Bye Bye, HDMI! There's a New A/V Cable Standard in Town
A group of consumer electronics manufacturers got together and finalized the specifications of a new A/V cable standard. It's called HDBaseT and is based on standard CAT5e/6—meaning we should wind up paying less for our home theater wiring.

The standard is expected to be adopted by 2011. [HDBaseT via NewTeeVee]

hdbaset技術挑戰---HDMI界面接口

Ethernet to replace HDMI as standard TV cable?

If you’re like me, your office closet is packed to the gills with cables — ones you bought but no longer use, and ones that come free with computer and home-theater equipment.

Chances are the one type of wire you have more of than any other is the ubiquitous Ethernet cable, that data networking cable that looks like an overgrown telephone wire, made obsolete for most computer users thanks to the popularity of Wi-Fi.

But wouldn’t you know it, the Ethernet cable is making a comeback, and not for your computer but for your TV.

Dubbed HDBaseT, Ethernet is the basis for a new A/V cabling standard, designed by LG, Sony, and Samsung to replace HDMI and other digital cables.

The reasons for moving back to Ethernet are many: As DailyTech explains, Ethernet can handle high-speed data at 100Mbps (and considerably higher, actually), and, even more enticingly, Ethernet cables can be far longer than most other modern standards: 328 feet at their longest. Having a single cable would unify computers and the living room, getting rid of the panoply of cable types that most A/V enthusiasts have learned to suffer with.

Another great advantage: Ethernet cables are uncommonly cheap and widely available, and they can be cut to fit by anyone with some basic training — many modern houses even have the cables pre-run right into the walls.

Until wireless HD video becomes a real (and affordable) possibility, dropping Ethernet into a television sounds like an enticing and promising proposition — and it’s coming sooner than you might think. The standard should actually start appearing in TVs and other A/V equipment later this year.

— Christopher Null is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.

Entelligence: The evolution of the TV (engadget)

By Michael Gartenberg 

In a world of connected screens, the venerable TV continues to wait in isolation while the personal computer and the cell phone have become ubiquitously connected. Sure, there have been experiments in interactive TV -- gadgets like WebTV and modern game consoles are connected devices, and set-top boxes like the Roku and TiVo add connected components -- but most TVs in the US remain blissfully ignorant of the internet. There's arguably more TV content viewed on PCs than there is web content consumed on TVs. Here's why the TV remains disconnected and how that might change.

First, the PC and TV don't get along well. It's been a match that's been tried for more than a decade. It would seem like a no brainer: take a device with great connectivity and pair it with the TV. In the 90s Gateway introduced a line of Destination PCs that were designed for living room use, Microsoft later built some of the best TV and PC integration with their Media Center efforts, and even Apple has added a ten foot user experience to Mac OS with its Front Row UI. None of these efforts ever went mainstream. Why? Simple: PCs are designed for smaller screens, mice and keyboards, and TVs aren't. No matter what shell you layer on top, you're still stuck with a PC OS underneath that's not optimized for the TV experience.

Second, consumers don't want web content on their TVs. Even when it's possible, consumers have historically rejected the notion of online content on their TVs. Surveys show over and over there's simply no interest in email, web browsing, instant messaging or other online activities as discrete functions on the TV. While some services could no doubt be compelling on the TV, the lack of proper platforms, standards and user experiences make them awkward to implement, and the current TV widget platforms are simply too limited make much headway in capturing the consumer.
Your service provider already owns input one on your TV, and it has no intention of giving it up.

Third, and most importantly, cable and satellite providers simply aren't interested in opening up their boxes.Your service provider already owns input one on your TV, and it has no intention of giving it up. Even with government-mandated laws to allow access, consumers in reallty are offered few options to make third party solutions integrate with their television service. Devices such as the Roku or Apple TV have no way to connect to cable content, and even devices like TiVo that support CableCard are expensive to purchase relative to the "free" service provider box and require users to jump through hoops just make things work. CableCard issues also hampered PC / TV efforts that were well-thought-out, like Media Center, and by the time Microsoft sorted everything out, many consumers had simply moved on.

The irony, of course, is that the TV viewer has evolved independently of the TV. While users may not want online content on their TVs, they do seem to embrace TV content on their PCs. Ask a certain demographic to point to their TV consumption device and it will likely have a mouse and keyboard. Services like Netflix tied to devices such as the Xbox 360, Roku and TiVo mean there's alternatives to what's being served by cable and satellite companies. Over time, these options will expand and the TV itself will evolve -- it's just a matter of time before the TV and internet finally, finally get together.