Q: What's new in the HDMI 1.3 Specification?
Higher speed: Although all previous versions of HDMI have had more than enough bandwidth to support all current HDTV formats, HDMI 1.3 increases its single-link bandwidth to 340 MHz (10.2 Gbps) to support the demands of future HD display devices, such as higher resolutions, Deep Color and high frame rates. In addition, built into the HDMI 1.3 specification is the technical foundation that will let future versions of HDMI reach significantly higher speeds.
Deep Color: HDMI 1.3 supports 30-bit, 36-bit and 48-bit (RGB or YCbCr) color depths, up from the 24-bit depths in previous versions of the HDMI specification, for stunning rendering of over one billion colors in unprecedented detail.
Broader color space: HDMI 1.3 adds support for xvYCC color standard, which removes current color space limitations and enables the display of any color viewable by the human eye.
New mini connector: With small portable devices such as HD camcorders and still cameras demanding seamless connectivity to HDTVs, HDMI 1.3 offers a new, smaller form factor connector option.
Lip Sync: Because consumer electronics devices are using increasingly complex digital signal processing to enhance the clarity and detail of the content, synchronization of video and audio in user devices has become a greater challenge and could potentially require complex end-user adjustments. HDMI 1.3 incorporates automatic audio synching capabilities that allows devices to perform this synchronization automatically with total accuracy.
New HD lossless audio formats: In addition to HDMI's current ability to support high-bandwidth uncompressed digital audio and all currently-available compressed formats (such as Dolby® Digital and DTS®), HDMI 1.3 adds additional support for new lossless compressed digital audio formats Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.
Q: What products or applications will take advantage of new HDMI 1.3 capabilities?
According to announcements by manufacturers, new high-definition DVD formats (HD-DVD and Blu-ray) and game machines (including the Sony PLAYSTATION® 3) will make use of capabilities added in HDMI 1.3. Digital televisions will be able to present images that are closer to real life than previously has been possible. These will include LCD TVs, plasma displays and rear projection microdisplays. The PS3 which is scheduled to ship in November 2006, will be the first source product to provide such high quality imagery to these displays. It is expected that hi-def DVD players will follow early in 2007 with HDMI 1.3 support. A/V Receivers that can decode DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD will start to show up early in 2007 as well. Please check with the manufacturers for details.
Q: What is meant by the term Deep Color and why is it important?
Deep Color lets HDTVs and other displays go from millions of colors to billions of colors allowing consumers to enjoy unprecedented vividness and accuracy of color on their displays. Deep Color eliminates on-screen color banding, for smooth tonal transitions and subtle gradations between colors. It enables increased contrast ratio, and can represent many times more shades of gray between black and white.
Q: What is xvYCC?
HDMI 1.3 adopts use of the IEC 61966-2-4 color standard, commonly called xvYCC (shorthand for Extended YCC Colorimetry for Video Applications). This new standard can support 1.8 times as many colors as existing HDTV signals. xvYCC lets HDTVs display colors more accurately, enabling displays with more natural, vivid colors .
Q: What is the difference between Deep Color and xvYCC?
Deep Color increases the number of available colors within the boundaries defined by the RGB or YCbCr color space, while xvYCC expands the available range (limits) to allow the display of colors that meet and exceed what human eyes can recognize.
Q: When will products with HDMI 1.3 capabilities be available to the public?
Products using HDMI 1.3 capabilities are expected to become available this year starting with the PS3. Displays, DVDs and A/V Receivers are expected to ship early in 2007.
Q: How will consumers know which products have the latest implementation of HDMI 1.3?
Consumers should not look for a particular version of HDMI, but rather for the functionality that they want the device to support (Deep Color, specific audio formats, etc.). Alternatively, consumers can look for support for these features called out in the manufacturer's product information.
Q: Is HDMI 1.3 backward compatible with prior releases of the HDMI spec and with DVI?
Yes, HDMI is fully backward compatible with all prior releases of the HDMI spec, as well as DVI compliant devices.
Q: Why is lip sync important?
In a DTV, typically the video processing takes more time than the audio. As a result, lip sync can become an issue where it's noticeable to the viewer, creating an effect similar to that of a badly-dubbed movie. HDMI 1.3 provides a method whereby the audio processing times in devices can be automatically adjusted to remove lip sync.
But to be honest it really won't offer anything for home movie viewing for quite some time. Deep Color MIGHT be used in gaming in the near future - but there hasn't been a single source for it announced by anyone. All the other features really don't provide anything special on the display end of things.
In other words - I wouldn't wait too long for a HDMI 1.3 display(unless it can also pass uncompressed audio signals and has an HDMI out). An a/v reciever I would of course wait for 1.3.
EDIT TO ADD: Many trusted folks have reffered to 1.3 as mostly marketing hype.
