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3 Ways to Improve HDMI
Unfortunately, potential -- as my high school track coach often pointed out to me -- can be the ugliest word in the English language.
Much of the initial hesitancy of using HDMI in installations was due to HDCP-compatibility issues between players and TVs. After you get your fingers burned a few times, you're leery about going back for more.
Fortunately, HDMI's reliability has gotten better with its iterations, and more integrators are using it. But it's still not 100 percent.
Here are three ways HDMI can be improved.
Stop Tinkering, Already!
First it was 1080p. Then it was Deep Color. Not to mention being able to pass lossless audio.
By any yardstick, the interoperability issues caused by spreading the rollout between HDMI v1 and v1.3a have been a monumental hassle for every one of us in the business.
Ironically, one of the arguments the HD-DVD lobby used against Blu-ray was that HD-DVD was a final version, whilst Blu-ray was still being tinkered with and new updates threatened the shelf-life of first generation Blu-ray players.
This is exactly the situation we've had with HDMI interfaces. The way that HDMI's feature set has rolled out in fits and starts has led to sundry issues in interoperability between sources and displays.
From the perspective of a consumer on the outside looking in, it's not unreasonable for them to have formed some suspicion that it's not over.
Look at it from their perspective: what if (the currently fictional) HDMI v1.3b or v2.0 comes along and makes their shiny new player or TV functionally obsolete?
In the early stages, the refrain from cautious integrators when they were avoiding using HDMI at all was "we're not there yet." Interoperability has gotten a lot better, but I think we'd all be happier if we knew that we were done.
Make Locking Nuts Mandatory
Some HDMI cables have locking machine screws on them located above the male cable ends and some don't.
Some HDMI-equipped devices have matching nuts on them located above the female receptacles and some don't. Even better, locking HDMI cables don't always seat properly with devices that aren't lockable.
What better reason to stock two different varieties of cables in your inventory?
Given the relative frailty of the HDMI interface, I think it would be great if locking nuts were a mandatory part of the physical standard.
My friend Dave Long, the Dealer Manager for Toronto-based rep agency Evolution Audio/Video, recently told me a great story that underscores the perils installers face with fragile HDMI receptacles:
I've always found the connectors in equipment WAY too sensitive to force. Shove that wire in like you would an RCA or even DVI and you bust the connector from the board. Move it too much sideways and it doesn't take much -- the same result. Attach the wire to your piece of equipment… push it back into a shelf with a back on it… push just a bit too hard and bingo… busted connector.
Recently, I've even had a connector crunch on me in a projector that was on a 7ft. high shelf. I carefully connected an HDMI cable. No sweat, it worked fine. I tied off the lines but not too taught since I'm aware of the stress level on HDMI connections, so all lines are tied straight down from the projector.
Then, at the eleventh hour, the unit needs to move a few inches, so I figure I had better disconnect the HDMI rather than stress it unduly. I go to remove it and it doesn't want to give.
I could untie all the lines and totally free up the HDMI cable, but it SHOULD still pull straight out, right?. So I tweak it just ever so slightly to one side then the other to loosen it a touch ... and then I hear it.
Crunch.
Sure enough, I test it and it's shot. Had to use the number 2 input and get the connector fixed. I got it fixed the same day, but what a pain in the ass.
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29 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
Drew, hdmi IS all about bandwidth too. HDCP is a joke, but I won’t shortchange our clients by not installing the 1080P standard weather it has it’s flaws or not. They pay me to know how to make things work, work well and work easily. As I said earlier, we have figured it out to great results.
Loran, Well Put !!
I hear you Faster48, and I agree. I put in extra CAT5 (x4) and fiber microduct for the future - but the 1080p solution is kinda a myth. There’s little content at that resolution - when there is more, there is bound to be a better way to transmit it.
Coming at this from the designer side…
I agree with the never ending spec revisions being a huge problem. 1.3 is total BS and provides no useful benefits for most people. Everyone seems to have forgotten that HDMI has *always* supported 12 bit YUV. Everyone also seems to have forgotten that all sources like DVD, Blu-Ray, ATSC, etc. are all 8 bit 4:2:0 YUV. HDMI isn’t the limiting factor, bad encoding standards are…
Where we spend gobs of time/$ in development is making HDCP work. HDMI as a signaling protocol isn’t far off from DVI. The underlying technology has been used for ages and is extremely robust (though you can still screw it up if you’re not careful).
HDCP also forces switches and the like to be extremely complicated and expensive (because you can’t simply ‘Y’ the signal to get two outputs).
And for manufacturers the license fees and legal liability for a HDCP license make the mafia look like Mother Teresa…
For the consumer HDCP only makes their product more expensive and less likely to work. It increases development time and limits innovation. And this is passed off as a BENEFIT? I really would like to know what drugs the people that thought HDCP was a good idea were on…
Yeah, the usual suspects mutter about “content protection” but the lack of content protection hasn’t hurt the DVD industry one bit. And the pirates are going to crack the source, not the decoded content…
Except for the mechanical issues, put the blame for problems on HDCP. If we didn’t have to waste so much time and effort on that there would be more resources available to getting quality video across the interface.
