[geeks] Whee! Lightning strikes, AGAIN!

[Joshua Boyd]

On Tue, Jul 28, 2009 at 05:31:43PM -0400, nate at portents.com wrote:
> > We do not use USB to connect DVD players to TVs (or generic media
> > playing devices to generic video displays), which is what we were
> > discussing.  I think you have crossed this thread with Mark Benson's
> > request about Video Casting.
> 
> We do use USB 2.0 and Firewire to connect things like HD-DVD and Blu-Ray
> drives to devices that decode and convert their bitstreams.
> 
> A solution you might even be familiar with is the HD-DVD drive for the
> XBox 360, which hooks up via USB 2.0.

Yes, but neither are displays, and adding USB and/or FW inputs to a display
only makes things more complicated, not less, since it can't carry the
bandwidth needed for many display tasks.
 
> > Connections between TVs and DVD players evolved from discussing
> > replacing everything with fiber, after someone said that this would be
> > useful because of a single point to point connection instead of 4+
> > cables.  I suggested that HDMI supplied that particular desire, but that
> > HDMI sucked.  Someone said that we should standardize on MPEG2 and H.264
> > and use FW to connect media devices.
> 
> I suggested we have the option of buying receivers that don't switch
> component video or HDMI or whatever else high-bandwidth decompressed
> streams and we have the option of buying cheap transports that don't have
> all the decoding circuitry and scalers and video processors.  We already
> have the multimedia standards, so no need for new signaling standards
> (which is what HDMI and DisplayPort and whatever else comes along will
> be).  I didn't say anything about re-compressing anything, which would be
> silly.

So, by reciever that doesn't switch, do you mean a box that has coax in
from an antenna and something out?  I'm fairly certain that such boxes
exist, usually outputting PCI, USB, composite, svideo, component, or
HDMI (but not all of those in the same reciever). 

We need new standards until we have an acceptable standard, which we
still do not have.  An acceptable standard must accept any resolution of
video from 240p60 or 480p24, up to 2560x1600p60, at both 8 bit and 10
bit bit depths for either RGB or YUV, and it must still have available
bandwidth for future resolutions that we do not have yet.  Also, a
single standard will be required to be affordable and be able to drive
cable lengths of 1 kilometer, with a simple durable, optionally locking
connector.