CE Pro Podcast #156: Catching Up on HDMI Happenings

Summary

For those who might not know, HDMI technology has now been around for more than 20 years, and it remains as relevant as ever for the custom integration industry.

Now, as 8K comes into picture and immersive audio continues to impact home AV systems, it’s a perfect time to check back in with Rob Tobias, president of HDMI Licensing.

In this week’s CE Pro Podcast episode, Tobias addresses a wide range of topics around the interface, including what AI means for AV moving forward; how HDMI has evolved so custom integrators can deliver more immersive systems for clients; why you shouldn’t get rid of your Blu-ray disc collections; and how to properly vet cables from vendors.

For starters, Tobias reviews old and new features now associated with HDMI 2.1b that help produce improved content for AV systems and especially gamers.

Highlights of today’s feature set include Source-Based Tone Mapping, Variable Refresh Rate, Enhanced Audio Return Channel, Auto Low Latency Mode, Quick Media Switching, 4K120 and 8K60, and resolutions up to 10K, to name a few.

“You get a much better, more immersive home theater experience,” Tobias says.

“Today with things such as HDR, such as Dolby Vision, such as Dolby Atmos, DTS:X – the visuals and the sound are just amazing.”

Of course, lately the big buzz phrase in the electronics world (and everywhere else) is artificial intelligence (AI), and Tobias notes that in consumer electronics it’s being applied in numerous ways already.

“It’s being actively applied to TVs in a number of manners, especially 8K TVs,” he states.

“Right now, there’s not a lot of 8K sources and so upscaling is very important. To do 8K upscaling right, especially if you’re taking lower-res images – if you’re taking a 1080p image or 720p image and upscaling it to 8K, there’s so many pixels missing that you need to be very intelligent about how you do it. That’s where AI comes into play.”

Meanwhile, Tobias adds that when it comes to high-quality content, there are streaming services that provide high-quality imagery in 4K. But the dearth of that content means movie buffs should hold onto their Blu-ray discs and purchase Ultra Blu-ray discs to enjoy truly high-res video and audio.

To hear much more from HDMI’s Tobias in conversation with CE Pro, watch or download the full podcast above. Find past episodes of the CE Pro Podcast by subscribing to the CE Pro YouTube channel or our Apple and Spotify podcast feeds.

Summary

For those who might not know, HDMI technology has now been around for more than 20 years, and it remains as relevant as ever for the custom integration industry.

Now, as 8K comes into picture and immersive audio continues to impact home AV systems, it’s a perfect time to check back in with Rob Tobias, president of HDMI Licensing.

In this week’s CE Pro Podcast episode, Tobias addresses a wide range of topics around the interface, including what AI means for AV moving forward; how HDMI has evolved so custom integrators can deliver more immersive systems for clients; why you shouldn’t get rid of your Blu-ray disc collections; and how to properly vet cables from vendors.

For starters, Tobias reviews old and new features now associated with HDMI 2.1b that help produce improved content for AV systems and especially gamers.

Highlights of today’s feature set include Source-Based Tone Mapping, Variable Refresh Rate, Enhanced Audio Return Channel, Auto Low Latency Mode, Quick Media Switching, 4K120 and 8K60, and resolutions up to 10K, to name a few.

“You get a much better, more immersive home theater experience,” Tobias says.

“Today with things such as HDR, such as Dolby Vision, such as Dolby Atmos, DTS:X – the visuals and the sound are just amazing.”

Of course, lately the big buzz phrase in the electronics world (and everywhere else) is artificial intelligence (AI), and Tobias notes that in consumer electronics it’s being applied in numerous ways already.

“It’s being actively applied to TVs in a number of manners, especially 8K TVs,” he states.

“Right now, there’s not a lot of 8K sources and so upscaling is very important. To do 8K upscaling right, especially if you’re taking lower-res images – if you’re taking a 1080p image or 720p image and upscaling it to 8K, there’s so many pixels missing that you need to be very intelligent about how you do it. That’s where AI comes into play.”

Meanwhile, Tobias adds that when it comes to high-quality content, there are streaming services that provide high-quality imagery in 4K. But the dearth of that content means movie buffs should hold onto their Blu-ray discs and purchase Ultra Blu-ray discs to enjoy truly high-res video and audio.

To hear much more from HDMI’s Tobias in conversation with CE Pro, watch or download the full podcast above. Find past episodes of the CE Pro Podcast by subscribing to the CE Pro YouTube channel or our Apple and Spotify podcast feeds.