HDMI Problems - Will HDMI 1.4 Put them Behind Us?
HDMI – The letters are enough to send many installers straight to the medicine cabinet. Why? Well, HDMI has allowed for unprecedented audio and video quality in consumer electronics products, but it has also created a plethora of headaches for the technicians who get to install all this wonderful gear and make it work more or less seamlessly. From the 10 – 15 second switching intervals to the “Where the hell is my video?” phone calls at 9:00pm on a Friday, HDMI has generated more than its share of headaches for those in the trenches.
Surprisingly, the origin of many HDMI problems is man made, and also labeled with a 4 letter acronym starting with an “H”; HDCP. Yes, most of the problems with HDMI are of our own making. Unlike good, old analog video, consumer electronics devices connected with HDMI must actually communicate with each other to ensure that each is authorized to either send or receive HD content. If there is any glitch in the works, you'll get nothing. Actually to clarify, you may get a white or black screen, but Monday Night Football on ESPN or Star Trek on Blu-Ray, no way.
While that may be great for protecting the content, it is tough for installers to explain to their clients why this stuff just flat fails to work sometimes. Many clients have a hard time believing that something could be purposely engineered not to work perfectly every time. The truth is that, not only is HDMI far more sensitive to cabling, especially at longer distances, but sometimes different pieces of gear just didn't want to play nicely together.
To be fair, these problems occur far less frequently now than they did a couple of years ago, when they were an almost weekly occurrence. Typically, there would be much finger pointing by the manufacturers of the equipment involved, and eventually the problems would be solved by a firmware update or an equipment change.
Another problem with HDMI that have some customers shaking their heads is the inability of some equipment with HDMI to support an unlimited number of devices. “What do you mean I can't connect this Comcast cable box to more than one TV?” Having to explain to a customer that each source has tokens that must be authorized by the display or they'll get no video can be an exercise in frustration.
Some devices will support upwards of 30 connections, while others, only 1. The trick is that you don't know until you either analyze the unit, or connect it and see. If you are centrally locating your source pieces and distributing them throughout your home or office, you may have a situation where you could easily have more TVs or other display devices than your sources have tokens.
Sure, you say, but I don't have a 6,000 sq ft home with 7 different TVs. You may not, but some far simpler combinations have caused problems, such as connecting your cable box to your A/V receiver and then connecting your A/V receiver to your TV. There have been cases where the cable box counts this as two devices connected to it, and it only has one authorized token, so it gets mad, and shuts down the video.
Now we have the latest HDMI variation, HDMI 1.4. Wasn't 1.3a good enough? Maybe so but 1.4 is here now and we have to be ready for it and the problems that may come with it. Surely, there have to some good things that will come from HDMI 1.4, don't there? Yes, HDMI 1.4 has some very attractive, new features, although much of them will not be implemented immediately.
HDMI 1.4 feature set -
HDMI Ethernet channel
Audio return channel
4k and 2k pixel resolution support
3D support
More color spaces
and yes there will be new connectors, including mini HDMI connectors for mobile devices.
The new HDMI features will enable a host of new functionality such as device to device content distribution and Internet connection sharing. Much as some devices like HD TiVOs can share content now with other Ethernet connected HD TiVOs, in the future many different devices will be able to do this, and it will happen over the single HDMI cable plugged into the back. They will even be able to share a single Internet connection. No more boxes full of different cables laying behind the rack.
For years some people have been saying the 3D will be the next big thing in home theater, and HDMI 1.4 is ready for that too, supporting no fewer than 7 different 3D structures. Whether or not 3D is ever the “killer app” for home theater remains to be seen, but it will doubtlessly see some serious support from the gaming community.
While 1080p is the hot resolution now, in the future it will seem as quaint as 480p does today. 4K (4,096 x 2,160) may not be right around the corner for home use, but it is coming, and at least we won't have to see yet another HDMI variation to support it.
