So Long HDMI: New Standard for A/V Uses Ethernet Cables

New standard offers both lower costs, the potential to deliver more information and convenience

LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Valens Semiconductor have been secretly conspiring to kill HDMI. And today they set their plans into motion, introducing a brand new audiovisual standard, HDBaseT. While that name may sound confusing, before you slap your head, this will not likely introduce a new kind of cable to your house.

Past A/V standards from industry groups have introduced a plethora of connectors (S-Video, HDMI, DisplayPort for example), so that makes this release all the more unusual. Instead of a new connector, it is based on the Cat 5e/6 network cables, commonly referred to as "ethernet cables".

It supports cable lengths up to 328 feet. The cable can pass HD and 3-D video signals, as well as data through an integrated 100MBit Ethernet connection. That data feed should allow for new internet-connected TV services, such as Google TV which delivers advertising-funded services to TV sets.

The standard also has many other advantages. For one, it will help declutter the growing mess of cables in the average household. By repurposing ethernet cables, it should also dramatically lower costs, both for the manufacturer and the consumer.

About the only loser in the situation may be "premium" cable makers like Monster Cable Products. However, it'll only be a matter of time before Monster finds a way to throw gold or other precious metals into a Cat 6 cable and release it as a "premium" HDBaseT cable.

About the only loose end is what mini-connectors will arise out of this new standard. Currently many smart phones, such as the HTC EVO 4G offer mini-HDMI connections. Perhaps more advanced mini-USB connections will answer that dilemma, though.

The standard will begin its rollout later this year. The majority of its volume will hit in 2011.

News Source: http://www.dailytech.com/So+Long+HDMI+New+Standard+for+AV+Uses+Ethernet+Cables/article18902.htm

Weird that they didn't mention display port since display port was the natural successor to HDMI but good for ethernet cables as us all I suppose.
 
About the only loser in the situation may be "premium" cable makers like Monster Cable Products. However, it'll only be a matter of time before Monster finds a way to throw gold or other precious metals into a Cat 6 cable and release it as a "premium" HDBaseT cable.
Yea, I was thinking just the same thing actually when I first heard about HDBaseT some while ago.

/Self looks forward to the first batches of €80+ 2-meter network cables released onto the market... :LOL:

Also: we need a new connector standard roughly as much as we need the bubonic plague back. SERIOUSLY, the 5+ standards we got already are PLENTY enough. What this is really about is that Sony + henchmen don't want to pay royalties to use HDMI. That's the only reason for this cable coming into existence, plus using network cables probably represented the least amount of technical research neccessary to implement it...
 
HDMI has some issues providing a good signal over a longer stretch (it already starts weakening significantly between 1.5-2 meters I think, something to do with not twisting the cables or something), making the standard unusable for a lot of applications - note that the specs mention it can handle up to 328 feet, presumably without boosters, which is a very big and important improvement.

I think if they wanted to create a new standard that could deal with both audio-visual information and internet at the same time, and they can do it with pretty much existing cables and connectors, then this was probably easier and more robust than adding network capabilities to HDMI ...

And it is a very interesting prospect for a future where you can just plug your TV into the cable box using an ethernet cable and you're getting all your information straight from there - cable boxes already have these connectors today.

I personally think it sounds like a good (and cheap!) solution, and I'm interested to see how it develops. Obviously it's going to be a while before it'll replace HDMI in most people's homes. But there is some interesting potential in reusing existing infrastructure.
 
Weird that they didn't mention display port since display port was the natural successor to HDMI but good for ethernet cables as us all I suppose.

Display port was never meant as a replacement for HDMI but rather a complimentary display tech for use on PCs (desktop and laptop).

I'm wondering if this new display standard will play nice with routers? Especially if they plan on routing internet + video + audio over the same cable.

I can already see the headaches coming for HDCP (or whatever they end up using) handshaking over ethernet through routers.

Interesting thought is that this opens up DRM on not only video streams but potentially network streams and data. I'm sure quite a few content providers (video, movies, games, etc.) wouldn't mind having more control over what comes to you over the your internet connection.

