HDMI 1.3 is released.

EricRWem · 06-22-2006, 01:15 PM

http://www.hdmi.org/press/pr/pr_20060622.asp

Quote:

HDMI 1.3 DOUBLES BANDWIDTH, DELIVERS BILLIONS OF COLORS FOR HDTVs

High-Definition Multimedia Interface Also Adds Newest Digital Audio Formats, Mini Connector and Lip Sync

SUNNYVALE, Calif., June 22, 2006 — The seven HDMI Founder companies (Hitachi, Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic), Royal Philips Electronics, Silicon Image, Inc., Sony Corp., Thomson, Inc. and Toshiba Corp.) today released a major enhancement of the High-Definition Multimedia Interface™ (HDMI™) specification, the de facto standard digital interface for high definition consumer electronics. HDMI 1.3 will enable the next generation of HDTVs, PCs and DVD players to transmit and display content in billions of colors with unprecedented vividness and accuracy.

The HDMI 1.3 specification more than doubles HDMI’s bandwidth and adds support for Deep Color technology, a broader color space, new digital audio formats, automatic audio/video synching capability (“lip sync”), and an optional smaller connector for use with personal photo and video devices. The update reflects the determination of the HDMI founders to ensure HDMI continues evolving ahead of future consumer demands.

The update arrives at a time of strong momentum for the HDMI standard. HDMI Licensing, LLC today announced that more than 400 makers of consumer electronics and PC products worldwide have adopted HDMI. Market researcher In-Stat expects 60 million devices featuring HDMI to ship in 2006.

“PLAYSTATION®3 will be the most advanced computer platform for enjoying a wide range of entertainment content, including the latest games and HD movies, in the home,” said Ken Kutaragi, president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. “By introducing the next-generation HDMI 1.3 technology, with its high speed and deep color capabilities, PS3 will push the boundaries of audiovisual quality to the next level of more natural and smoother expression on the latest large flat panel displays.”

"HDMI is an established cornerstone for the whole High Definition TV industry and Philips is extremely pleased to see such significant improvements for picture and sound quality with this new version,” said Johan van de Ven, CTO and Senior Vice President of Philips Consumer Electronics. “We look forward to continuing to work with other HDMI Founder companies to extend the scope of HDMI across new devices and applications, while remaining entirely committed to ensuring full backward compatibility with existing products."

With the adoption of Deep Color and the xvYCC color space, HDMI 1.3 removes the previous interface-related restrictions on color selection. The interface will no longer be a constraining pipe that forces all content to fit within a limited set of colors, unlike all previous video interfaces.

New HDMI 1.3 capabilities include:

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Higher speed: HDMI 1.3 increases its single-link bandwidth from 165MHz (4.95 gigabits per second) to 340 MHz (10.2 Gbps) to support the demands of future high definition display devices, such as higher resolutions, Deep Color and high frame rates. In addition, built into the HDMI 1.3 specification is the technical foundation that will let future versions of HDMI reach significantly higher speeds.
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Deep color: HDMI 1.3 supports 30-bit, 36-bit and 48-bit (RGB or YCbCr) color depths, up from the 24-bit depths in previous versions of the HDMI specification.
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Lets HDTVs and other displays go from millions of colors to billions of colors
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Eliminates on-screen color banding, for smooth tonal transitions and subtle gradations between colors
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Enables increased contrast ratio
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Can represent many times more shades of gray between black and white. At 30-bit pixel depth, four times more shades of gray would be the minimum, and the typical improvement would be eight times or more
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Broader color space: HDMI 1.3 removes virtually all limits on color selection.
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Next-generation “xvYCC” color space supports 1.8 times as many colors as existing HDTV signals
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Lets HDTVs display colors more accurately
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Enables displays with more natural and vivid colors
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New mini connector: With small portable devices such as HD camcorders and still cameras demanding seamless connectivity to HDTVs, HDMI 1.3 offers a new, smaller form factor connector option.
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Lip Sync: Because consumer electronics devices are using increasingly complex digital signal processing to enhance the clarity and detail of the content, synchronization of video and audio in user devices has become a greater challenge and could potentially require complex end-user adjustments. HDMI 1.3 incorporates an automatic audio/video synching capability that allows devices to perform this synchronization automatically with accuracy.
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New lossless audio formats: In addition to HDMI’s current ability to support high-bandwidth uncompressed digital audio and currently-available compressed formats (such as Dolby® Digital and DTS), HDMI 1.3 adds additional support for new, lossless compressed digital audio formats Dolby® TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio™.

