Apple Updates MacBook Pro Mini DisplayPort Implementation to Support Both Audio and Video

[gavstephenson]

I'm still waiting to be able to play Wii on my 27" imac. I'd be happy to pay for an adaptor. (As far as I know) I'm still waiting.

I'm not waiting for something that will never happen, am I?

 

[phrint]

Monoprice.com sells the same connectors as Apple and they are 80% cheaper. I really hope Apple enables audio in the older MBPs along with the scrolling. Withholding features in a $200 phone is okay to force users to upgrade but not in a $2000+ laptop. I wouldn't put it past Apple to lie and say the hardware is new and won't support the audio output or that the trackpad is totally new and won't support the scrolling. Do don't screw me, Apple.

 

[troop231]

Hi guys.
I'm wondering;
1) since the audio only applies for the lastest update, is this a hardware thing?
2) Does this mean that one (or some of the pins) in the newest MDP are assigned to audio? And what were these pins doing before?
3) Will the pins assigned to audio in the Monoprice cable (mentioned above) be able to carry this feed, or is the cable outdated?

Hope someone will be able to answer this

best regards

1) I believe it lies within the software, not hardware, we don't know yet for sure though.

2) The pins should've remained the same.

3) The adapter should still work fine.

 

[Cider Hammer]

Ordered mine today!

17" i7 8MG 512 SSD Anti Glare ... Let you know how it works for me once it gets in.

 

[Kiima]

17" i7 8MG 512 SSD Anti Glare ... Let you know how it works for me once it gets in.

Thanks, this will be of great help

 

[mosx]

Have you seen the SIZE of an HDMI Port?

Have you seen mini HDMI ports? Part of the 1.3 spec released in 2006. Same size as mini DisplayPort. Apple only chooses DisplayPort because its royalty free and they can charge outrageous prices for adapters. Those $30 adapters are pure profit.

If Apple had done what the rest of the industry did and moved towards HDMI, they'd have to pay a 4 cent fee per device and a "mass" fee of $10k. Oh noes! The horror of a company with $40b in the bank having to pay $10k.

 

[Furrybeagle]

Have you seen mini HDMI ports? Part of the 1.3 spec released in 2006. Same size as mini DisplayPort. Apple only chooses DisplayPort because its royalty free and they can charge outrageous prices for adapters. Those $30 adapters are pure profit.

If Apple had done what the rest of the industry did and moved towards HDMI, they'd have to pay a 4 cent fee per device and a "mass" fee of $10k. Oh noes! The horror of a company with $40b in the bank having to pay $10k.

Genuinely curious… how easy is it to output analog video signals on an HDMI port. mDP to VGA seems pretty painless… is it the same for HDMI?

 

[JPark]

17" i7 8MG 512 SSD Anti Glare ... Let you know how it works for me once it gets in.

Oh good, 'cause I have the cash burning a hole in my pocket, but I really wanted to hear what you thought about it first. If you like it, I'm in for 3. If not, I'll probably just get 2.

 

[diazj3]

wow... now this is really good news: finally it gives a feeling that macs are moving forward also in terms of a/v practical features. Don't get me wrong: performance gains are ok, but them being always marginal, IMC they're not enough to consider upgrading. I hope previous MBP models get audio via MDP too.

Anyone knows which version of HDMI would be supported?

and a couple of (perhaps) dumb questions:

a) what would be the limitations (if any) on the audio quality - for example, DTS, 5.1 surround, etc?

b) Is it possible that desktop computers get audio through their MDPorts as well (for example, the MacPro with either the GT120 or the ATI4870, the iMac or the Mac Mini)?

cheers!

 

[Furrybeagle]

wow... now this is really good news: finally it gives a feeling that macs are moving forward also in terms of a/v practical features. Don't get me wrong: performance gains are ok, but them being always marginal, IMC they're not enough to consider upgrading. I hope previous MBP models get audio via MDP too.

Anyone knows which version of HDMI would be supported?

and a couple of (perhaps) dumb questions:

a) what would be the limitations (if any) on the audio quality - for example, DTS, 5.1 surround, etc?

b) Is it possible that desktop computers get audio through their MDPorts as well (for example, the MacPro with either the GT120 or the ATI4870, the iMac or the Mac Mini)?

cheers!

a) I’d assume that this could carry everything from standard stereo, to Dolby Digital and DTS, to HD audio you’d find on BR discs, like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA. I don’t believe OS X has support for things like TrueHD and DTS-HD MA, though.

If there’s someone more knowledgeable about such things, please correct me.

b) This is the big question.

 

[iEdd]

Still no Mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort adaptor?!

What's the point? They could have made it anything.

Edit: There are third party ones, like this, but no Apple one. Weird. In the box of every mac, should be a MiniDP-DP adaptor and a MiniDP-DVI adaptor. That would at least make this **** slightly less inconvenient.

 

[TheVendor]

http://gizmodo.com/5451873/displayport-12-standard-makes-hdmi-look-positively-analog

http://www.edn.com/article/CA6594089.html

Personally, I'm glad Apple is supporting DisplayPort over HDMI.

 

[mobilemario]

a) I’d assume that this could carry everything from standard stereo, to Dolby Digital and DTS, to HD audio you’d find on BR discs, like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA. I don’t believe OS X has support for things like TrueHD and DTS-HD MA, though.

If there’s someone more knowledgeable about such things, please correct me.

b) This is the big question.

This might be up to hardware limitation(not OS)

 

[Stridder44]

Check out MonoPrice for these adapters/cables.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10428&cs_id=1042802&p_id=5311&seq=1&format=2

Monoprice is the best thing to happen to cables. Seriously, if you haven't checked them out yet then do yourself a favor and do so. They're very high quality and cheap (as cables should be).

