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

Why does Apple hate HDMI?

DVD9 said:
From Best Buy (BB here on) for Xbox 360:

"More connections
Plug into the possibilities using five USB ports, an Ethernet port, an HDMI output and an all-new integrated optical audio out port for an easier connection to the booming sound of your A/V receive"

No DisplayPort.

From BB for Playstation3:

"HDMI output for 1080p resolution. Ensures that visuals come alive with incredible depth and clarity on your high-definition screen."

No DisplayPort.
Click to expand...

Are X360 and PS3 computers? No. Your point is irrelevant. As said above, HDMI is meant for TVs and DisplayPort is meant for computers.

Cameras, cell phones, TVs, audio/video receivers. All the electronic gear that people use.

All of it that is not made by Apple.
Click to expand...

You forgot that those are not computers. HDMI as the only video output would be a huge downgrade. What exactly is your problem with MiniDP? All you need is a simple adapter and tadaa, you have HDMI port
 
DVD9 said:
You would think that Apple would be embarrassed by this. $1200- at the low end for a MBP, and then you have to confront this headache to use HDMI, which the whole world is using.
--
Click to expand...

You would think that you (DVD9) would be embarrassed about buying a apple product and afterwards whining about it not having a hdmi connection. Didn't you read up about what you were purchasing before you spent the money? If you don't like the capabilities of what apple is offering there is a gigantic pc market out there and im sure you could find something that would fit you there. Choice is a beautiful thing.
 
HLdan said:
Doesn't sound like you read Dell's stance on Displayport, if you had you wouldn't have written what you wrote here. You should take a look at Dell's Precision line of notebooks, they don't have an HDMI port, they have a Displayport and those notebooks range from $1700-$3500. The Precision line is the only line in Dell that a Macbook Pro compares to, not those cheapo Dells that have a HDMI port. Apple doesn't position the MBP as your everyday surplus cheapo notebook. At first I wondered why they chose displayport but after understanding the technology behind it, it's far superior to HDMI, plus I can hook up many different adapters to it depending on what I am connecting it to, which is what HDMI doesn't do.
Click to expand...

I was just looking at the VAIO F Series notebook. The price is roughly 150 bucks less than what I paid for my sweet aluminum 13'' MBP. It comes with an HDMI output AND a VGA one. In other words:


  • VGA output - Pay 20-30 bucks for an adapter for your MBP - none for the VAIO.
  • HDMI output - Pay 20-30 bucks for an adapter for your MBP - None for the VAIO.
  • DVI output - Pay 20-30 bucks for both.

95 percent of the end users don't have Network Displays or other features DisplayPort offers (although they are outstanding features, they're rarely used).
 
ramzhh said:
95 percent of the end users don't have Network Displays or other features DisplayPort offers (although they are outstanding features, they're rarely used).
Click to expand...

Nor they have the features what HDMI gives. For most people, ANY of these interfaces is just fine, as long as it provides picture to the screen. Whether it's HDMI, DVI or DP, it doesn't really matter. BTW, DP adapters cost like 5$ from eBay or MonoPrice, I paid 7€ for my MiniDP to HDMI which supports audio. Few bucks this or that way is irrelevant
 
ramzhh said:
I was just looking at the VAIO F Series notebook. The price is roughly 150 bucks less than what I paid for my sweet aluminum 13'' MBP. It comes with an HDMI output AND a VGA one. In other words:


  • VGA output - Pay 20-30 bucks for an adapter for your MBP - none for the VAIO.
  • HDMI output - Pay 20-30 bucks for an adapter for your MBP - None for the VAIO.
  • DVI output - Pay 20-30 bucks for both.

95 percent of the end users don't have Network Displays or other features DisplayPort offers (although they are outstanding features, they're rarely used).
Click to expand...

