Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Macs and HDMI

MacTruck

MacTruck

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 27, 2005
1,241
0
One Endless Loop
Can HDMI be used in place of DVI? If so why doesn't apple have an HDMI connector? It would be cool because sound goes through it. Would be one less thing to deal with and Cinema displays could have the speakers built in so it would rock pretty solid.

Or does the HDMI spec not support what DVI will?
 
HDMI exists for the copy protection, which isn't really needed for a computer set up like that. It offers no advantage to DVI and the optical out on the Powermac or iMac.
 
MacFan25863 said:
HDMI exists for the copy protection, which isn't really needed for a computer set up like that. It offers no advantage to DVI and the optical out on the Powermac or iMac.
Click to expand...


Really? How does HDMI provide copyright protection?
 
homerjward said:
i believe that's hdcp that's the copyright protection.
Click to expand...

Correct, but I don't believe I've ever seen an HDMI device without HDCP on it, since it seems content providers are trying to keep this as tightly controlled as possible.


Also, I've heard HDMI has a huge licensing fee (upwards of $15,000). Anyone know about this?
 
HDMI is just a hardware interface, HDCP is copy protection on a digital signal. HDCP content often flows over HDMI, but it can flow over DVI as well. HDMI is just a way of combining DVI with audio to make cabling easier. It is perfectly possible to run a non-HDCP signal over HDMI just as it is over DVI. It's not possible to strip HDCP from a signal of course (legally), but just as a Mac don't have HDCP-protected DVI outputs, there's no reason they would have HDCP-protected HDMI outputs.
 
alex_ant said:
HDMI is just a hardware interface, HDCP is copy protection on a digital signal. HDCP content often flows over HDMI, but it can flow over DVI as well. HDMI is just a way of combining DVI with audio to make cabling easier. It is perfectly possible to run a non-HDCP signal over HDMI just as it is over DVI. It's not possible to strip HDCP from a signal of course (legally), but just as a Mac don't have HDCP-protected DVI outputs, there's no reason they would have HDCP-protected HDMI outputs.
Click to expand...

That's true, but the studios have had so much control over it's creation that they have pretty much forced HDCP onto any device which uses HDMI.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back