From time to time new standards are introduced but rarely is it explained to consumers what they actually are.

The purpose of this post is to point you in the right direction about HDMI a semi new type of connection (pictured above).

You use HDMI to connect devices together typically for Hi-Definition Audio and Video.

So it might be a PC to a Display or even a Blu Ray player to a TV.

For the first time in PC technology we have a cable that can carry both Audio and Video on  a single cable.

From the PC End HDMI is the latest in a very long line of Display technology that started with EGA, CGA, VGA then DVI.

You can get converters from DVI to HDMI (pictured below).

HDMI does come with a steep learning curve in terms of specification and compatibility from HDMI 1.0 to 1.1, 1.2, 1.2a, 1.3. 1.3a, 1.3b and 1.3b1 (insanity I know).

Each adding something or fixing something in the HDMI specification.

Find below some good links all about HDMI for further reading.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI

Link: http://www.enduserblog.com/2008/07/how-i-learned-t.html

Link: http://tech.yahoo.com/blog/patterson/2708

I’m all for PC’s taking different form factors and these look nice (I think) not sure about the wood effect one.

PC Mag has one in for review and give it 3.5 out of 5.

As their review points out this is in direct competition with Apple’s Mac Mini.

The Dell Studio Hybrid can however be configured with a blu ray drive and output HD over HDMI so this becomes interesting for those wanting a tidy/small PC based HD experience.

Link: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2326614,00.asp

Toshiba do have a problem on their hands. HD video is sexy (especially on high resolution laptops)However their implementation of it (HD-DVD) failed to be accepted in the marketplace.

HD-DVD as a format has now been relegated to the bargain bin.

As a dual format guy, I have benefited from all this cheap 1080p goodness, so I am far from complaining.

It does seem like Toshiba are compensating in their updated range of laptops.

Take the 18.4″ Qosmio G55 with its Quad Core CPU.

However a media machine like this with no Hi-Def optical drive is a pretty big problem.

There is next to no downloadable HD content. Apple iTunes doesn’t count because their HD content requires an AppleTV.

I doubt Toshiba can afford to wait the next 3 to 5 years before HD downloads become a reality.

Link: http://explore.toshiba.com/

Today Apple launched Movies into their iTunes music store in the UK. You can:

Purchase Movies from between £6.99-£10.99 or Rent from £2.49-£3.49

They also offer 720p Hi-Def Movies but these require you to have and AppleTV.

Their implementation of Hi-Def is flawed. You need their hardware and the content is 720p/1080i only as I understand it.

This is semi-understandable as 1080p content is just too fat to fit down the Internet pipes we have today.

The non HD content is more geared up for the iPod generation who want to watch content on their video enabled iPods/iPhones.

The UK is now no longer the poor digital relative.

I work really hard and on the odd occasion I have the time to sit down and watch a movie I want it to be in the best possible quality. I also like to control my media so I use a HTPC (home theatre PC).

I fell in love with HD-DVD (sigh) until some big wigs decided having region free movies was far too convenient to the consumer.

The HD-DVD format is dying a lot quicker that people expected with planned upcoming titles being cancelled.

The formats demise does have some fringe benefits, you can pick up a Toshiba HD-DVD player for £50 with 2 free movies. Tip: these also make excellent up scaling DVD players if you have a 720p display or above. Also lots of people are selling off their movie collections cheap and retailers have dropped the price of some HD-DVD titles to circa £6.

But what now? Should I stop watching HD?. I only have one choice Blu Ray.

The benefit of having a HTPC instead of a dedicated player is I can just pop in an inexpensive OEM BD ROM Drive and pick up where HD-DVD left off.

I chose the entry level Pioneer BDC-202BK. This connects into a SATA connection and installs without the aid of any drivers, just like any other optical drive.

This is a combo BD-Rom and DVD writer.

The operational noise of the drive while reading a Blu Ray disk is slightly louder that I would have liked but is acceptable.

So I am now begrudgingly dual format.

I see that some retailers of consumer  Blu Ray players have increased the costs of the devices as there is now no effective competition.

So in this example I have managed to survive the curse of the early adopter relatively un scathed. I’m not interested in formats, I’m interested in movies.

So how does Blu Ray compare to HD-DVD?, well the movies are more or less in the same codec(s) VC-1 for example so really the viewing experience is very similar.

Blu Ray titles tend to be less swishy with their extra features like picture in picture to maintain compatibility with the different Blu Ray profiles.

Blu Ray titles have regional encoding Like DVD did.

So I now have to live with Blu Ray and all its many “issues” as there is simply no commercial alternative available for 1080p content today.

I am literally being dragged kicking and screaming on to this format.

DRM free, Legal, 1080p downloadable content cant come quick enough, That may sound naive but music is moving fast to DRM free so why not movies down the road?