Video Cards, Intel 2006 Chipsets Get HDMI

August 26, 2005 By Geoff Duncan

Silicon Image says Nvidia, ATI, and the Intel 2006 graphics chipsets are all integrating HDMI. Question is, do you want it?

Silicon Image announced this week at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco that video card makers ATI and Nvidia are designing reference graphics cards utilizing Silicon Image technology to implement support for HDMI interfaces. In addition, the Intel 2006 graphics chipset will incorporate similar Silicon Image technology to support HDMI on Intel platforms with PCI Express. Both systems will implement the HDMI 1.2 specification.

HDMI, or High-Definition Multimedia Interface, is an all-digital standard for high-definition audio and video, capable of pushing 1080p digital video and up to 8 channels of 192Khz audio over a single connection with bandwidth to spare. HDMI is already emerging in consumer electronics systems, particularly on home theater systems and high-definition displays. Adding HDMI capabilities to computer graphic systems enables those computers to more fully function as media hubs, particularly when combined with technologies such as Windows Media Center, other PVR software or networked devices, and built-in DVD players. Silicon Image did not release any information on whether the HDMI support from these manufacturers will also handle HDMI’s audio capabilities; however, it’s generally expected that first-generation HDMI products for computers will omit audio support in favor of dedicated audio inputs on another device, or in anticipation that consumers will be routing audio to a system other than their computer.

A potential downside to HDMI is HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection), a digital rights management specification from Intel Corporation intended to protect "premium" content carried over HDMI. Not surprisingly, HDMI has received support from Microsoft and other major players in the so-called "Content Cartel" of large media companies while drawing fire from fair-use advocates, entrepreneurs, and content creators. HDCP doesn’t require consumers to enter passwords or otherwise authenticate themselves to view content over HDMI connections; rather, HDCP is intended to prevent unauthorized capture and/or decryption of protected content over the HDMI interface, and ensure only "authorized" devices function when connected via HDMI; this, in turn, impacts what users can do with HDMI equipment, what sort of equipment can be built to work with HMDI systems, or what content creators can do with their own material using HDMI.

Showing 5 comments

Joey carpenter at 2:21pm 21st January 2006 I would love to get my hands on an hdmi enabled pc video card, i work at circuit city and i already have everything hdmi and a home theatre reciever so now i will wait to incorporate this with my hd components (dvd,dtv,reciever,ps3(comming soon)).
Alex at 2:15am 3rd September 2005 Ok guys, judging from the recent dates of your posts, you must not be up on HDMI, but then, you probably aren't OWNERS of HDMI components. I presently have a DVD player and SAT box connected to my A/V receiver via HDMI, and BOTH pass 5.1, 6.1, and 7.1 audio to the receiver, which decodes Dolby Digital, DTS ES, and several other audio codecs. Oh yeah, for Mr. Medieval. Get thee to a Best Buy and purchase some HDMI components. Then you'd see that consumers have no need to run HDMI audio/video INTO their computers, but OUT to their A/V receivers. This is so they can switch between PC/DVD/SAT with 1 button press. This is only possible if all 3 are connected to the receiver with the same cable type, in this case, HDMI. Now cross yourself and do 3 Hail Mary's for not doing your homework on new technology before posting a comment.
Geoff Duncan at 8:49am 30th August 2005 They're not mentioning audio AT ALL now, whether stereo, 5.1, or 7.1 (which HMDI could also handle, I believe). The issue is that graphics cards traditionally do not have audio input and there's already a lucrative third-party market for add-on audio boards (Creative, etc.) which don't do video. On PCs these things are traditionally not handles by the same cards; it makes some sense that initial designs from Nvidia and ATI would stick close to current expectations for what a video card is supposed to do.

Also, lots of folks aren't interested in running HDMI audio into their computers anyway. That's what the separate home theater and surround systems they already have are for, right? (What, you don't have a separate surround system for your computer! Shame on thee, consumer! That's why God invented debt! Get thee to a mall!)
Ian Bell and Dan Gaul at 10:49am 29th August 2005 http://news.digitaltrends.com/talkback45.html

Here is a great Talk Back article that addresses this problem.

"However, I was very troubled at the recent C.E.D.I.A. Expo to find out that one has to be careful about HDMI these days. Why do I say this? Both Audio and Video products currently on the market that utilize HDMI only passes 2.0 digital audio, and not full-blown 5.1 surround sound audio. These products include A/V Receivers, DVD players/recorders, and HDTV’s. Of course, to be fair, Silicon Image – the creator of HDMI -- claims that it can do 5.1 audio easily. However, the hard fact is that none of the connections currently on the market today are passing 5.1 audio!"

No to be honest, maybe the HDMI spec will change by the time it hits the computer, but if they are not mentioning 5.1 audio now, there is a good chance it will not happen.
Ian Bell and Dan Gaul at 10:47am 29th August 2005 If you notice, there is little mention of the audio specifications that HDMI is capable. It used to be that HDMI was supposed to support 5.1 surround-sound, but that turned out not to be the case. That leaves you with two-channel or even possibly Pro Logic sound at best. True multimedia enthusiasts that would be turned on by the HDMI spec might as well stick with their DVI connection and a seperate 5.1 to 7.1 sound card. HDMI will defeat the purpose if you cannot get true Dolby DTS or Digital sound as well as 1080P from it.