Hdmi 1.3

[Leon Retro]

Can anyone tell me if HDMI 1.3 is something I should be thinking about - or does it have no relevance at this time, or in the near future?

I've read that it will allow greater colour depths - but is this feature going to be utilised by Blu-Ray or Video Games?

I simply want to know if HDMI 1.3 will be relevant to me as a gamer and film watcher - over the next 5years?

Thanks in advance for any informed info

[CMcK]

It's probably a feature worth having on your TV for the future. The PS3 supports it but I don't think any games take advantage of it yet. Blu-ray's also need to be encoded to take advantage of the extra colour depth and I would hope we'll see more titles supporting that now that the format war is over.

[Number45]

I'm sure I read an article recently that questioned whether the HDMI port on the PS3 was 1.3. I'll see if I can find it. (Non-edit: All models are 1.3a apparently).

There's loads on the Wiki about what it provides though. 1600p for the win!

[Leon Retro]

I haven't read anything about games developers saying they are going to start making games that use more than 24bit colour.

Seeing that the main feature of HDMI 1.3 is the support for greater colour depths than 24bit - maybe games taking advantage of it, won't appear for a long time.

I have my eye on an LCD screen - which has everything going for it, except it's HDMI 1.2.

I would be happy to buy it - but obviously... if games do start using higher colour depths within the next 2-5years, I might feel like I should have gone for a 1.3 screen.

Does anyone think we will see console games using more than 24bit colour, anytime soon?

[Freddo]

not really given the extra rendering overhead that'd incur and that none or nearly none of todays LCDs support the extra colour depth even if they are hdmi1.3

[Brats]

Forget the colour depth, the auto audio syncing is the best feature about HDMI 1.3. Should have been in there to begin with.

[Lyris]

Can anyone tell me if HDMI 1.3 is something I should be thinking about - or does it have no relevance at this time, or in the near future?

If you're buying an amp - yes - otherwise no, not really.

I've read that it will allow greater colour depths - but is this feature going to be utilised by Blu-Ray or Video Games?

Not on Blu-ray. As far as I'm aware there is no support whatsoever for "Deep Color" on BD (or HD DVD). I could be wrong there though. I seem to remember that players boasting "Deep Color" support are in fact referring to the ability to play discs/files recorded on X.V.Color enabled camcorders in all their shaky glory.

I'm not sure about gaming - possibly on the next gen?

The most important thing you need to remembre is that HDMI 1.3 is a specification, not a feature. A TV can't "have HDMI 1.3". A TV/BD player manufacturer who buys an HDMI 1.3 chip to add to their design might choose not to implement certain features of the HDMI 1.3 standard, even although they're possible.

[Leon Retro]

The most important thing you need to remembre is that HDMI 1.3 is a specification, not a feature. A TV can't "have HDMI 1.3". A TV/BD player manufacturer who buys an HDMI 1.3 chip to add to their design might choose not to implement certain features of the HDMI 1.3 standard, even although they're possible.

Are you saying that a screen may have a HDMI 1.3 socket, but the actual display technology may not support the higher colour depths anyway?

I had my mind set on buying a 42" Planar LCD - but found out that it's HDMI 1.2, and some people were moaning about it.

If screens aren't going to actually be able to display more than 24bit colour, for a long time, I may as well buy the Planar.

[Lyris]

Are you saying that a screen may have a HDMI 1.3 socket, but the actual display technology may not support the higher colour depths anyway?

Yes, exactly. My advice is just not to worry about it. There are much worse things that can go wrong with a TV than whether or not it supports stuff like this.

[NekoFever]

If anyone's still wondering, there's a good feature on HDMI 1.3 as it relates to Blu-ray and HD DVD here. That says that neither HD format has any support for Deep Color at all, so they couldn't include it without breaking the format specification.

I know that the PS3 has the ability to output Deep Color (it's in the options, at least), but that can't come from Blu-ray for the above reason. Not sure about games either, so I suppose that leaves video files stored on the hard drive that have been encoded with it. Not much benefit there.

Like Lyris said, the only time you really want to worry about HDMI 1.3 is when buying an amp that can decode next-gen audio formats (TrueHD, DTS-HD, etc). 1.3 adds the ability to carry the bitstream down the cable to be decoded by the amp, which means you're not reliant on your player being able to decode it internally. Chances are a decent amp will do a better job than the player anyway.

[sj33]

Am I right in saying that you don't actually need 1.3 to send 5.1/7.1 LPCM? So as long as the audio is decoded at the source, you don't even need 1.3 for HD Audio?

[NekoFever]

Yep, PCM is fine on any version of HDMI. All they did was add the provision for transmitting the bitstream, which wasn't in previous versions.