Home Theater: HDTV and HDMI Digital Video Delay
Advancements in technology for home theater owners are increasing everyday and are making the home theater experience more realistic with each improvement. Once such improvement introduced to home theater owners is InstaPort™ technology. Basically, InstaPort™ technology enables immediate access to HD content from consumer electronic devices and allows the home theater owner to experience high definition digital video content anytime, anywhere, and on any device.
Consumers today connect their source devices such as game consoles, set top boxes, Blu-Ray players, AppleTV, and Roku boxes to their TVs using HDMI. When switching among devices, users typically experience a 5- to 7-second delay before seeing contact. InstaPort™ technology enables immediate access to the content by reducing the switching time to less than 1 second. The obvious benefit to the consumer is the reduction in wait time when switching between devices. Televisions with InstaPort™ technology accelerate the switching time without any modification required to source devices. Developers of the InstaPort™ technology have been actively engaged with TV manufacturers to integrate the InstaPort™ technology in 2009 models. As a result, there are many major TV brands that support InstaPort™ technology beginning with 2009 models. When considering purchasing a new television, consumers should look for manufacturers who recognize InstaPort™ technology as a value to the consumer. Those manufacturers are the ones that will most likely be adding the InstaPort™ technology to new set models.
For a more technical explanation of digital video delay, there is an inherent 5- to 7-second delay in switching between HDMI sources that is primarily caused by the authentication process required to display protected content of the TV. HDCP, or high definition content protection standard, implemented in HDMI ensures that there is no copying of premium content. The source devices which initiate the HDCP authentication process by exchanging keys with the television typically take 5 to 7 seconds before displaying content. The authentication process is like a handshake which happens between the source devices and the TV to insure that they both support this HDCP or HD content protection. So every time the user switches a source device this long authentication process starts all over again causing this inherent 5 to 7 second delay. What InstaPort™ technology does is maintain constant authentication for all the source devices connected to the TV. When the user switches between devices they do not see the delay; instead, they get instant access to HD content. This technology is integrated into select port processor chips which are implemented into television models beginning in 2009, enabling viewers to see HD content immediately upon the switch between devices.
In a technology-centered world based on instant gratification, InstaPort™ technology is a home theater owner’s dream come true. With the elimination of wait time among device switching, viewers are able to enjoy their home theater entertainment literally at the blink of an eye.
Get in Sync with the HDMI 1.3 Technological Upgrades
Serious home theater owners are always on the lookout for upgrades and improvements on existing technologies that will enhance their home theater experiences. One such technology anxiously anticipated has been HDMI 1.3. It has been said that HDMI 1.3 is that upgrade that every home theater enthusiast has been waiting for. As with any technological upgrade, there are some key differences over previous versions, and HDMI 1.3 is no exception.
There are several key items regarding HDMI 1.3 that are worthy of mention. The first key item relating to HDMI 1.3 is an update to the consumer electronic channel or the CEC remote control mechanism. The CEC upgrade for HDMI 1.3 includes additional timer and audio commands. The second key upgrade is 1080p (1080 vertical lines progressive scan), which allows for higher resolution and higher refresh rates on the panels. Next, de-color across the interface has been improved. Although an overall technical concept, ‘de-color’ is a very rich format for colors on the screen. Finally, ‘lip sync’ is available in HDMI 1.3 that was not available in previous releases. What lip sync means in terms of the HDMI 1.3 upgrade, if you look at the Blue-Ray disc player, for example, one thing that the consumer wants to make sure of is that the movements of the lips coincide with the words that are heard. When inspecting video processors within relative panels, there is some intense technology and processing chips. It takes time to process color in 16-32 bit or higher. In previous HDMI versions, there have been delays between the audio heard and the video displayed. The receiver can delay its audio based on guidelines sent over to it from the television. As a result, the key item updates have been made available in HDMI 1.3 versus the earlier releases.
Another particular feature of HDMI 1.3 is its backwards compatibility with HDMI 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2. However, components will not always be universally compatible because the feature was recently defined in the newer release. For those components that are backwards compatible, they will function nicely together since most testing labs have worked to make sure that HDCP plays nicely within each component and they are in most cases compatible with one another.
When searching for HDMI 1.3 components and their compatibility with existing components, the consumer is recommended to locate an HD certified or verified endorsement on the products’ packaging. A certified or verified product gives the consumer the confidence that the product will function correctly, provided the directions are carefully followed for the system setup, resulting in reduced product returns and increased customer satisfaction.
