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Apple's Next Generation Displays Are Around The Corner

Prepare for HDMI Cinema Displays!

Dec 26, 2006 14:22 GMT  ·  By
  

30 inch is not enough??! It seems some rumors report that soon we'll see them even larger... Oh, my, don't think about that! I was talking about Apple's Cinema Displays, not about you-know-what, so shame on you if your were thinking what I think you were thinking! Let's check today's rumors about Apple's next generation displays now, shall we?

As usual, unnamed sources claimed to know some interesting information that, of course, can't be verified. Today's topic is about the fact that Apple may be planning to use HDMI technology in its next generation of Cinema Displays, and this is not all. Additional reports say that a larger than 30 inch model could be on the way too! MacScoop - the source that published these rumors - received in August a first report about a 24 inch model that would replace the 23 inch Cinema Display and the fact that the HDMI technology will be used in all Apple's displays.

I don't know about you, but I had no idea about what HDMI is until some time ago, and I will share some info about it with you now, and I hope you won't get bored. The HDMI acronym stands for "High-Definition Multimedia Interface", a completely digital audio/video interface capable of transmitting uncompressed streams.

Why not compressed? The reason should be obvious - if you can get a huge bandwidth, then you can go for ultimate quality and forget about the compression. Oh, yeah, another important problem that should be noticed is that HDMI also incorporates Digital Rights Management technology.

HDMI can provide an interface between any compatible digital audio/video source, like a set-top box and a digital monitor (iTV - Cinema Display, maybe?). To cut a long story short, the HDMI is a modern replacement for older analogue standards such as SCART or RCA.

Getting back to the recent reports, it seems that Apple's future displays will include both HDMI connectors and HDCP technology, allowing copy-protected HD content to be displayed. Obviously, MacWorld is the place to see the new display line-up, and no information from the company is available on this topic yet. Anyway, you don't have to worry, there are only two weeks remaining...