New poll
If you don’t know what I’m talking about in the HDMI poll, read this informative article. At the very least, HDMI 1.4 didn’t increase the already uber high bandwidth requirements with this release. Just understand that the 3D/4k they are talking about is running at something like 30 frames per second (or lower) as per the spec. It isn’t nearly as intensive as the 60 frames per second 1080p is requiring right now. The new connector is cool (I guess) as is the protected car one. The big one is the audio return channel which eliminates one whole cable if you are using your TV as a decoder for your cable/OTA antenna. The idea with the Ethernet is that you have one device that is connected to the network (wired I guess but I suppose it doesn’t have to be) and everything else that is connected to that device with the new HDMI cables can access it as well. We’ll see how/if that works as devices are released. Discuss.
Kurt Denke from Blue Jeans Cable is just an awesome guy. I always enjoy reading his contributions at Audioholics and I think it’s great that Audioholics and Kurt have such a solid working relationship.
I’m pretty torn about the new HDMI 1.4 spec. Are they bowing to some external pressure to keep rolling out new specs just to generate ongoing sales? It almost seems that way.
As Kurt clearly explains, the whole “Standard” and “High Speed” distinctions don’t really mean anything! They are essentially the same as the existing “Category 1 and 2” classes. But a name like “High Speed” is so much more marketable!
Already have a HDMI 1.3 Category 2 cable that is working perfectly? Well throw it out and get a HDMI 1.4 “High Speed” cable! (even though they are actually identical).
Just seems kind of slimy to me.
The Ethernet thing does seem to be genuinely new and does seem to actually involve a different manufacturing or at least a different assembly requirement for the cables themselves. “HDMI with Ethernet” is a reasonable new marketing name IMO. The problem – as always – is that manufacturers tend to list “HDMI 1.4 (!!!)” on the spec sheet and consumers mistakenly assume that any “HDMI 1.4” device automatically supports ALL of the potential features that HDMI 1.4 allows. We already see this problem with HDMI 1.3. Just because a device has a HDMI 1.3 port doesn’t mean that it necessarily supports HD Audio bitstream output or Deep Colour. For their part, HDMI LLC is quite clear that consumers should look for features and not worry about the HDMI spec number, but, in the real world, that isn’t the way things are playing out.
As to the poll question specifically, I put “Probably”. But I want to clarify that I simply think Ethernet through HDMI will become a de facto feature at some point and therefore, I will probably end up using it eventually.
TVs, receivers, Tivo/DVRs, Blu-ray players, video game systems – everything is getting network connections and internet access these days, so it seems perfectly reasonable to me that HDMI with Ethernet will proliferate rather quickly.
Again though, the biggest problem is that every device in the chain will have to support it! So until I have a receiver, a TV and a source that ALL support and require network access through HDMI with Ethernet, it won’t be happening. But it probably will eventually.