What’s the Deal with HDMI 1.3?
Monday, March 17th, 2008HDMI 1.3, the newest revision of the popular HDMI interface, is starting to make waves in the high definition home entertainment arena - it’s the next big thing. So what, you ask, is so cool about the newest HDMI on the block? Here are a few highlights (compared with the last release, HDMI 1.2):
- Signal Bandwidth:
- Then: 165 MHz Now: 340 MHz
- TMDS Bandwidth:
- Then: 4.95 Gbit/s Now: 10.2 Gbit/s
- Video Bandwidth
- Then: 3.9 Gbit/s Now: 8.16 Gbit/s
- Highest possible Resolution
- Then: 1920x1080p60 Now: 2560x1600p60
- Maximum Color Depth (bits per pixel)
- Then: 24 Now: 48
Other highlights include xvYCC Color and Deep Color capability, supporting over one billion colors. And good news for Dolby fans: Dolby Digital Plus (DD+), Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, truly high-fidelity audio experiences, can all be carried over HDMI 1.3.
Companies are already selling many HDMI 1.3 switches and splitters, like the EXT-HDMI1.3-441, a 4×1 switcher that allows you to switch one HDMI 1.3 source between up to four different displays.