If you recently upgraded to an HDTV, you've had to adjust to a few changes. The first is watching a strikingly crisp, widescreen image that smokes your previous TV's picture. Another is finding a forest of unfamiliar jacks on your new set's back panel. The most significant one is HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), a unidirectional link for connecting source components such as a high-def disc player or cable or satellite receiver.

HDMI's main benefit is that it allows digital high-def video and audio signals to be sent over a single cable. But the newest version of the HDMI standard, 1.3, holds the promise of even more A/V advancements. It's important to note, however, that most products with HDMI 1.3 connections won't show up in stores until early 2007 (though Sony's PlayStation 3 game console and Toshiba's second-gen HD DVD players will be out of the gate earlier). You should also know that 1.3 is designed to be compatible with older gear, so you shouldn't have a problem connecting that PS3 to an older HDTV with an HDMI (or even a DVI) connection.

More Bandwidth

With HDMI 1.3, the connection's bandwidth increases from 165 MHz to 340 MHz — enough to carry up to 10.2 GB of data per second. That might sound like a jumble of numbers, but it makes it possible to feed video displays with even higher resolution than current 1,920 x 1,080-pixel (1080p) models. The arrival of such sets — and suitable source material to take advantage of them — is far off. But "4K" front projectors designed for professional digital cinemas and even some flat-panel TVs with 4,096 x 2,160 resolution (twice as many pixels as 1080p HDTVs) have been showing up regularly at consumer trade shows in recent years. And while HDMI 1.3 won't exactly be able to handle that lofty level of high-definition, its increased bandwidth will help accommodate any potential resolution boosts on the HDTV front.

Faster Frame Rates

HDMI 1.3's fatter bandwidth means that it can also support increased video refresh rates (the speed at which the picture gets redrawn on your TV's screen). Most HDTVs have a 60-Hz frame rate. A few Pioneer plasma models bump that up to 72 Hz to enable image processing designed to reduce picture "judder" — a blurring effect that sometimes occurs during camera pans or fast-motion action. According to HDMI Licensing, an industry group charged with promoting HDMI technology, several other companies plan to produce gear in the near future that can show pictures at frame rates higher than the standard 60 Hz — which is why support for this feature was built into 1.3.

More Colors

The new HDMI standard also supports something called Deep Color. This feature, which requires that both the source device and the TV be Deep Color-compatible, increases the color bit-depth of images to 30, 36, or 48 bits. (The current version of HDMI, 1.2a, supports only up to 24-bit color, which is the color depth used in broadcast HDTV, DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray Disc.) According to HDMI Licensing, Deep Color can deliver pictures with better-defined colors and smoother gradations by expanding the range of possible colors displayed onscreen from millions to billions. Deep Color should benefit contrast too, since the increase in color bit-depth will also boost the range of gray tones between black and white.

HDMI 1.3 also makes possible the introduction of video sources and TVs that conform to the new "xvYCC" color standard. The current color standards for encoding and displaying NTSC and ATSC (high-def) video were formulated around the capabilities of now-dated CRT (cathode-ray tube) technology. But xvYCC, an extended "color space" capable of rendering nearly twice as many colors as the current standards, was created to take advantage of the wider color display range offered by new technologies such as LED-backlit LCD and laser-driven DLP TVs. It's difficult to predict when programs encoded in the new color space will catch on, but TV giants Sony and Mitsubishi have already displayed prototype xvYCC-capable sets.

HDMI Goes Mini

One advantage HDMI could claim over DVI (Digital Visual Interface), the digital video connection that preceded it, was that its jack was considerably more compact. But HDMI 1.3 makes even smaller jacks possible. The new HDMI mini-connector is meant for hooking up portable gear such as camcorders and digital cameras to HDTVs. Sony and other companies have already started to put regular HDMI jacks on high-def camcorders, so mini HDMI models shouldn't be far behind.

Unlimited Audio

One key feature has been missing from the handful of first-gen HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc players: the ability to pass Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio bitstreams to an external surround-sound processor or receiver for decoding. But with HDMI 1.3, these limitations disappear. (Current Toshiba HD DVD players with the company's v2.0 firmware update can decode Dolby TrueHD soundtracks internally and output them as a multichannel PCM signal via HDMI, while first-gen Blu-ray players can't decode either Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio.) With manufacturers of high-def disc players apparently picking and choosing support for built-in decoding of these new high-rez formats in their machines, HDMI 1.3's ability to deliver the native bitstreams from a disc to a surround-sound processor is a welcome development.

In Sync

Remember those old Godzilla movies where there was a lag between the actors' moving mouths and the badly dubbed dialogue? One problem HDTV viewers have had cause to complain about is timing slips between the picture and sound on their systems. This mostly happens when the video signal is sent to the TV on one connection and the audio travels on another, such as when Dolby Digital is sent from a high-def cable box to a receiver. HDMI 1.3's automatic lip-sync timing compensation feature aims to address this problem. How well it works remains to be seen, but if the original Godzilla ever comes out on Blu-ray, I'll expect the dialogue to sync up with the picture. Regardless, HDMI 1.3 is a great new standard.

Expert Installers on HDMI 1.3

The success of HDMI 1.3 will be directly tied to the success of HD DVD and Blu-ray. If everyone catches the upgrade bug for the new look and sound of high-def media, 1.3 will play a key part in the new product mix. Providing that the incompatibilities that plagued HDMI in the past are corrected in the manufacturers' implementations of HDMI 1.3, I look forward to its introduction.
Sean Greer
Experience AV Home Theater
Montrose, CO

For consumers, HDMI 1.3 is the start of a new viewing experience since all the sources feeding your TV can remain in their highest native resolution, providing crisp, clear video and multichannel sound. For installers, it could be the answer to the multitude of cables currently needed to connect a display. Once the gear is certified and tested to properly work together, handshaking between two units should provide a simple, reliable connection.
John Tamburello
Burello Sound
New York, NY

High-def sound is finally catching up to high-def video, and it's about time! HDMI 1.3's support of the lossless Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD audio formats will allow installers to add high-rez sound to the 1080p-format images on HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc, thanks to A/V receivers with HDMI upconverting and switching capabilities. I'm sure there will be some incompatibility issues, but that's okay — I like to play with "bugs" anyway.
John Chance
The Home Theater Connection
Staten Island, NY

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