 

[wordofbird]

Have you seen mini HDMI ports? Part of the 1.3 spec released in 2006. Same size as mini DisplayPort. Apple only chooses DisplayPort because its royalty free and they can charge outrageous prices for adapters. Those $30 adapters are pure profit.

If Apple had done what the rest of the industry did and moved towards HDMI, they'd have to pay a 4 cent fee per device and a "mass" fee of $10k. Oh noes! The horror of a company with $40b in the bank having to pay $10k.

Just as a clarification, Apple did not simply accept Mini DisplayPort as an alternative to HDMI, they CREATED it! They then said they would license this for free. Some Toshiba Laptops have already adopted it. And besides, Apple is not big on the whole "pay for licensing" thing. Just look at the fact that they use the AAC audio standard for iTunes, not MP3. Same deal; either use a free standard (or create one) or pay for one with potential legal troubles in the future.

Update: The $10,000 license for HDMI.... Yeah, that's annual. I know it's still pennies to Apple, but it is simply principle.

 

[diazj3]

well... I guess we'll have to wait a few weeks until the benchmarks and tests are performed on the new macbook pros.

In the greater scheme, if this is a firmware limitation, I guess Apple would wait until the new macbook pros prove it works fine before including previous models. But, if this was in fact a firmware issue, I wonder why nobody made an attempt to enable audio with a hack before

In the case of desktops - apart from the firmware or hardware limitation discussion - if they do include audio over MDPort, I wonder if they will do it asap, or if they will wait until the next upgraded models launch... since it'll be almost a year until the MacMini or iMacs get updated.

 

[KnightWRX]

Just as a clarification, Apple did not simply accept Mini DisplayPort as an alternative to HDMI, they CREATED it! They then said they would license this for free. Some Toshiba Laptops have already adopted it. And besides, Apple is not big on the whole "pay for licensing" thing. Just look at the fact that they use the AAC audio standard for iTunes, not MP3. Same deal; either use a free standard (or create one) or pay for one with potential legal troubles in the future.

Update: The $10,000 license for HDMI.... Yeah, that's annual. I know it's still pennies to Apple, but it is simply principle.

Just another clarification, HDMI is a TV technology, DisplayPort (which mini DisplayPort is based on) is a computer technology. Hence why Apple went with DisplayPort for their computers.

 

[wordofbird]

well... I guess we'll have to wait a few weeks until the benchmarks and tests are performed on the new macbook pros.

In the greater scheme, if this is a firmware limitation, I guess Apple would wait until the new macbook pros prove it works fine before including previous models. But, if this was in fact a firmware issue, I wonder why nobody made an attempt to enable audio with a hack before

In the case of desktops - apart from the firmware or hardware limitation discussion - if they do include audio over MDPort, I wonder if they will do it asap, or if they will wait until the next upgraded models launch... since it'll be almost a year until the MacMini or iMacs get updated.

Gizmodo FTW!

http://gizmodo.com/5516050/macbook-pro-15+inch-core-i7-benchmarked-its-so-fast?skyline=true&s=i

 

[wordofbird]

Just another clarification, HDMI is a TV technology, DisplayPort (which mini DisplayPort is based on) is a computer technology. Hence why Apple went with DisplayPort for their computers.

Not quite. Both are compact AV interfaces for transmitting uncompressed digital data. HDMI was just a little earlier to the party, thus widely adopted by the television industry. Televisions are not nearly as concerned with space limitations (not all that much yet anyway) thus making the HDMI standard acceptable. Televisions also do not yet need the greater capabilty that DisplayPort offers (17.2 GBit/s vs 10.2) but also the possibility of multiple independent video streams over one cable.

 

[Icaras]

Just another clarification, HDMI is a TV technology, DisplayPort (which mini DisplayPort is based on) is a computer technology. Hence why Apple went with DisplayPort for their computers.

But they're both merely cables which pass digital information. I don't see how it is relevant to differentiate with terms such as "TV technology" and "computer technology" when comparing digital cables.

 

[diazj3]

Gizmodo FTW!

http://gizmodo.com/5516050/macbook-pro-15+inch-core-i7-benchmarked-its-so-fast?skyline=true&s=i

Thanks, good info, but I mean the "real world" benchmarks (such as the ones Macworld performs) and the audio over mdport tests... I find that information a bit more useful.

 

[cfedu]

it's to bad they did not go with an ATI chip and we got eyefinity

a macbook pro with dual Mini DP out for eyefinity would have been great

this is one of the only advantage of DP.

Had they done this there would be a lot less whining

the hardcore whining would still say a HDMI adapter is the end of the world, but those soles can never be happy

 

[jamesryanbell]

the hardcore whining would still say a HDMI adapter is the end of the world, but those soles can never be happy

Souls.

 

[mosx]

Too bad DisplayPort doesn't offer the same amount of bandwidth to audio that HDMI does. So while it claims support for the audio codecs blu-ray uses, it can't fully support them.

 

[Rocketman]

HDMI is about the same height and a bit wider than USB 1/2. It is not a space issue, and a $10,000 license fee cannot be the issue, so it is license terms.

"Blu-Ray is a big bag of hurt!" Obviously Apple can afford anything they want inclusive of buying the licensee and making it public. Their objection is rarely money. Typically it is some term the license agreement demands, that BOTH sets of lawyers refuse to settle on. Tell the lawyers to simply come to an Apple exception to every contract. There is a price for everything.

Rocketman