Apple doesn't create their computers to match up with the masses as well they shouldn't which is why I use Macs exclusively. What would be the point in buying a Mac if it did everything the common PC can do? What I like about the Mac is that what it does differently is usually superior to what is in the PC world. Case in point, Displayport connects to more devices and offers higher resolution output. Apple didn't implement Displayport to purposely screw the customers. The way I see it, with only a standard HDMI port, the computer is not future proofed enough. Right now only high end PC's come with Displayport (that should tell you how superior it is), but in time more and more PC's will implement this feature and this argument will be moot.
 
^^^ Don't think it will become a moot point until TV's have a MDP input connection. A lot of people use LCD/Plasma TV's as external displays, and I don't know of one single TV that utilizes MDP input.

And according to VESA Displayport website, the HDMI connector with HDCP copy-protection is the de facto standard digital connection for high-definition consumer electronics devices and, recently, 1080p computer monitors, although it does not directly compete with DisplayPort.

While I can live without the HDMI connection and go out and buy a 3rd party dongle, IMO it would make the MB and MBP line of computers just that much more attractive to a lot of consumers that may be on the fence buying a Mac.
 
I am almost certain you cannot use a resolution higher than 1920x1200 via most consumer HDMI. This is the reason MacBooks use the DP tech, it can pass much higher resolutions. I would be mad as hell if all I had was HDMI and couldn't use my MBP on my 30" monitor.

Looks like HDMI v1.4 supports higher res but at the cost of refresh rate.

HDMI 1.4 was released on May 28, 2009, and the first HDMI 1.4 products were available in the second half of 2009.[54][107] HDMI 1.4 increases the maximum resolution to 4K × 2K (3840×2160p at 24Hz/25Hz/30Hz and 4096×2160p at 24Hz, which is a resolution used with digital theaters)
 
Covart said:
^^^ Don't think it will become a moot point until TV's have a MDP input connection. A lot of people use LCD/Plasma TV's as external displays, and I don't know of one single TV that utilizes MDP input.

And according to VESA Displayport website, the HDMI connector with HDCP copy-protection is the de facto standard digital connection for high-definition consumer electronics devices and, recently, 1080p computer monitors, although it does not directly compete with DisplayPort.

While I can live without the HDMI connection and go out and buy a 3rd party dongle, IMO it would make the MB and MBP line of computers just that much more attractive to a lot of consumers that may be on the fence buying a Mac.
Click to expand...

You're stance on this is close-minded just like the OP's. You're only focusing on what you think most people do with their notebook computers. I'll bet over 90% of the PC buying world doesn't know that their PC notebook (with an HDMI port) can connect to their flat screen, nor are they interested in doing this. Only geeks are going to be downloading Blu-ray movies onto their notebook desktops and connecting their notebook to their flat screen via HDMI.
Ever thought about projectors (which many people connect their notebooks to) using Displayport? There will be more and more soon with that connector. And just what are you finding so wrong with Apple choosing Displayport? I would rather have a single port that his far superior in connecting to higher resolution displays and that can connect to way more display types, rather than being stuck with a port that best suits my TV.
 
yk2366 said:
I was just wondering, why don't they make a HDMI jack fitted to the size of what Apple has on the Macbook Pro? it's smaller and it works. :confused:

Also, does anyone know how to watch videos on TV on maximum screeen (so it fills the whole tv screen) without it automatically minimizing when I tried to use my Macbook Pro? I was told you are able to use your computer while watching a video through HDMI but when I try to click around my comp, the video screen automatically resizes
Click to expand...

In my experience, this is true of all video playback regardless of Mac or Windows. Whenever I've streamed video from the Web (in Mac or Windows), whenever I remove focus from a full screen video the video reverts to being presented within a window again. This has been true for Netflix, Hulu, USA, FX, and others. It also appears to be browser independent (my experience is only IE and Safari).
I've not found a way around it.*

*If I have Windows running in a VM on my MBP, I can put Windows on my TV at full screen, watch video at full screen within windows, and use Mac applications without disrupting Windows' full screen video.
 
DVD9 said:
Huh? VGA, DVI and S-video? HDMI replaced all that ****.
Click to expand...

