The big hook up [High-definition multimedia interface connectors]

Abstract

The consumer electronics industry has found its success is all about connections. One of the biggest challenges at the moment is the sheer quantity of data that the more realistic digital video and console games systems produce. A high-definition TV datastream compressed for broadcast takes 19Mbit/s, while the data rate off a Blu-ray disc is 48Mbit/s. Once uncompressed, the datarates balloon. Version 1.2 of the high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) standard, which defines the cable that connects a high-definition source such as a Blu-ray player to a display, carries 4.9Gbit/s. The HDMI 1.3 specification, which has just launched, offers 10.2Gbit/s of bandwidth, to support a 48bit rather than 24bit colour gamut, better audio, and better synchronisation between audio and video. The HDMI connector highlights another issue for designers, and particularly for those involved in developing connection systems that may become part of a standard. HDMI includes the Intel-derived high-definition copy protection (HDCP) scheme, which ensures that high-quality content is protected from source to screen.