The HDMI standard was created by many of the leading manufacturers, these include: Panasonic, Hitachi, Philips, Sony, Thomson (RCA), Silicon Image and Toshiba. HDMI is not just a used in video transfer, it also has embedded multi-channel audio support.



A lot of people out there find all these new "options" that have come with HD technology very confusing (i.e. Deep colour and DVD audio). So below is a brief guide to some of the options that are available below.

Deep colour: This in simple terms allows you HD television to go from a display using millions of colours to a display of billions of colours. It also increases the contrast ratio, therefore allowing more grey shades between white and black. Colour banding lines are completely eliminated and this gives the viewer unrivalled colour accuracy and vividness due to the smooth transitions and grading between colour and tone.

How much better is 1080p than 720p: In purely technical terms it's 225%. The sound quality is also improved by a further 50% with the new totally lossless, bit-for-bit Dolby True HD and DTS Master HD multi channel audio content.

xvYCC / xv Colour: This is a new standard brought in with HDMI 1.3 (IEC 61966-2-4, more commonly known as xvYCC, the shorthand term for ?Extended YCC Colorimetry for Video Applications?. This standard has the brand name ?x.v.Colour?). This new standard has 1.8 times more display colours than the previous standard, enabling a more pleasurable viewing experience.

DVD audio: This digital format allows a range of audio channels from single through 5.1 channel surround sound. The audio quality of a DVD Audio disc can be substantially higher than a standard audio CD. DVD Audio supports bit depths up to 24-bit and sample rates up to 192 kHz, CD audio can only reach 16-bit and 44.1 kHz.

Cabling has always been an issue with recent electronic advances, for example you need this type of cable and can't go over a certain length, etc, etc. HDMI technology has been designed to use a standard copper cable construction. In order to allow cable manufacturers to improve their products through the use of new and emerging technologies, the HDMI standard specifies the required performance of a cable but does not specify a maximum cable length. Cables are now available in lengths of up to 15 meters.

In summary; HDMI digital interconnectivity provides a superior, uncompressed digital video and audio quality. A popular interface enabling the transmission of high definition data and various content, with a simple, user friendly connector that replaces the maze of cabling behind you television.