Are DVD players with Firewire/HDMI just around the corner? (1 Viewer)

[Ashford Little]

I noticed in recent days two bits of interesting information regarding digital outputting of DVD-Audio that might have a significant impact on players and processors. This may not be news, but it is to me. What I saw was that Firewire was recently adopted as the standard for digital outputting of DVD-A. I also saw where HDMI (which is a cousin of DVI) has released the it's 1.0 specification.
In the blurb about Firewire (IEEE1394), it said that Asian manufacturers should quickly move to including a Firewire output in their players. Of course, the preamp/processor manufacturers would need to change their product lines as well.
However, I've been desiring a universal DVD player with digital output capabilities, and it seems we are finally moving in that direction. I should mention that the above mentioned news does not mention SACD in any way. But how far behind can a similar announcement be?
I would welcome any additional information and/or corrections to my post, but definitely see this as a positive step for both high def audio and video (HDMI appears to be the leading candidate for HDTV). Of course, this step will cost me money in upgrading my player, processor, and TV, but that's life.
Btw, the link to the HDMI site is HDMI's website

 

[Ron_N]

Check out the Pioneer 47Ai. It's a universal player(SACD & DVD-A) that also includes the Firewire output. Right now the only receiver that can take advantage of it's firewire output is the 49TXi, with it's firewire input.

 

[Ashford Little]

Thanks for the reply Ron. I am aware of Pioneer's unit, but I am interpreting the article I wrote to mean that the standard for Firewire is set, so future units will be able to incorporate a Firewire output that will work with any preamp/processor with such an input. Then again, I might be wrong.

If the HDMI/DVI-type connector becomes the standard for HD video, then I will wait to upgrade my processor until these inputs become common. Then we can argue and worry about something else for a while.

However, I wonder what the timeframe is? It would be nice if players with DVI & Firewire are on the shelves by spring or summmer of next year.

 

[Andrew Walbert]

Firewire is a long-established (in tech terms, at least) standard (IEEE1394), but until the advent of DVD-A and SACD, nobody really saw much reason to use it in the A/V world, so it was relegated to computers. But now, more and more digital cameras use it, as well as MP3 players and other equipment. I suspect that it will become the defacto standard for audio transfer between equipment in the near future. As for HDMI/DVI, I'm not entirely convinced that they are worthwhile from a technology standpoint, and I really feel that their main purpose in life is to prevent illegal copying of media. Or maybe I'm not aware of some actual technical benefits of it?