HDMI or High-Definition Multimedia Interface is an interface standard used for
audio-visual equipments such as HDTVs or home theater systems. In just a few years it has become some sort of de facto standard for all HDTVs or other audio/video units. All latest DVD Players, Blu-Ray Player, Game consoles, PC and even laptops are having an HDMI Port built into them. They have some certain advantages such as ability to carry both high quality audio and video in a single cable in a digital format making those old analog cables obsolete. If you want to know anything about HDMI, read this guide to know everything you need to know about it.
(If your pc don't have HDMI port, just change the graphic card to latest one that have HDMI port.)
The History
The HDMI standard was founded by leading consumer electronics manufactures - Hitachi, Panasonic, Philips, Sony, Toshiba, Thomson and Silicone Image. Because of its HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) compliance, which provides copyright protection, it is also fully supported by major motion picture producers like Fox, Warner Bros, and Disney, as well as by system operators like DirecTV and EchoStar.
Key Features of HDMI
•It can handle both video and audio in a single cable.
•Very easy to set up. Even a child can do it with ease.
•Capability to handle High Quality of 1080p Video and 7.1 channel Audio.
•Ready for future higher resolution videos such as 1440p.
•Fully backward compatible with technologies such as DVI with the use of adapters.
Can I get the same quality of HDMI using analog cables?
Yes, you can get almost same quality, but that would need far more cables. The HDMI cables can transfer eight channels of 24 bit 192 kHz uncompressed audio for 7.1 surround sound. To get the same experience, you need to have eight separate cables for the same quality. Using component videos you can get almost the same quality in video but you need to have three cables for that.
What about HDMI cable length?
There is no official limits of the cable length. The HDMI cables can be made very cheaply using thinner wires but those wires provide reliable connections upto 5m. Using good quality materials and thicker wires you can get cables as long as 20m which would be enough for all of us.
Is there any different version of HDMI cables?
Yes, there are different versions of cables with newer versions supporting newer features. Version 1.4 is the latest but you can get a version 1.3 cable which is currently used by most of the devices.
Benefits of HDMI
•Provides enormous bandwidth upto 10.2 GBps which is more than twice the bandwidth needed to transmit a 1080p signal such as from a Blu-Ray Player.
•It can protect the data from Piracy using the HDCP protocol. Basically the protocol uses a handshaking mechanism to ensure that the data is transmitted between two authentic devices.
Our Suggestions about HDMI Ports and Cables
•You need not buy an expensive HDMI cables as the cables itself can’t improve or deteriorate the picture quality of the digital signals. A cheap cable under Rm 50 would be sufficient. However, if you are using cables greater than 5m length you might need to buy a more pricey cable as cheaper long length cables tend to show link failures with ’sparklies’ or dropouts in pictures which is very irritating.
•Before buying an LCD TV, check that there is at least two HDMI ports in it because you may need to connect your DVD players and your game console to your TV at the same time. Having at least two ports will ensure that you don’t need to switch them constantly to make place for the other.
