Friday, May 29, 2009

Next-gen HDMI turns your TV into an Internet hub - PC World

The next generation of High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cables are going to give your HDTV a boost with a maximum 100Mb-per-second Internet connection, audio upstream capability and HD images at four times the resolution of 1080p. Lost amid this week's Bing and Google hype, was an announcement from HDMI Licensing -- the group responsible for managing the HDMI specification -- that the next generation of HDMI cables will provide new functionality, and do away with separate Ethernet connections for your various devices.

Instead of a having tangled mess of cables behind your TV, the HDTV itself will act as an Internet hub for all those wired goodies in your living room. The new specification is called HDMI 1.4, and aims to take television's Internet connectivity to the next level...