CE Pro hands out suggestions for HDMI
By Steven Kim 
posted Mar 30th 2008 10:13PM
posted Mar 30th 2008 10:13PM
Custom installers and everyday consumers don't always have the same requirements for A/V gear. As we've mentioned before, HDMI has had some problems, but it is taking off. Follow the "read" link to get CE Pro's suggestions on what HDMI can do to help win over installers; we've got a feeling the proposed changes would make Joe and Jane Six Packs alike happy, too. We'll start off with our biggest HDMI pet peeve -- captive/locking connectors! Simply put: HDMI needs 'em. Next up, the major teething problems associated with HDMI versions 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 seem to be behind us and 1.3 seems to be a stable spec; the task at hand is to spread this info among installers (especially ones who were bitten by earlier version problems). To CE Pro's list, we'd add that all the various flavors of HDMI-CEC need to be brought under control -- when units like the Onkyo TX-SA606X get singled out for interoperability, it means lots of consumers aren't enjoying any ease of use. What would you like to see in the HDMI spec?
I'd love to see a unification of commands. Pretty much, you hook up a DVD or BD player to a TV and you can set them up to be best friends and work together well. You see this with similar brands, but thats about it.
So much potential.
I would like to see the ability to peel off layer of audio in a switch or reciever. Many new wall TV's have great built in speakers with no room for a center channel if you wall mount. It would be a real boon if we could use the TV speakers for the center channel and stilll take advantage of the rest of our surround sound speakers. Or even better would be to use the TV's speakers AND all of the surround speakers.
as wild as that sounds, i've seen so many homes where people simply do not have space for a center channel. though i would never use it, this would be an amazing feature.
while that would work in situations that have no other choice, the inner audiophile in me screams out.. that center channel carries the majority of a movie track... and probably shouldnt be the weakest link.
I havent heard tv speakers yet that could match a dedicated center speaker.... and if you let the tv handle it, the surrounds would have more fidelity.
I actually chose my tv stand specifically for a place to put the center (knowing I could no longer place it on top)
But, if you have no choice... like wallmounting.. (though you could still get a soundbar)
ZERO HDCP problems between cable STBs and HDTVs thus enabling the promise of reliable communication for video and sound over one cable - That's what I would like to see.
HDMI is crap. I used to like it, until my Fios Box stopped talking to my TV. Both are perfectly fine, hardware wise. It was a software update that goofed up the DRM, and now gives me 3 seconds of picture, a pretty green glow, then a black screen. Why can't it just work? Why does the software have to verify compliance? What is the point of a "handshake", other than to cause problems for consumers.
More and more people will start having these types of problems. DRM should never have been included in the HDMI standard.
no more HDCP. sometimes the "handshake" breaks up and i have to reset things as I can still hear the audio via optical hookup, but the video is gone.
HDMI needs to be daisy-chain able. There simply is no excuse for this not being in there.
Think about it, no more stupid, expensive HDMI switchers needed and a single HDMI input on the TV and simple "HDMI IN and HDMI OUT" on each device. Give all the devices a unique MAC address, and make the whole thing a mini-network, which each device sharing a single bus.
That's a great idea, iespecially if it would still work when the unused devices are off.
check out this old, yet still very relavant article over at bluejeancables.com.
Whats the matter with HDMI.
http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/whats-the-matter-with-hdmi.htm
-NavyMSU