Why HDMI?
Dear Gary:
I read with interest and amusement your coverage of all the angst over HDMI cables. They seem like the classic case of the $500 crescent wrench. Why use a stable, proven, moderately priced single connection with more functionality––FireWire®––when an expensive, bleeding-edge-of-the-art approach with endless revisions and poor reliability will do?
A few years ago when CE manufacturers were too cheap to put in digital decoders into their displays, HDMI seemed to be needed for a copy-protected digital video connection. Now almost all new sets have integral MPEG-2 decoders as part of their digital tuners, and it probably wouldn’t be very expensive to include the newer codecs as well. By keeping the source material in source format for transport throughout the A/V
system and eventually to the display, FireWire can send multiple high-definition streams in multiple directions simultaneously through a single daisy-chained cable, accompanied by uncompressed high-resolution audio and control information, with bandwidth to spare. FireWire systems are self-configuring and transparent to the user. I hit one button; “Transfer To D-VHS” and my DVR talks to my high-definition recorder automatically, as temporarily stored programs on the hard disk drive are archived to digital tape (and soon, possibly, to high-definition optical disc) with digital rights management intact. Let’s see HDMI do that.
I understand early versions of HDMI might be needed for legacy high-definition displays (or to connect outboard scalers to the display), but FireWire has more than enough proven capacity and functionality for displays with built-in digital decoders at a fraction of the cost. As we’re rushing to sell HDMI version 1.3b (!) capability in electronic equipment to overwhelmed consumers, let’s please not throw out the system that already works well AND allows me to legally archive my high-definition recordings.
Don Loose, Dayton, Ohio
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