Products implementing the new HDMI specification will continue to be backward compatible with earlier HDMI products.

“The dramatic increase in maximum speed achieved in HDMI 1.3 will enable HDMI to stay far ahead of the bandwidth demands of future high definition source and display devices,” said Leslie Chard, president of HDMI Licensing, LLC. “As the de facto standard digital interface for the high definition and consumer electronics markets, HDMI is implementing the most innovative technologies today to fulfill the demands of tomorrow’s consumers.”

The latest HDMI specification can be downloaded at no cost by visiting www.hdmi.org.

About HDMI
HDMI is the first and only consumer electronics industry-supported, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface. By delivering crystal-clear, all-digital audio and video via a single cable, HDMI dramatically simplifies cabling and helps provide consumers with the highest-quality home theater experience. HDMI provides an interface between any audio/video source, such as a set-top box, DVD player, or A/V receiver and an audio and/or video monitor, such as a digital television (DTV), over a single cable.

About HDMI Licensing, LLC
HDMI Licensing, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Silicon Image, Inc., is the agent responsible for licensing the HDMI specification, promoting the HDMI standard and providing education on the benefits of HDMI to retailers and consumers. The HDMI specification was developed by Hitachi, Matsushita (Panasonic), Philips, Silicon Image, Sony, Thomson and Toshiba as the digital interface standard for the consumer electronics market. The HDMI specification combines uncompressed high-definition video and multi-channel audio in a single digital interface to provide crystal-clear digital quality over a single cable. For more information about HDMI, please visit www.hdmi.org

Forward-looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of federal securities regulations. These forward-looking statements include statements related to the anticipated growth, market, acceptance and consumer demand for HDMI 1.3 and high definition source and display devices, the anticipated volume of shipments of HDMI devices in 2006, and the benefits, capabilities, performance, evolution, design and implementation of HDMI 1.3, the HDMI standard, and products implementing HDMI. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including those described from time to time in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings of Silicon Image, Inc., the parent corporation of HDMI Licensing, LLC, that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements. In particular, the anticipated growth, market, acceptance and consumer demand for HDMI 1.3 and high definition source and display devices, the anticipated volume of shipments of HDMI devices in 2006, and the benefits, capabilities, performance, evolution, design and implementation of HDMI 1.3, the HDMI standard, and products implementing HDMI, may differ materially from what is currently anticipated. In addition, see the Risk Factors section of the most recent Form 10-K or Form 10-Q filed by Silicon Image with the SEC. Silicon Image assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release.

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HDMI™ and High-Definition Multimedia Interface are trademarks of HDMI Licensing, LLC in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. PLAYSTATION is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.

Media Contacts:
Kasey Holman
Media Relations - HDMI Licensing, LLC
Phone: 408-616-4192
kholman@hdmi.org

Paul Sherer
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
Phone: 415-677-2715
paul.sherer@ogilvypr.com

Another step... Slowly the wheel of progress turns.

Edwin-S · 06-22-2006, 02:25 PM

So Kutaragi seems to be claiming that PS3 is going to be outfitted with 1.3 HDMI. Interesting. Maybe some of the ongoing delays with Blu-ray are tied in with the release of of the 1.3 spec.

