I hate HDMI connections. If there ever was a poorly designed connecter, HDMI has them. No locking mechanism, so they fall out easily, the fit is usually quite loose, and they stick out a lot from the back of the piece of equipment that they’re connecting. And it doesn’t get much better when you think about the electrical\/data specifications associated with HDMI. Most of the equipment designers that I know have chosen to avoid the format all together because of the cost of licensing is so high. There HDMI spec seems to change quite often and the feature set is confusing. Who wants to be upgrading their gear every year?<\/p>\n
I haven’t followed all of the nitty gritty details but I do know that the 1.0 specification was designed to handle both high-definition video and high-resolution audio…up to 8 channels at 192 kHz\/24-bits. That specification is more than enough to pass the best high-resolution audio in multichannel from a source player to your preamp or A\/V receiver. <\/p>\n
I use a KANEX Pro de-embedder to extract the high-resolution, multichannel audio from my Blu-ray player when I want to use an external DAC. If I simply connect an S\/P DIF or TOS Link connector the sample rate is lowered to 48 kHz and the word lengths shortened to 16-bits thanks to the RIAA and the major labels.<\/p>\n
Well now HDMI 2.0 has arrived. I got am email this morning highlighting the new functionality of HDMI 2.0. It listed the following enhancements: The HDMI 2.0 specification doesn’t require you to repurchase new cables or connectors. If you have high-speed cables already, you can use them with the new data streams.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 4K or UHD at 50\/60 Hz (2160), which is 4 times the clarity of 1080p\/60 video resolution
\n\u2022 Up to 32 audio channels for a multi-dimensional immersive audio experience<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Up to 1536 kHz audio sample rate frequency for the highest audio fidelity<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Simultaneous de3livery of dual video streams to multiple users on the same screen
\n\u2022 Simultaneous delivery of multi-stream audio to multiple users (up to 4)
\n\u2022 Support for the wide angle theatrical 21:9 video aspect ratio
\n\u2022 Dynamic synchronization of video and audio streams
\n\u2022 CEC extensions provides expanded command and control of consumer electronics devices through a single control point<\/p>\n