Engineer: HDMI 1.4 ‘Does Not Make Sense’

Now that HDMI Licensing LLC has finalized the 1.4 spec, installers and consumers are still wondering how the update will affect their businesses and current and future equipment purchases.

At least one industry veteran sees potential trouble ahead for integrators. Transparent Audio's Josh Clark believes the specification could be trouble for installers and their clients as they see how the new update affects their current systems and future system plans.

Clark says installers shouldn't put too much emphasis on the new spec because Transparent's existing products, for example, already meet much of the criteria that's been created for HDMI 1.4.

"The good news is that we already have an HDMI 1.4-compliant product line, at least in terms of handling all of the new high-resolution video formats included in the HDMI 1.4 specification, " he says.

"This means a customer with a Transparent HDMI cable from five years ago already has a cable that will support upcoming video formats like 4Kx2K and 3D video. We have always insisted on 'over building' our HDMI products so they would have sufficient bandwidth and timing accuracy [low skew] to handle future formats. This no-compromise approach has already paid off for our customers who are now watching 1080p video on their original Transparent HDMI cables and it will pay off again when they can watch 4Kx2K video and 3D video on those same cables."

When considering HDMI cables, Clark says dealers should learn as much as possible about the cable's ability to maintain signal integrity over long distances. He says there are many cables on the market certified as "high speed" for 1 meter or 2 meters, but when it comes to longer lengths, there are many cables that won't have the capabilities to handle the new requirements of the 1.4 specification.

HDMI has outlined the speed requirements for various capabilities in a single chart.

Clark says the biggest problem installers and their clients will face with HDMI 1.4 involves the communication elements that have been added to the format. "The not-so-good news about HDMI 1.4 is that the people who write the HDMI specifications continue to add more and more complicated functions to the already overtaxed and sometimes unreliable HDMI format," he asserts.

"The HDMI 1.4 specification adds Ethernet-over-HDMI and a reverse direction audio feed called Audio Return Channel that both require an all new HDMI cable with an extra pair of signal conductors.

"[These requirements] continue to use the same 19-pin HDMI connector as before, [but] consumers will have to buy all new HDMI 1.4 cables and components just to get Ethernet and audio return connectivity through their HDMI cables when they already can get these functions with existing Ethernet and audio cables."

Clark says HDMI 1.4 will do nothing but confuse people into thinking they need to go out and buy new cables when they don't need them, adding that the most frustrating part about the new spec is that it may negatively affect HDMI's primary responsibilities of audio and video signal transmission.

Jeff Boccaccio echoed a similar conclusion when he wrote about the bandwidth confusion surrounding the new 1.4 spec.

"The decision by HDMI.org to include Ethernet and the audio return channel in the HDMI cable just does not make sense to us since these are secondary functions and inexpensive Ethernet and the audio cables already exist, " Clark points out.

"We are even more concerned that running an Ethernet signal side-by-side with the primary HDMI audio and video signals may actually degrade the resulting picture and sound quality because of signal crosstalk. For these reasons, Transparent is not planning to build HDMI 1.4 cables with the additional signal conductors necessary for Ethernet and Audio Return.

"Luckily our existing cables will still handle all the high-resolution video formats specified in HDMI 1.4. As for the Ethernet and audio return, it will likely be years before we see AV components that can use these functions--if we ever do--and even then these components will likely continue to accept standard Ethernet and audio cables."