What is HDMI ? ?

Question

HDMi Port

HDMi AV Cable

What are they ?

and what do they do ?

Answer 1

HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is the first and only industry-supported, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface. By delivering crystal-clear, all-digital audio and video via a single cable, HDMI dramatically simplifies cabling and helps provide consumers with the highest-quality home theater experience. HDMI provides an interface between any audio/video source, such as a set-top box, DVD player, or A/V receiver and an audio and/or video monitor, such as a digital television (DTV), over a single cable.

Because HDMI is a digital interface, it provides the best quality of the video since there are no lossy analog to digital conversions as are required for all analog connections (such as component or S-video). The difference is especially noticeable at higher resolutions such as 1080p. Digital video will be sharper than component, and eliminates the softness and ghosting found with component. Small, high contrast details such as text bring this difference out the most.

HDMI supports two-way communication between the video source (such as a DVD player) and the DTV, enabling new functionality such as automatic configuration and one-touch play. By using HDMI, devices automatically deliver the most effective format (e.g 480p vs 720p, 16:9 vs 4:3) for the display that it is connected to - eliminating the need for the consumer to scroll through all the format options to guess what looks best

Answer 2

They are awesome...here's why:

HDMI is natively high def. Which means you get substantially better looking picture when you use it with other high def devices, such as blu-ray or HD cable.

Answer 3

An HDMI cable is just like a video cable but for HDTV it gives it a better picture.  My PS3 also uses one for a better picture.

Answer 4

High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a digital connection capable of carrying both high definition video and multi-channel audio.

See a picture here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:High_...

The big advantage is that one cable can replace up to 9 other cables (depending on how you were previously connected). For example one HDMI can carry both the video and audio from a Blu-ray player to an HDTV ... replacing three component video cables and an optical audio cable.

Also as a digital connection it basically works or it doesn't, so for normal use even budget cable generally work perfectly (i.e. you don't need to buy expensive cables (e.g. Monster)). That said, for high resolution video at distances over about 10-15 feet HDMI requires attention to cable quality.

See the link for further information.