The HDMI Licensing body has announced an early update to its version 1.4 HDMI specification, to further broaden compatibility for 3D technology. The new v1.4a iteration will incorporate mandatory TV support for a variety of broadcast 3D formats, ensuring display equipment knows how to adjust depending on the type of 3D signal received.
While the first version of HDMI v1.4 provided 3D support for Blu-ray and games (so-called frame-sequential delivery capable of pushing 1080p/24 images to each eye), it didn’t include the transmission variants favoured by Sky and other satellite broadcasters. There are a variety of 3D transmission techniques which fall into this category. Most common is Side-by-Side (half resolution) 1080i 3D as used by Sky and Top/Bottom 720p 3D, as proposed by ESPN.
To help accommodate broadcasters, the HDMI Consortium announced a change in its licensing restrictions in December 2009, in order to allow 3D broadcasts to 3D HDTV sets over HDMI v1.3. This permits operators like Sky to deliver a firmware upgrade to its Sky+HD boxes to allow 3D delivery. The PS3 games console falls into the same category.
Free download
The HDMI Licensing body has also made the 3D portion of the HDMI Specification available for free download from its website.
By doing this it hopes to ease interoperability between kit and broadcasters who have not yet signed up to the HDMI Adopter Agreement. Currently, some 900 consumer electronics companies have signed licensing agreements to use the High-Definition Multimedia Interface, but broadcasters typically haven’t signed up. The HDMI body is keen to ensure that ‘transmission vendors’ comply correctly with the specification, in order to ensure new 3D TVs perform as expected when 3D broadcasts begin in earnest.
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Hang on, can we just change it a bit, and a bit more?
Alan Smithee - 5 February 2010 - 12:33pmYet another change to the HDMI spec, and only months after HDMI 1.4 was announced. HDMI's claim to be a 'standard' becomes more ridiculous with every announcement, how are the public supposed to make sense of what it means to buy an HDMI cable or a compatible device? We've already had v1, v1.3, now v.14, and presumably there's a roadmap for further changes that will render 1.4 obsolete?
They should at least call it something which makes sense, like HDMI 2, or HDMI 3D, instead of this obsession with 1.x this and that. Imagine how useless Scart would have been if every year the number of pins on the plug had changed?
Compatibility Issues
Alan Smithee - 5 February 2010 - 7:30pmMy money is on repeating the early day HDMI debacle of incompatibility, and kit not talking to each other. How many people will receive an email along the lines of "We're sorry to hear that our xyz doesn't work with your brand new 3D TV, but xyz is no longer supported and therefore we cannot supply a firmware upgrade for it. We can however recommend our new abc product available now".
Confused?
Alan Smithee - 6 February 2010 - 10:50amAlready confused? You ain't seen nothing yet!!
Wait till you get different sub-versions i.e. 1.4a, 1.4b, etc
It's a joke really.
Why not have V2 with some really useful features that people ACTUALLY want:
- auto switching (like scart used to
- the ability to connect a source to TV and receiver with the TV getting steroe and the receiver getting multi-channel
Sub Versions
Alan Smithee - 9 February 2010 - 11:48pmWould any manufacturer release a 1.4a product now that 1.4b has been announced? Don't you think they will wait till a final 1.4 version is confirmed before going with it ?
Confusion reigns......
Alan Smithee - 10 February 2010 - 10:20amPerhaps the hardware manufacturers will be happy to review the following, especially the "Royalty Free" part. :-)
http://www.trustedreviews.com/home-cinema/news/2010/01/20/DisplayPort-1-2-Confirmed--Blows-Away-HDMI-1-4/p1
long live Display Port
PS3 sofware upgrade for 3D
Alan Smithee - 13 February 2010 - 12:34amI read in the paper in Australia that PS3 is upgradable for 3D.
What about my new receiver Onkyo 807 is this be able to upgrade?
HDMI should make cable upgradable or at least make an adater for it to add to the cable.
Manufacture should make there stuff upgradable for 5 years period time at least.
That's sucks.
Cheers.
Patou
Yeah right, like that's ever
Alan Smithee - 22 June 2010 - 11:44amYeah right, like that's ever going to happen. You can't firmware upgrade to 1.4 features. And as if a company is going to give you something for nothing. You want new features, buy the new product. I really can't believe how people want the latest technology to cater to their budget.
Get real.
Technology changes too fast
Alan Smithee - 27 July 2010 - 11:22pmAlan Smithee, I understand your point but after Scart was invented in the 1970's, picture technology hardly changed for the next 30 years, thus it remained a standard with little upgrades required.
Now new technology is brought to market every year, how can HDMI even keep up? It's not their fault. Manufacturers are going to keep inventing new things, improving the picture quality and sound etc - what do you expect HDMI to do other than bring out newer versions? It's an impossible situation for them.
If you want forward thinking, they have made HDMI 1.4 cables 4K2K compliant. Other than that, it's all moving very fast.
Wait till blu-ray becomes 4K2K followed by broadcasts; we'll all need new AV Receivers and TV's. After that, 8K4K will come out and we'll all want to upgrade again.