EricRWem · 06-22-2006, 02:55 PM

The new HDMI mini connector, pictured here next to the regular HDMI connector, is designed to be used with small portable devices such as camcorders and digital still cameras.

http://www.hdmi.org/images/HDMI_andMiniConnector.jpg

I'm not clear on this:

Would the display and player both have to be HDMI 1.3 in order to take advantage of the video improvements?

My best guess: Any device would default to the "lower" HDMI setup.

Robert Crawford · 06-22-2006, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwin-S

So Kutaragi seems to be claiming that PS3 is going to be outfitted with 1.3 HDMI. Interesting. Maybe some of the ongoing delays with Blu-ray are tied in with the release of of the 1.3 spec.

That's what I'm wondering about too.

Robert Crawford · 06-22-2006, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EricRWem

Would the display and player both have to be HDMI 1.3 in order to take advantage of the video improvements?

My best guess: Any device would default to the "lower" HDMI setup.

Another excellent question which means those of us that getting ready to upgrade our displays might want to wait until we know for sure either way.

**HTF Ads**

Glenn Overholt · 06-22-2006, 06:22 PM

It said they were backward compatible, so they should. If the receiving device was a HDMI 1.2, then you'd only get 1.2 results, but it would still work.

This is great for me because my TV has a DVi, and I got an HDMI adaptor, so I'll get the 1080i video that I am expecting.

This is great news!

Glenn

Robert Crawford · 06-22-2006, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glenn Overholt

It said they were backward compatible, so they should. If the receiving device was a HDMI 1.2, then you'd only get 1.2 results, but it would still work.

This is great for me because my TV has a DVi, and I got an HDMI adaptor, so I'll get the 1080i video that I am expecting.

This is great news!

Glenn

However, you won't get the benefits of 1.3 on your display which to me is very important and why I'll probably wait to upgrade until it's available for all of my components.

Neil Joseph · 06-22-2006, 06:38 PM

Does this mean that current generation receivers with hdmi will not be able to take advantage of the new hdmi and therefore lossless audio ie. DD True HD and dts HD or will the lossless audio be available over the analog 6 channel audio connection?

JediFonger · 06-22-2006, 11:20 PM

yes. w/HDMI 1.3 JUST approved, it'll be close to a year before a larger selection of a/v gears with 1.3 compliancy comes out. heck we don't even have 1.2a devices yet.

meanwhile, i'm concerned about the lack of mentioning DD+. does this mean HDMI 1.3 doesn't support carrying DD+ signals? DD+ and TrueHD are 2 different animals. there are already discs out there that carry DD+ but not TrueHD.

anyone else concerned about this?

i'm also relieved that as this is finalized, we're going to start seeing GEAR next year around the same time! yeeee ha!!!

i hope somn like a denon avr 3807 or 4307 or 4807 comes out to replace the currently line with HDMI1.3 spex.

imagine listening to:
-SACD that's been decoded @AVR level using a 1-bit chip just for this purpose instead of converting it to 88kHz PCM.
-DD+ decoded digitally @AVR with options.
-TrueHD decoded digitally @AVR w/options.
-DTS-HD decoded digitally @AVR w/options.

and of course, the rest of the current/existing stuff i'm sure will be present.

furthermore... imagine THX certs (selects 1, 2, is there a 3? ultra 2, ultra "3"?).

has this covered everything? will/should there be an HDMI 1.4 (i'm sure the DD+ is just a typo, if not, 1.4 will be needed to rectify that sitution).

PeterTHX · 06-22-2006, 11:42 PM

Quote:

meanwhile, i'm concerned about the lack of mentioning DD+. does this mean HDMI 1.3 doesn't support carrying DD+ signals? DD+ and TrueHD are 2 different animals. there are already discs out there that carry DD+ but not TrueHD.

I'm not concerned. They specifically mention lossless audio formats which need greater bandwidth. Dolby Plus is considered an extension of Dolby Digital and will be supported (as long as the signal device transmits it and there's something that can receive and decode it).