If we are dealing with a BROADCAST standard, government standard-setters control what happens. We got NTSC ~1946 and it controlled what happened in broadcast TV in the U.S., at least, until the next big standard, ATSC was adopted by the F.C.C. ~1997, some 50 years later. Now we will live just fine with that for 30 or 40 years, I hope. But if it’s stuff that does not get onto the airwaves, like HDMI standards, governments let the market decide what happens, and what is happening is chaos. I say again, governments should step in here and legislate what the standard will be for HDMI or any equally good alternative for the good of consumers, in my opinion. All of you in the industry will have to push governments to do that. Disorganized consumers will never do it. If you cannot agree on a standard, you will continue to limit yourselves to rich customers- those who can afford to have you rip out all their equipment every five years and install all new stuff. Maybe that regime generates enough profits for all of you. Maybe just philosophically, you don’t want to lock in a given level of technology by law, because for sure there will always be small, incremental improvements that are possible. I guess you have to decide whether you want A/V to be a niche market for rich people, or do you want it to be a true mass-market industry. As business people, I would think you would decide that question based on which will generate the most profit. But I say again, if you want huge revenues you will demand that governments step in and set a standard and then the twenty biggest industrial nations will adopt and enforce it. That can be done, but you in the industry will have to demand it. If all of you do, I am sure that national governments will act.
It may take a commission of the European Union or even the United Nations to co-ordinate it all and get it done, but you can make it happen if you want to. I’ll just add that as a consumer with limited resources, the constantly changing standards for everything in A/V makes me think that it is an industry for rich consumers. I mean things like tape and then a bunch of different DVD disks in video cameras, and then of course this nightmare with constantly changing HDMI standards. I have assumed for a long time that the constant obsolescence in consumer A/V products means that the industry has figured out that they make more money by constantly selling upgrades to a comparatively small number of rich consumers than they would by selling vast numbers of units with frozen technology to the mass of consumers. I think deciding if that is true or not will determine whether you do what I am suggesting about setting some standards and getting governments to lock them in for a few decades at a time.
As a consumer, HDMI just bit me in the ass. My new HD TiVo will not play with my new Sharp 52SE94U TV (the TiVo works ok on other TVs.) I am left with using component video. While this is not that bad, there is only one component video input on the rear, so I am forced to use S-video for another input.
Since the TV was just released a month or so ago, I assume that a future firmware update may fix it….but what a pain. This HDCP crap needs to go!
And what is with connector designers? HDMI lacks any retention mechanism. My cell phone charging cable at least has that. This was a no-brainer to foresee. And, slightly off topic, ESATA cables are also missing any type of retention mechanism too. Again, a no-brainer.
I feel your pain, Caesar. I first went through the exact same situation nearly four years ago with a client’s 37-inch Sharp and an upconverting DVD. Six months later, another client’s Denon AVR5803 nearly drove me insane because it would only give me the HDCP black screen of death sometimes, but not always.
I do agree with earlier posters above that the real future of HD video lies with broadband networking.
This is maybe one of the best comment threads ever on CE Pro. I’ve gotten a lot out of your responses. Thanks!
Caesar:
The problem that you are having is NOT the fault of HDCP.
It is caused by a dropping of the low speed data stream.
This is the question/answer conversation that must go on between the source/display before video/audio will be output from the source.
First: did you replace your HDMI cable with another brand?
Second: did you contact your cable service provider about swapping your STB?
We have not had to deal with these issues since we developed the low speed data EQ.
I tried two high quality cables, but they were both the same brand (Wire Logic), and besides, it is only a 6ft cable. I have not contacted the cable company because the same problem also happens just by playing a previously recorded HD show. By fast-forwarding or backing up the TiVo a bit, the TV sometimes puts up the message “Receiving auto control signal now” for about 4, then the video returns. About a third of these times, I lose all audio. Backing up or fast forwarding again usually brings the audio back. If you are bored, you can see a 1-minute video of this here: http://64.142.124.30/tivo
I am at a loss as to what to do now…besides complain to TiVo and Sharp and hope that they both don’t point fingers at the other. My money is on Sharp as being the culprit.
Caesar,
Brent is close to being right. Do replace your cables first. Its probably not the TiVo since you mentioned that the unit worked with another display. It could be the Sharp. More than likely its corrupted data on the identification channel that Brent mentioned. If its not the cables, their are devices that can clean up the data on the communication channel. Just ask.
I wish I had another HDMI cable, but I don’t. I guess I should borrow one.
To Sharp’s credit, a local marketing manager has sent this issue to Japan where the engineers have already discussed this. He personally called me to say that an engineer was going to call tomorrow to discuss this issue. So far I am impressed. I know that sh*t happens. The true test of a company is how they deal with it.
If you have problems with the loose connector, take a look at http://www.hdezlock.com - their site says they have a universal adapator coming out soon that will hold the connector in place, works with most HDMI cables and components, and works with of without a fixing screw. also, works with different fixing screw locations, which is a problem with the cables that have the screw molded in…they only work with one location, and as we all know there’s no standard to any of this stuff. looks promising though.
HDMI 2.0 is going to be in the PS4.
and just to be obvious about it - any delay in picture when the display turns on so the HDCP can sync is extremely lame. our clients don’t want that, and neither do I. JV