-approved content & equipment producers, and overall extract more money from consumers.

It's not a video/audio standard so much as a revenue and business model protection & expansion scheme.

Strat

Re:Meh...

[KahabutDieDrake]

I'm guessing you are too young to have any idea about this, but you do know that computer monitors have been exceeding the HD spec since years before there was an HD spec? Furthermore the GP is right, HD isn't a video spec. It's a marketing term. The monitor in front of me says "HDdisplay" in the corner of the bezel. Gee, which HD mode supports 1920x1280 at 120hz? The TV also connected to this computer says HD in the corner. But it won't run at that resolution. It prefers 1920x1080 at 65hz. One of these displays is 16x10 one is 16x9, they don't support the same video modes, or refresh rates. So what the HELL does HD mean anyway? Exceeds ?x1080? My ancient CRT (in the closet) does that, and it predates "HD" by at least 5 years.

Good idea with poor execution.

[Andy Dodd]

The five grades listed make sense. Standard Speed and High Speed with and without Ethernet (total of 4 combos of those two) and the Automotive cable.

However the other stuff is poorly executed, like the "4K" rule. And do they have any rules on putting arbitrary meaningless bandwidth numbers on their cables like the example in the article and Monster? Any number that exceeds the bandwidth actually used by HDMI is meaningless, but manufacturers still stick crazy numbers on their cables anyway.

Manufacturers should be permitted:
To state which version of the HDMI spec they are compliant to, or very clearly defined capabilities (such as High Speed-No Ethernet)
To give specific physical properties of their cable's construction such as wire gauge and connector plating materials

They should NOT be permitted:
To advertise any electrical performance numbers that exceed the requirements of the defined HDMI specification, as these numbers are irrelevant to all users.

Re:People will just buy what works ...

[John Hasler]

> The invisible hand may not always work as we wish, but it can still slap
> down the business models that suck.

Unfortunately it is often handcuffed by government (with patents, in this case).

And what will future versions be called?

[Confuse Ed]

In a few years presumably some even higher bandwidth specification will come along - no problem if they used version-numbers, but once you have labelled the first generation "standard" and the current generation "High Speed" what're you going to be left with to use next and not end up looking stupid?

"new higher speed", "max speed", "ultimate speed", "super more ultimate than ultimate speed", "I Can't believe its not high speed... speed"?

Re:And what will future versions be called?

[cynyr]

hmm that sounds familiar... USB anyone?

In my experience...

[fyngyrz]

...there's no reason to think that gays are stupider than anyone else, and since they comprise a minority of the population, said boss, while undoubtedly stupid, is probably straight.

Perhaps some day you will be able to apply that same intellect that allows you to detect snake oil in audio gear to the snake oil in sexual bigotry.

Re:How hard was it

[fyngyrz]

• They're behind the gear
• You only fool with them at install time
• It's *really* not a problem
• HDCP, on the other hand, is REALLY a problem

Re:My only question is...

[VGPowerlord]

No, but using your computer with a FOSS OS to watch video and a decent p2p setup will render them irrelevant. It's called "opting out of being ripped off". Until Big Media shows a little respect, that's what they deserve because they set it up so that either they steal from you, you steal from them, or you do without. Fuck them.

You mean the computer I have that has a $5 HDMI cable running between my computer and monitor?

Wait, how is HDMI irrelevant again?

Re:My only question is...

[commodore64_love]

>>>>>Will my $600 gold-plated monster superconductor cable support the new standards?
>>
>>Why take the chance. Just buy the new $800 version and you'll be good to go!

And...

I'm done. The HDTV and Bluray player is going on Ebay. I can't keep up (or afford) all these constantly changing standards. I'll get my entertainment an easier and cheaper way (dusts off the books & old black-and-white tv). Maybe it's time to learn some open source programming too. I work cheap (minimum wage).

Re:How hard was it

[kent_eh]

It's very difficult... to make a big profit from.
And, really, that's the most important thing isn't it?

Let's get one thing straight

[Zontar_Thing_From_Ve]

Unlike what mister anonymous submitter says, I'm not convinced that the motivation for HDMI was for manufacturers to "make their products easier to set up than ever before". Maybe at first it was, but once Hollywood got involved early on, that all changed. It was all about the copy protection. As far as I know, no one has yet broken HDMI copy protection. So I am not surprised at all that the terms to describe HDMI 1.4 are going to get even more confusing and unhelpful as I don't think HDMI has ever been about making consumers happier. I'm not really sure what is supposed to be gained by the confusion to come, but was it created by design (ie. perhaps Hollywood thinks that the confusion will strengthen copy protection somehow) or by stupidity?

Re:My only question is...

[mr_lizard13]

Why? Will your tv and blu-ray player stop working when this new cable comes out?

Re:Yes

[schon]

Actually, I believe he was referring to this, in which audiophiles couldn't tell the difference between monster cables and a coathanger.

Re:My only question is...

[Hylandr]

Not a troll.

Very true observation.

I do without a TV in the house it's ever so much more peaceful without it. We wont ever get another one.
- Dan.

Re:My only question is...

[jedidiah]

Marrying audio and video to one cable is much like getting an all-in-one desktop.

If you want to upgrade a single component, you have to upgrade everything. This severely limits your options for future upgrades.

People are already being bit in the butt by what HDMI does or doesn't support on a particular piece of gear.

HDMI certainly beats component cables. It doesn't really beat VGA or DVI.

Changing things from how they've been done for decades will likely more than anything just confuse people.

Re:My only question is...

[halltk1983]

Once the Blu-Ray player auto-updates itself to support the New Super-Happy-Fun-Time DRM 1.4(R), now with extra sticky bits(TM)! it might just...

Re:My only question is...

[commodore64_love]

>>>Why? Will your tv and blu-ray player stop working when this new cable comes out?

Honestly I don't own either an HDTV or Bluray. I was being smartassed.

BUT I am starting to wonder if I want to waste my time upgrading to HD, if the Megacorps keep insisting upon changing the standards every year or two. And I'm not just talking about these cables, but also the recent FCC plnn to convert TV from MPEG2 to MPEG4 (which means I have to toss my less-than-a-year-old receiver in the trash), and companies like Comcast forcing people in my area to rent "converter boxes" at $5 per set. I'm perfectly happy to just stick with DVDa, plus books, plus whatever I can grab off the net.

I come from the old school where I had the same computer for ten years (Amiga and WinXP, each) and have no desire to hop on a yearly upgrade treadmill just because of planned obsolescence.