Regards,
SB
 
The thing I don't get about this is that HDMI is like 4Gbit/s so how are they supposed to put that kind of throughput into a 100Mbit Ethernet cable?

Either HDMI is way over specced in bandwidth, they are going to be using Gigabit/10Gigabit or this is intended only for low res screens.

I'm wondering if this new display standard will play nice with routers?
I got the impression that the data won't be transmitted in Ethernet TCP/IP format, just using the same connectors.
 
The thing I don't get about this is that HDMI is like 4Gbit/s so how are they supposed to put that kind of throughput into a 100Mbit Ethernet cable?

You're reading that wrong. The cabling is used to transmit audio and video up to Full HD in 3D, AS WELL AS still support a 100MBit data line for data services besides.
 
Hmm, should dig up some old posts where I expected such a cabling standard to emerge with the PS3. I knew I aint crazy, it just appears tis way because the rest of the world is...
 
This is going to have a really hard time taking off. There's HDMI which is already standard, DisplayPort, Intel's Light Peak and now this. Light Peak is essentially the same, feature-wise, but it's much more forward thinking because optical transceivers are already in the 10GigE and 40GigE range, and just available in the 100GigE range. SFP+ can do 10GigE in a pretty small form factor, so it could probably switch to consumer grade in an even small form, for a relatively cheap price. 40GigE and 100GigE transceivers are huge. It'll be a while before those go consumer, but there are no plans for those speeds over copper, as far as I know. Cat 7 basically does the same rate (10GigE) as CAT6, but over the full 100m range. You probably won't see 40GigE copper for a while, and I'm not sure if it would be over CAT7 or CAT8.

Edit: Light Peak may be multi-mode fiber. I'm not 100% sure. If it is, then you'd probably have to replace your cables as the spec increased from 10GigE up to 40GigE and 100GigE. If they're smart, they'll use single-mode fiber, and a 10GigE cable would be good up to 100GigE. The cables would be slightly more expensive, but you'd be able to reuse old cables for new spec, allowing rapid adoption.

Most people only have CAT5e at home, so this other tech would require people to buy CAT6, and then CAT7 or CAT8 whenever they decide to jump above 10GigE.
 
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Sounds a bit silly to me, why not just go MM fiber and forget about EMI forever? 10GigE optics are really inexpensive these days.
 
About the only loser in the situation may be "premium" cable makers like Monster Cable Products. However, it'll only be a matter of time before Monster finds a way to throw gold or other precious metals into a Cat 6 cable and release it as a "premium" HDBaseT cable.

Or the consumers that already have dozens of devices/cables using existing standards. This isn't going to save anyone any money for a long long time assuming it even catches on.
 
Sounds a bit silly to me, why not just go MM fiber and forget about EMI forever? 10GigE optics are really inexpensive these days.

The only thing I don't like about MM fiber is having to buy new fibers if they bump the spec. If Light Peak launches with OM4 MM fiber supporting 40 or 100GigE, then it's cool with me. It would suck to spend a bunch of money on cables and then have to buy them all over again. Light Peak's disadvantage is the cables will not be as cheap as CAT5,6,7,8 and you won't be able to build them yourself to save money.
 
So a network cable can do sound, video, AND normal network speeds?

Impressive.

/me looks at his old friend with new appreciation and respect in his eyes
 
So a network cable can do sound, video, AND normal network speeds?

Impressive.

/me looks at his old friend with new appreciation and respect in his eyes


Why not. It's all digital now. I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner.

One thing, is don't expect the Monster Cable market to disappear. They'll sell you cables with rugged construction, tons of unnecessary shielding and fancy looking shielded RJ45 connectors. Fortunately it'll be very easy to make your own CAT6 cables with 8P8C connectors, and you'll be able to shop from all of the direct cheap cables made for networking.

That's if this thing takes off. Seems like there are big names behind all of the different standards (USB, Light Peak, HDMI, DisplayPort, HDbaseT, SATA).

I kind of like Light Peak, because Clear Curve fiber is durable and it is a cable that supports multiple protocols, so you can use it for any digital application. You can replace USB, SATA, HDMI, audio, network all with one type of cable.
 
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