CEA Puts Kibosh on 1080p Over Component

Just when integrators were starting to get excited about a possible accommodation of analog 1080p by the Consumer Electronics Association, the effort was squelched.

We recently ran an article by Bill Paul about CEA's outdated specification CEA-770.3-rev C., which defines HD analog component video for 720p and 1080i, but not 1080p.

In its five-year review process, CEA contemplated adding a spec for 1080p over component. Bill wrote:

As of this writing, a proposal to add 1080p at 24, 30, and 60 Hz has been submitted, technical analysis of cable and connectors has been completed, and market demand has been identified. Next comes the comment and review periods, committee approval, and if all of that goes smoothly, publishing of CEA-770.3 rev D.

Well, as of this writing, the initiative is dead.

Bill notes that, even in the absence of a standard, 1080p component video is still possible in many CE devices, including displays from Samsung and Syntax/Brillian.

In a posting at AVS Forum, Bill reports:

Well, bad news everyone. 1080p analog was rejected by the CEA working group. I can't name names, but representatives from television and movie content owners were all against, the few other hardware (displays) manufacturers in the call where silent, and I was alone in support. I did take almost all of you comments, plus some comments from another forum and compiled it into a 2 page document, which I sent to all members the evening before. Your voices were heard, but apparently was not a factor in their opinions.

I'm not going to criticize the CEA on this as their process is democratic, but my experience in this particular working group showed me pretty clearly where the loyalties lay in this industry.

The good news is that this was Plan A, but there is also a Plan B. There are still influential people that believe in this and other similar causes. So stay tuned.

In that same posting, a forum poll indicates (at this moment), that 77% of respondents say they want analog 1080p.