UDI connector threatens to do everyone's brain in

WE ARE heading for the connector wars. Everyone realises that DVI has to go as it is big, fat and bulky and we need a simple USB like connector for video.

That's how the consumer electronic community came up with the HDMI standard. This is a DVI compatible video standard, with a nicer connector but unlike DVI it can transport audio signals as well. It also supports the up and coming HDCP. Well the only trouble is the royalty fees and US$10,000 that you have to pay as a membership fee for being able to use HDMI and access the documentation.

We already wrote about it here that you have to pay a few cents per device and you can check how much Intel gets for HDCP as well.

Enter another confusing acronym, UDI, a new connector which physically looks like HDMI but it doesn't have the royalty tax and it cannot transmit audio - it is a video connector only.

The HDMI governing body also takes care of UDI as well. It is much more attractive to display and graphic card manufacturers as these won't have to pay any royalties, but video manufacturers are still wary and wont react without the display industry taking the lead.

It is up to a few big manufacturers such as Samsung, Benq, Apple, Dell or similat from the rather long list to decide what is the next step. They have a few options to choose from, DVI and VGA are still around, then there is HDMI and finally we have UDI. One potential candidate in this race is a display port VESA standard that just adds support for HDCP content.

As it stands, HDMI is by far still the most popular and can be found on just about any Plasma or LCD screen and in a few PC displays as well. µ

L'INQ
Glossary of Acronyms for PC and Server Technologies