The High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a compact audio/video connector interface for transmitting uncompressed digital streams. It represents a digital alternative to consumer analog standards such as Radio Frequency (RF) coaxial cable, composite video, S-Video, SCART, component video, D-Terminal, and VGA.
HDMI connects digital audio/video sources such as set-top boxes, Blu-ray Disc players, personal computers, video game consoles, and AV receivers to compatible digital audio devices, video monitors, and digital televisions (DTV). The world’s first HDMI products started shipping in the fall of 2003 and currently over 800 CE and PC companies have adopted the HDMI specification (HDMI Adopters). HDMI began to be appear on consumer HDTV camcorders and expensive digital still cameras in 2006. Shipments of HDMI are expected to exceed that of Digital Visual Interface (DVI) in 2008, driven primarily by the Consumer Electronics (CE) Market.
HDMI supports, on a single cable, any TV or PC video format including standard, enhanced, and high-definition video along with up to 8 channels of digital audio. It is independent of the various DTV standards such as ATSC and DVB (-T,-S,-C) as these are encapsulations of the MPEG movie data streams (which are passed off to a decoder and output as uncompressed video data on HDMI). HDMI encodes the video data into TMDS for transmission digitally over HDMI.
Devices are manufactured to adhere to various versions of the specification, where each version is given a number, such as 1.0 or 1.3. Each subsequent version of the specification uses the same cables, but increases the throughput and/or capabilities of what can be transmitted over the cable. For example, previously, the maximum pixel clock rate of the interface was 165 MHz, sufficient for supporting 1080p at 60 Hz or WUXGA (1920×1200) at 60 Hz, but HDMI 1.3 increased that to 340 MHz, providing support for WQXGA (2560×1600) and beyond across a single digital link. See also: HDMI Versions.
HDMI also includes support for 8-channel uncompressed digital audio at 192 kHz sample rate with 24 bits/sample as well as any compressed stream such as Dolby Digital, or DTS. HDMI supports up to 8 channels of one-bit audio, such as that used on Super Audio CDs at rates up to 4x that used by Super Audio CD. With version 1.3, HDMI now also supports lossless compressed streams such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.
HDMI is backward-compatible with the single-link Digital Visual Interface carrying digital video (DVI-D or DVI-I, but not DVI-A) used on modern computer monitors and graphics cards. This means that a DVI-D source can drive an HDMI monitor, or vice versa, by means of a suitable adapter or cable, but the audio and remote control features of HDMI will not be available. Additionally, without support for High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) on the display, the signal source may prevent the end user from viewing or recording certain restricted content.
PCs with hardware HDMI output may require software support from Operating Systems such as Windows Vista. Linux currently supports video output through backward-compatibility with DVI.
HDMI switches enable a number of HD devices to be connected to a single display even if that display has only 1 HDMI or DVI input!