Just saying that there are non-frankenstein ways of connecting computers to TVs now. With sound too! :]
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VESA Approves Apple's Mini DisplayPort Standard
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Just saying that there are non-frankenstein ways of connecting computers to TVs now. With sound too! :]
Apple does come up with custom plugs. Some have legs and others do not. They come out with them to solve a problem they have been having on mass-market consumer products and "hope" third party manufacturers will adopt them.
The secrecy Apple works under helps defeat their own goal. They need to promote plugs they want to become third party or cross platform items.
They actively promoted Firewire and as a result it was adopted to a large degree by third parties, vertical markets and cross platform.
I hope mDP or something akin to it becomes a standard. I see the message it sends. I also hope Light Peak becomes a standard for the same reason. I also hope cheap third parties make conversion dongles for mDP and LP (and Ethernet and USB3) that allow legacy devices to attach to modern plugs and devices.
Rocketman
The secrecy Apple works under helps defeat their own goal. They need to promote plugs they want to become third party or cross platform items.
They actively promoted Firewire and as a result it was adopted to a large degree by third parties, vertical markets and cross platform.
I hope mDP or something akin to it becomes a standard. I see the message it sends. I also hope Light Peak becomes a standard for the same reason. I also hope cheap third parties make conversion dongles for mDP and LP (and Ethernet and USB3) that allow legacy devices to attach to modern plugs and devices.
Rocketman
There are a few active adapters from DVI to Mini-DP. They'll run you US$150-180 though.
While, Lightpeak has the bandwidth to be used for displays it is unlikely that it would become a display connection standard for a long time if ever. DP can easily be converted to for use with existing HDMI and DVI connections, whereas LP would obviously require an Optical to Digital switch. Displays are one of the slower prepherials to be turned over so it's going to be a long time before there will be even a small installed base of displays that can directly receive a LP connection.
M/DP on the other hand is robust and reasonably converted between all the existing connections.
What would be nice is if there were more end to end cables that converted signals so that we didn't need dongles.
This is probably a stupid question, but is there any way a manufacturer could produce a converter to allow HDMI input to the LED Cinema Display?
This won't change the fact that all projectors and screens still use VGA, so if you want to output to anything but one of those new Apple Cinema displays, you'll need ridiculously (seriously) expensive adaptors.
I don't mind using adaptors for ports that I rarely use like the video output, but I think they should come with the computer or be available for around £2, not £20!!! How could piece of plastic with some wires in it cost so much? I understand that VGA was a big port and wouldn't fit on a thin computer, but there should be a CHEAP way to be able to connect to it.
I would like to believe that soon enough we will have ONE kind of port that would work for everything, a sort of USB, but that would replace Ethernet, FireWire, Display outputs, and everything else you can think of... That would be great.
I don't mind using adaptors for ports that I rarely use like the video output, but I think they should come with the computer or be available for around £2, not £20!!! How could piece of plastic with some wires in it cost so much? I understand that VGA was a big port and wouldn't fit on a thin computer, but there should be a CHEAP way to be able to connect to it.
I would like to believe that soon enough we will have ONE kind of port that would work for everything, a sort of USB, but that would replace Ethernet, FireWire, Display outputs, and everything else you can think of... That would be great.
I guess I'm a bit stumped...
1)Ok, Apple has gotten a technology to be accepted as a "standard". And? Benefit is?....oh yea, nothing. Call me in 10 years.
2)Video output technology seems to already be doing very well with VGA and DVI and HDMI...and HDMI looks like a winner for years/decades to come. Not to mention that light technology that was in the news 6 months ago.
3)The only Apple products this will affect are the notebooks, the Mac Pro, and the Mini...what's that...6 physical computers?...and Apple updates each computer 1 time a year. And every non-Apple computer vendor that has VGA and/or HDMI outputs (my laptop has each) is supposed to just offer a 3rd choice...or replace one of the current standards? I understand standards take time for adoption but this market seems a bit saturated for real-world use. So what's the point of inventing a new standard other than to say that Apple invented it? Maybe Apple should spend a little more time on a bigger line of computers rather than a video output technology. That's my opinion as a consumer. After all, Apple certainly doesn't make the motherboards or NICs or video cards or sound cards or memory chips or CPUs or...
Overall I could care less about this new standard. I think it will just fizzle out of existence within 3 years as HDMI and DVI continue to dominate (and not just in the computer sector).
1)Ok, Apple has gotten a technology to be accepted as a "standard". And? Benefit is?....oh yea, nothing. Call me in 10 years.
2)Video output technology seems to already be doing very well with VGA and DVI and HDMI...and HDMI looks like a winner for years/decades to come. Not to mention that light technology that was in the news 6 months ago.
3)The only Apple products this will affect are the notebooks, the Mac Pro, and the Mini...what's that...6 physical computers?...and Apple updates each computer 1 time a year. And every non-Apple computer vendor that has VGA and/or HDMI outputs (my laptop has each) is supposed to just offer a 3rd choice...or replace one of the current standards? I understand standards take time for adoption but this market seems a bit saturated for real-world use. So what's the point of inventing a new standard other than to say that Apple invented it? Maybe Apple should spend a little more time on a bigger line of computers rather than a video output technology. That's my opinion as a consumer. After all, Apple certainly doesn't make the motherboards or NICs or video cards or sound cards or memory chips or CPUs or...
Overall I could care less about this new standard. I think it will just fizzle out of existence within 3 years as HDMI and DVI continue to dominate (and not just in the computer sector).
That would take some serious effort on the part of the world as a whole.
And then you have the technical hurdles. If Ethernet can be replaced by a single port your peripherals all connect to as well? That's a huge security hole, and opens up a whole new class of attacks against systems. Our current understanding of securing computer systems lacks the ability to defend against these sort of attacks (not without adding another layer of security when connecting a device, a la the bluetooth PIN, which would annoy users).
How do we address the vastly different needs of data being passed along ports? Video/Audio need to be realtime, networking needs to be routed differently than peripherals, input devices need to be as close to real-time as feasible, and then you have dumb storage like HDDs which have no real needs other than the data needs to get there intact.
Firewire addressed a couple of these, but in the end, was only really useful for ad hoc networking before WiFi ad hoc came along, and any realtime data had a tendency to heavily impact the rest of the data.
Considering how hard it is to get one industry to sit down and agree on a connection standard, I couldn't imagine the horror that would be negotiations and spec writing on how such a 'uni-port' should work.
Oh wow, yah, I didn't realize that. Well, we need to light a fire under apple's butt to make this happen... I'd love a display port to HDMI cable...
And thanks for this
I've been considering moving back to a PC lately, so if I do, maybe I'll use this option...My ATI card offers audio and video through HDMI to a TV ;]
Who cares! I want Apple to update the Mac firmwares to enable audio over DisplayPort, so I can use an HDMI adapter as it was meant to be used!
Yea, well, I thought FireWire was going to become a display connector too, so much for that idea! *sigh*
Exactly what is wrong with the Apple adaptor? (very interested, since I'm seriously considering buying one...)
It's coming. It's called Light Peak.
Watch the Intel Light Peak (on Apple hardware) demo here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khPx1dEIPnA
A little extra on Intels amazing Light Peak technology.
From inside the Intel lab:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izNoF1SWtSg
From inside the Intel lab:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izNoF1SWtSg
Fail. Completely and utterly wrong. Firewire has failed.
Kids, stay in school or you might end up like this guy. Delusional and without a clue.