Hopefully we'll get to enjoy all that HDMI 1.4 has to offer without the problems that plagued earlier versions. Each passing year has brought us significant progress in this area, to the point where many custom installers happily install HDMI with almost no thought as to their past headaches. As manufacturers improve things, people understand the intricacies of HDMI, and new HDMI repeaters successfully deal with the distance issue, the future looks bright indeed.
Surprisingly, the origin of many HDMI problems is man made, and also labeled with a 4 letter acronym starting with an “H”; HDCP. Yes, most of the problems with HDMI are of our own making. Unlike good, old analog video, consumer electronics devices connected with HDMI must actually communicate with each other to ensure that each is authorized to either send or receive HD content. If there is any glitch in the works, you'll get nothing. Actually to clarify, you may get a white or black screen, but Monday Night Football on ESPN or Star Trek on Blu-Ray, no way.
While that may be great for protecting the content, it is tough for installers to explain to their clients why this stuff just flat fails to work sometimes. Many clients have a hard time believing that something could be purposely engineered not to work perfectly every time. The truth is that, not only is HDMI far more sensitive to cabling, especially at longer distances, but sometimes different pieces of gear just didn't want to play nicely together.
To be fair, these problems occur far less frequently now than they did a couple of years ago, when they were an almost weekly occurrence. Typically, there would be much finger pointing by the manufacturers of the equipment involved, and eventually the problems would be solved by a firmware update or an equipment change.
Another problem with HDMI that have some customers shaking their heads is the inability of some equipment with HDMI to support an unlimited number of devices. “What do you mean I can't connect this Comcast cable box to more than one TV?” Having to explain to a customer that each source has tokens that must be authorized by the display or they'll get no video can be an exercise in frustration.
Some devices will support upwards of 30 connections, while others, only 1. The trick is that you don't know until you either analyze the unit, or connect it and see. If you are centrally locating your source pieces and distributing them throughout your home or office, you may have a situation where you could easily have more TVs or other display devices than your sources have tokens.
Sure, you say, but I don't have a 6,000 sq ft home with 7 different TVs. You may not, but some far simpler combinations have caused problems, such as connecting your cable box to your A/V receiver and then connecting your A/V receiver to your TV. There have been cases where the cable box counts this as two devices connected to it, and it only has one authorized token, so it gets mad, and shuts down the video.
Now we have the latest HDMI variation, HDMI 1.4. Wasn't 1.3a good enough? Maybe so but 1.4 is here now and we have to be ready for it and the problems that may come with it. Surely, there have to some good things that will come from HDMI 1.4, don't there? Yes, HDMI 1.4 has some very attractive, new features, although much of them will not be implemented immediately.
HDMI 1.4 feature set -
HDMI Ethernet channel
Audio return channel
4k and 2k pixel resolution support
3D support
More color spaces
and yes there will be new connectors, including mini HDMI connectors for mobile devices.
The new HDMI features will enable a host of new functionality such as device to device content distribution and Internet connection sharing. Much as some devices like HD TiVOs can share content now with other Ethernet connected HD TiVOs, in the future many different devices will be able to do this, and it will happen over the single HDMI cable plugged into the back. They will even be able to share a single Internet connection. No more boxes full of different cables laying behind the rack.
For years some people have been saying the 3D will be the next big thing in home theater, and HDMI 1.4 is ready for that too, supporting no fewer than 7 different 3D structures. Whether or not 3D is ever the “killer app” for home theater remains to be seen, but it will doubtlessly see some serious support from the gaming community.
While 1080p is the hot resolution now, in the future it will seem as quaint as 480p does today. 4K (4,096 x 2,160) may not be right around the corner for home use, but it is coming, and at least we won't have to see yet another HDMI variation to support it.
Hopefully we'll get to enjoy all that HDMI 1.4 has to offer without the problems that plagued earlier versions. Each passing year has brought us significant progress in this area, to the point where many custom installers happily install HDMI with almost no thought as to their past headaches. As manufacturers improve things, people understand the intricacies of HDMI, and new HDMI repeaters successfully deal with the distance issue, the future looks bright indeed.