It may have, but I think anyone who uses their laptop (Mac or PC) to give presentations at random places will be happy to have the flexibility in connectivity. I cannot begin to count the number of times I've had to use a VGA projector for presentations for school, and later work, while ideally everyone else had moved on to DVI (and now DisplayPort or HDMI).
 
jegbook said:
In my experience, this is true of all video playback regardless of Mac or Windows. Whenever I've streamed video from the Web (in Mac or Windows), whenever I remove focus from a full screen video the video reverts to being presented within a window again.
Click to expand...

The only time I've been able to avoid this is by using QuickTime Player in Snow Leopard - it lets me run a full-screen video on a second display without caring what I do on the other. That being said, it doesn't exactly play the usual formats you'd want full-screen (browser-based content).
 
HLdan said:
You're only focusing on what you think most people do with their notebook computers. I'll bet over 90% of the PC buying world doesn't know that their PC notebook (with an HDMI port) can connect to their flat screen, nor are they interested in doing this. Only geeks are going to be downloading Blu-ray movies onto their notebook desktops and connecting their notebook to their flat screen via HDMI.
Click to expand...

This is probably one of the most obtuse statements I have ever read.
 
DVD9 said:
OK, but MBP buyers just spent $1200/$1800/$2300 on a laptop and there's no HDMI jack.

Why? I don't even know what I would use a DisplayPort for other than to plug in a mini-DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter.

This is "Think different?" In any other area of life those who think like this are classified as idiots.
--
Click to expand...

Bud, research before you buy and bitch about things next time.
I connect my MBP to an HDMI TV at a friends house, a VGA projector at work and a DVI monitor at home and I'm so glad I don't have all 3 of those ports crowding the side of my laptop.
Hey my $80,000 MercedesBenz SUV doesn't didn't come with an iphone/ipod connector but a same year model Kia does...what are ya gonna do? Skip 2 BigMacs like me :p and buy an adaptor from monoprice.com for 8 bux....done deal.
Here's a link for ya http://tinyurl.com/38hwu5f
 
Point of a computer is to support multiple formats of things. Point of media devices is to support what is popular, for sales. Display port or mDP supports the multiple formats with just one connection. Also, using the phone and professional slrs as an example is pretty lame. Both those are marketing gimmicks. If a professional wanted to show off what he/she took, they would use a much better display as tvs are not very accurate compared to monitors. The phone is just straight marketing bs, an "extra feature" over the competitor.

This is from experience using a tv as a display as well as monitors. And I an currently not using a Mac, but a pc newly built. I have an hdmi port, a dvi to hdmi dongle, but neither gets used anymore. For the times I do want to connect to a tv, it's just easier using the dongle for something. If I wanted a dedicated comp for my tv, I would get something that does t need to be as powerful, as it's just for media, small so it can be hidden, and it has a format my tv uses, which right now is hdmi. This sounds familiar though, Mac mini and atv.

Out of the entire comp world, nit as many people as you think care for an hdmi connection.
 
mmomega said:
Bud, research before you buy and bitch about things next time.
I connect my MBP to an HDMI TV at a friends house, a VGA projector at work and a DVI monitor at home and I'm so glad I don't have all 3 of those ports crowding the side of my laptop.
Hey my $80,000 MercedesBenz SUV doesn't didn't come with an iphone/ipod connector but a same year model Kia does...what are ya gonna do? Skip 2 BigMacs like me :p and buy an adaptor from monoprice.com for 8 bux....done deal.
Here's a link for ya http://tinyurl.com/38hwu5f
Click to expand...

As far as I know, that cable doesn't support audio AND video.
 
Narse77 said:
I am almost certain you cannot use a resolution higher than 1920x1200 via most consumer HDMI. This is the reason MacBooks use the DP tech, it can pass much higher resolutions. I would be mad as hell if all I had was HDMI and couldn't use my MBP on my 30" monitor.

Looks like HDMI v1.4 supports higher res but at the cost of refresh rate.

