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

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

[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.

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.

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.

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: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...

[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...

[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: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).