jsl used our newssubmit to tell us about a press release over at the Sony Global website, announcing a new digital interface for consumer products:
Hitachi, Matsushita Electric (Panasonic), Philips, Silicon Image, Sony, Thomson, and Toshiba today announced the formation of a working group to define the next-generation digital interface specification for consumer electronics products. Designed to usher in the new era of digital entertainment, the High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) specification combines high-definition video and multi-channel audio in one digital interface. This interface builds on the success of DVI, offering new features while maintaining full backward compatibility. |
Leading global consumer electronics manufacturers are united in developing this digital interface for future products such as digital televisions, DVD players, set-top boxes and other digital A/V products. HDMI offers significant advantages over existing analog A/V interfaces. Its uncompressed, digital format transports high-definition video and multi-channel audio without processing or degrading them. By combining audio with video on one cable, HDMI offers a convenient connection alternative to the maze of existing analog A/V cables. The new format uses a small, easy-to-use connector, suitable for portable products like digital camcorders. HDMI also ensures compatibility between products. Capitalizing on the interoperability standards created in CEA (EIA/CEA-861x), HDMI assures that the best video format is always sent from source to display. In addition, HDMI will support many capabilities of the AV.link interoperability protocol, popular in Europe.
Major motion picture producers, as well as satellite and cable companies have applauded and welcomed High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) for Digital Visual Interface (DVI), an existing industry standard. The key underlying technology in DVI will be the basis for the new HDMI specification. Developed by Intel, with contributions from Silicon Image, HDCP for HDMI will be available to HDMI adopters.
HDMI will soon be openly available to the industry under reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.
The emphasis here is clearly not on protecting this new interface but on the interface itself. Sounds good to me but I think it will take a while before we will see this new technique in action...
Source: Sony Global