HDMI 1.4 was released on May 28, 2009, and the first HDMI 1.4 products were available in the second half of 2009.[54][107] HDMI 1.4 increases the maximum resolution to 4K × 2K (3840×2160p at 24Hz/25Hz/30Hz and 4096×2160p at 24Hz, which is a resolution used with digital theaters)
Click to expand...


HDMI is an evolving standard. It is not going away.

Sony's Betamax was better than VHS. Every other manufacturer used VHS. That became the standard and Betamax disappeared.

What other than some obscure projectors use DisplayPort? Most people do not know what DisplayPort is. If this connecting port is not used on anything other then a few computer monitors and business presentation oriented projectors (they do not have HDMI ports?) then I can't see the point in having it. Though if Apple or any other manufacturer wants to include it I see nothing wrong with that. It's the exclusion of HDMI that grates.
--
 
DVD9 said:
Sony's Betamax was better than VHS. Every other manufacturer used VHS. That became the standard and Betamax disappeared.
Click to expand...

Yeah...oh wait, just kidding.

Betamax never survived in the home market for x reasons.
But Professional Betacam was hot stuff.
 
You knew it didnt have it when you bought it, MDP can convert to HDMI the adapter is ~$5-$40. Go buy it and shut up, Apple uses it because MDP supports all the formats INCLUDING HDMI, HDMI does not! Stop dragging the thread trying to justify why a billion dollar company should use HDMI instead of MDP.
 
i don't mind a HDMI port on my MBP but the OP needs to understand that mDP is compatible with all legacy connections like dvi, vga and it is also compatible with HDMI. Quit complaining because you are simply too cheap to buy a 5 dollar adapter off of monoprice. If it bothers you that much, but a envy 15 or something. I hear that one has HDMI and displayport.
 
Hellhammer said:
Are X360 and PS3 computers? No. Your point is irrelevant. As said above, HDMI is meant for TVs and DisplayPort is meant for computers.



You forgot that those are not computers. HDMI as the only video output would be a huge downgrade. What exactly is your problem with MiniDP? All you need is a simple adapter and tadaa, you have HDMI port
Click to expand...

PS3 has a supercomputer processor from IBM. The ps3 simply has a tiny amount of ram. like 256-512mb if i remember correctly.
 
tjb1 said:
You knew it didnt have it when you bought it, MDP can convert to HDMI the adapter is ~$5-$40. Go buy it and shut up, Apple uses it because MDP supports all the formats INCLUDING HDMI, HDMI does not! Stop dragging the thread trying to justify why a billion dollar company should use HDMI instead of MDP.
Click to expand...

And I thought that this forum was all about hearing the voices of Apple users. Apparently not all voices are welcome hear. What exactly "billion dollar" has to do with HDMI? Are you trying to mention one more time that Apple makes its billions by skimping on $0.04 items (like HDMI port) wanted by many customers? If you do not need HDMI port, it's fine but why do you want to shut up those who want it? Are you an AAPL shareholder? People know that DP supports HDMI but many still want HDMI to avoid the hassle. Is that intolerable?


wywern209 said:
i don't mind a HDMI port on my MBP but the OP needs to understand that mDP is compatible with all legacy connections like dvi, vga and it is also compatible with HDMI. Quit complaining because you are simply too cheap to buy a 5 dollar adapter off of monoprice. If it bothers you that much, but a envy 15 or something. I hear that one has HDMI and displayport.
Click to expand...

That seems to be a very popular advice on this forum. Want HDMI port? Buy HP. Want matte screen? Buy Dell. Want eSata port? Buy Sony. Want Express Card? Buy ASUS. Want USB 3.0? Buy Aser. Want quad core processor? Buy Toshiba. Want decent graphics card? Buy Lenovo. Why do you hate Apple so much?
 
If a stupid port mattered that much to the OP then imo he/she should switch to hp or something. For the rest of us, we will buy a measly 4 dollar adapter and enjoy a nice computer with mac OS X
 
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