As we all know, technology

changes at an increasingly greater

rate each year. Nowhere is this more

apparent than in the evolution of

digital technology in the audiovisual

industry. On the cutting-edge of

digital connectivity is DVI and its

sleeker, more advanced companion

HDMI. Until recently, there have

been few applications using DVI and

even less using HDMI. However,

this is changing rapidly. Within the

next two years, many professional

applications will embrace the DVI

platform as higher resolution display

become more commonplace. At the

same time, HDMI will emerge as

THE digital connectivity standard for

home entertainment market.

HDTV is the hottest trend

in the home theatre market today.

People are buying bigger and bet-

ter displays to view their favorite

programs in high definition, along

with digital HD ready set-top boxes

and satellite receivers to receive the

programming itself. Much of this

technology does not come cheap and

it is not uncommon for someone to

spend large sums of money to equip

their homes with this technology.

For the last few years, the

major output connection used by

HDTV display manufacturers has

been analog component video

(YPrPb or YCbCr). Component video

is high quality, and many DVD play-

ers use it for their “progressive scan”

method of delivering the highest

quality picture available. Most com-

ponent video outputs support either

480i or 480p resolutions (interlaced

or progressive scan). In some cases

higher resolutions such as 720p and

1080i are also supported. In recent

years, later generations of HD dis-

plays have been designed to accept

analog component video in order

to provide better picture quality to

consumers.

In October 2003, the FCC

released an update to their HDTV

standards paper originally released

in 1997. This update defined the fu-

ture implementation of HDTV in the

United States and includes several

key mandates. Among these man-

dates is the fact that the FCC has re-

quired that all set-top boxes for DTV

be equipped with digital, either DVI

or HDMI, outputs by July 1, 2005,

and that all HDTVs be equipped with

digital inputs by July 1, 2006. The

idea is that the FCC has mandated

an entirely digital system.

Analog Component Video Cable

So, as directed by the FCC,

we are in the process of a phas-

ing-out the older analog OTA (over

the air) system currently in use by

households and cable companies in

the US. Herein lies the problem.

As we have discussed, many

people have already invested a lot

of time and money in upgrading

their entertainment systems to high

definition. Along with phasing out

the OTA system, the FCC has been

pressured by the MPAA (Motion

Picture Association of America)

and other media organizations to

downgrade the content input via

analog component video in order

to better protect the content from

illegal copying. Using an analog-

based component video setup, it

is possible to achieve a fairly high

quality copy of the original signals

thus leading to content security

and copyrights infringement issues.

These media organizations greatly

support the FCC's mandating of DVI

and HDMI since they allow HDTV

Why you need DVI and HDMI

Technology Connection: Issue 4                                               -1-                                               October 1, 2004

© Copyright 2004 DVIGear

CONNECTIVITY REFERENCE TABLE

CONNECTOR STYLE

MALE (PLUG)

FEMALE (RECEPTACLE)

HDMI

M1

DVI-D SINGLE LINK

DVI-D DUAL LINK

DVI-I SINGLE LINK

DVI-I DUAL LINK

content to be digitally protected us-

ing a standard created by Intel called

High-bandwidth Digital Content

Protection, better known as “HDCP”.

HDCP would be absolutely

pointless if legacy systems using

analog component video outputs can

still be used as it is possible to easily

copy and reproduce the content. In

order to discourage people from us-

ing the analog component video for

the broadcasted cable and satellite

content, the FCC plans to downgrade

(commonly called “down-convert-

ing”) the image from the highest

possible resolution (1080p) to the

lowest (480i). For some, this would

mean completely defeating the

purpose of having the high definition

display and HD set-top box in the

first place. Furthermore, in so do-

ing, the analog component connec-

tions used by many high definition

displays will be obsolete for viewing

the HDTV programming broadcasted

by the cable and satellite companies

rendering the legacy HDTV systems

that these individuals spent so much

time, money and effort putting to-

gether useless.

Nonetheless, HDCP is the

wave of the future as the new digi-

tal-based systems provide for not

only a better quality viewing experi-

ence (since DVI and HDMI provide

digital-to-digital viewing systems),

but also protection from illegal copy-

ing and distribution of content.

Entwined in the HDCP man-

date is a classic case of government

regulation versus private enterprise,

where many entities are compet-

ing for their own interests. At the

center, the FCC is the most powerful

and eventually has the final say on

HDTV television standards. Repre-

senting the Hollywood studios, the

MPAA (Motion Picture Association of

America) is working with the FCC to

promote the concept of HDCP con-

tent protection and digital connectiv-

ity that it requires.

In an effort to generate

additional revenues from premium

services, content providers are seek-

ing to offer their customers the with

the highest possible image quality.

Therefore, many cable and satellite

companies are now beginning to use

DVI and HDMI with their systems as

these connections offer both superior

image quality and are HDCP compli-

ant; furthermore, these digital con-

nections are mandatory on all set-top

boxes sold after July 1, 2005.

On the other side of things, many

consumer groups are totally against

these FCC mandates as they could

obsolete much of the earlier analog

HDTV consumer electronic products

that have been sold over the last few

years. Nonetheless, it appears that

the FCC/Hollywood team is winning

the battle and that a digital-only

transmission and display systems

encrypted with HDCP copy protection

are inevitable.

Current and future users of

HDTV systems, need to align them-

selves with these mandates by taking

steps to future-proof their hardware

investments. As the HDMI standard

was developed more recently, HDCP

was written into the HDMI specifica-

tions. So ALL HDMI connections are

fully HDCP compliant; however, DVI

connections are not necessary HDCP

compliant. For complete HDTV

functionality, it is essential that all

your system hardware includes DVI

and/or HDMI connectivity, AND that

it is fully HDCP compliant.

With rapid pace of change

ushering in a new age of high defini-

tion television, it is better to start

planning now on how to get the

most out of this new format. De-

signing your system to fully incorpo-

rate HDCP compliant DVI/HDMI con-

nectivity puts your best foot forward

into the future.

Technology Connection: Issue 4                                               -2-                                               October 1, 2004

© Copyright 2004 DVIGear

Back panel connectivity of a Momitsu DVD-V880 Deluxe DVD player

Ovideon 30” LCD Monitor