HDMI 1.3 is approved and Silicon Image is sampling HDMI 1.3 chips. November will see the release of the PS3, probably the first HDMI 1.3 product. The question, of course, is when will other HDMI 1.3 products come out? HDMI 1.3, remember, will support the new audio formats like Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master.

Silicon Image says that a number of new HDMI 1.3 products will appear at January’s CES show. A/V receivers, HD televisions, and probably HD disc players will all be shown with HDMI 1.3 support. Frankly, I wonder why it takes so long. The spec is finalized now and manufacturers have known about HDMI 1.3 for a while. But while they’ll be shown at CES, that’s not to say that they’ll ship at CES. So maybe they won’t be available to consumers for a while after that. I would have expected products to come out much sooner, but oh well.

HDMI 1.3 Interface Due By End Of Year