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Originally Posted by Robert Crawford
When will we have 1.3 HDMI audio processors?
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Right now there are no 1.3 HDMI audio processors because there are either no 1.3 chips or they are in very short supply (I suspect the former). From what we heard, the earliest that you might see some processors with 1.3 actually on board is by CES or certainly by CEDIA. This is compounded by the fact that many of the audio codecs (the main reason at this point for 1.3) aren't even out yet. Video capabilities of 1.3 are beyond anything currently available. Besides, if you let the player do the decoding then you don't need 1.3 on the processor. A lot of the sound can be handled by earlier versions of HDMI once decoded and PCM always allows the analog option as long as your processor contains 7.1 analog inputs.
There will be some people who insist on keeping everything in the digital domain so PCM is not an option for them. I predict that this will be one of the biggest points of contention as we all wait for HDMI 1.3 to arrive on the scene in processors. Personally, I think it's wise to wait to see how and when all this sorts itself out. With
today's audio sources you can still listen to all of them if you are willing to go the PCM route. Of course, as soon as the new audio codecs are on a lot of media then the industry will respond with equipment to handle it - either outboard (the players) or after the fact (the receivers).
Even having HDMI 1.3 on a processor doesn't do anything if the sources aren't there. But they will come and, as I said, the "buzz" on the floor was CES 2007 or CEDIA 2007.