HDMI 1.3 spec released: includes "deep color" and hi-res audio support

[Woochifer]

The long-awaited HDMI 1.3 spec was released on Monday, and it includes numerous upgrades over the existing specs. Changes include the following:

- increased clock speed from 165 MHz to over 225 MHz
- increased color depth from 24-bit (true color) to 48-bit (deep color)
- support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD
- support for HDMI mini-connector
- support for "Consumer Electronics Control" that will allow HDMI devices to talk to one another with integrated control

I have a feeling that this is the HDMI revision we've been waiting for, and the article below says that "lots of products" with the HDMI 1.3 spec (including the Sony Playstation 3) will be available by the end of the year. Looks like I'll be putting off my HDTV upgrade for a while longer!

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...1975596,00.asp

[GMichael]

Thanks for the links Wooch. I'll read them in a few minutes. Does it say if the HDMI cables we all have now will work with 1.3?

[kexodusc]

Good find Wooch!
Like GM, I'm also curious to know what how HDMI 1.3 will work with my current HDMI devices. I don't even use them right now but someday I will someday I'm sure...
Wonder if I could tell a difference on my 51" set?

I'll hold off on my projector for awhile...

[swicken]

HDMI and HDCP are the worst thing to happen to the home theatre industry in a long time.

All they're doing is creating waves and gaps in technology in order to have a way to enforce the use of legal copies of movies.
So you know, DVI supported both of these things long ago (48 bit colour is bull anyway)
And supported higher resolution.
And wasn't plagued by near the same amount of bugs.

[Geoffcin]

HDMI and HDCP are the worst thing to happen to the home theatre industry in a long time.

All they're doing is creating waves and gaps in technology in order to have a way to enforce the use of legal copies of movies.
So you know, DVI supported both of these things long ago (48 bit colour is bull anyway)
And supported higher resolution.
And wasn't plagued by near the same amount of bugs.

You've got a good point. The whole HDMI bandwagon is not to create a new and better way to simplify connectivity (although it does that), it's to make damn sure that HD content is unrecordable.

[Woochifer]

Good find Wooch!
Like GM, I'm also curious to know what how HDMI 1.3 will work with my current HDMI devices. I don't even use them right now but someday I will someday I'm sure...
Wonder if I could tell a difference on my 51" set?

I'll hold off on my projector for awhile...

In theory at least, these devices are supposed to be backwards compatible. The only thing you'd miss out on would be the newer features. But, it seems that HDMI 1.3 is a more extensive revision than any of the previous versions (I mean, has anyone seen a HDMI 1.2 device? Thank you, been nice knowin' 'ya!). The higher clock speed seems like a major change, and I wonder how that affects interoperability. I can understand how the color depth can simply be downsampled.

I also wonder about the new HDMI mini-plug and whether that will allow for adaptor plus similar to the DVI adaptors. Supposedly the new plug design fits more securely and takes up less space.

The most intriguing feature with HDMI 1.3 that I did not know about previously is that "Consumer Electronics Control" feature, which from what I read would seem to allow HDMI devices to talk to and control one another. The article referred to it as "one-touch play" and speculates that it would reduce the need for universal remotes.

All of this is just another sign that HD-DVD and Blu-ray are coming onto the market way before they are ready.

You've got a good point. The whole HDMI bandwagon is not to create a new and better way to simplify connectivity (although it does that), it's to make damn sure that HD content is unrecordable.

Yep, no matter how many new features get integrated into the HDMI specs, the real purpose underlying and driving everything comes back to piracy.

But, at a more practical level, I'm so looking forward to my next receiver/processor when I can connect all of my video devices using just one cable from each of them, rather than the current jumble of analog audio and video cables, and digital audio cables. If it can simplify the remotes, all the better still.

[Geoffcin]

But, at a more practical level, I'm so looking forward to my next receiver/processor when I can connect all of my video devices using just one cable from each of them, rather than the current jumble of analog audio and video cables, and digital audio cables. If it can simplify the remotes, all the better still.

My wiring harness looks like the beast that ate Chicago.

[swicken]

Hmm, just wait for the uproar thats going to happen when most of the HDTVs people bought over the last 5 years don't play HDDVD/BluRay disks in anything more then 420p.

It's a silly concept, considering how easy it is to break seeing as its based on a loose public key encryption. It's going to be like modding an xbox.

[Woochifer]

Hmm, just wait for the uproar thats going to happen when most of the HDTVs people bought over the last 5 years don't play HDDVD/BluRay disks in anything more then 420p.

That's not 100% true because the decision to activate the analog downsampling key is a title-by-title decision. All of the HD-DVDs that have come out so far can output the full HD resolution through the component video outputs. Of course it's still early, and the studios can at any point decide to activate the key for future releases. But, there's no guarantee that everybody does this in lock step for every title.

HDTV owners for whom this is a concern will simply not buy HD-DVD or Blu-ray players. This subject has already been discussed all over the place, so it's no secret that analog HD output is far from a sure thing with the new formats.

It's a silly concept, considering how easy it is to break seeing as its based on a loose public key encryption. It's going to be like modding an xbox.

Regardless of how tight the copy protection is, some kind of unified digital signal output spec was long overdue. Eliminating the need for separate video and audio cabling, while enabling digital output for SACD and DVD-A, is a no brainer in my book.

[swicken]

Regardless of how tight the copy protection is, some kind of unified digital signal output spec was long overdue. Eliminating the need for separate video and audio cabling, while enabling digital output for SACD and DVD-A, is a no brainer in my book.

Yes, but it would have been nice if it were done by an organization wanting a quality way of transferring a signal, instead of one more worried about keeping people from downloading their movies.

[drseid]

Hmm, just wait for the uproar thats going to happen when most of the HDTVs people bought over the last 5 years don't play HDDVD/BluRay disks in anything more then 420p.

It's a silly concept, considering how easy it is to break seeing as its based on a loose public key encryption. It's going to be like modding an xbox.

Certainly I am in agreement about the silliness of the concept, and its anti-consumer focus.

As for the 420p, I believe it actually would be 540p, and like Woochifer said, only if the ICT constraint flag is activated on a disc by disc basis. That said, it is ridiculous that consumers should have to worry about these kinds of things to begin with.

---Dave