Will we soon have UDI and HDMI
For the tech geeks out there like me, we just want the best picture and the least amount of interference between our source and display.
Now comes UDI (Universal Digital Interface) with the potential to stuff more data down a pipe than HDMI and with licensing fees far lower than HDMI. So will HDMI go the way of MCA and SCSI which were far superior computer interfaces, but because of licensing are found few and far between.
Oh yeah, did I mention that UDI is not saddled with a copy protection scheme like HDCP? Now if UDI has overcome the distance limitations that HDMI has, I’m sold.
Check out our new sister blog on Home Theater, HTBlog.net
August 14th, 2006 at 9:18 am
No copy protection = No studio support
August 14th, 2006 at 9:20 am
But with PC’s and UDI you should be able to more easily rip your Bluray/HD DVD’s for free use.
The industry last week started caving on CSS. It won’t be long when they will cave here too.
August 14th, 2006 at 6:24 pm
I think Hennigns Right. The stuidos are scared and will try their best to stop this. Plus, there’s no steam behind the format. Not a big community. It’s not like linux or firefox where people gathered around a central idea and gave it force. Or did I just miss the train?
August 16th, 2006 at 9:14 am
HDMI is just DVI(making a convertor involves some soldering, but no active devices) in a different form factor, with audio incorporated, and HDCP mandated.
DVI can use HDCP as an OPTION. Making it into a seperate plug was in order to pretend that it was a new technology, so that they could force upgrades and didn’t piss off all the DVI-using monitor owners already out there by saying outright “You can’t use this because we crippled it with DRM”.
I repeat: DVI was doing just fine for HD with the same tech, the only reason HDMI was ever put in place was as a platform that would be 100% HDCP compliant. Why would they ever switch to a completely different format that didn’t even have DRM?
We tried to put together a large group buy for a 1080i LCD panel for DIY projection purposes, but an HDCP license would have cost us $10k flat fee per board design plus several bucks on every unit made.