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Today's Typical Audio/Visual System Overview

A/V Component Overview & Product Descriptions
The Digital Visual Interface (DVI) was developed by the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG) to improve analog and digital image quality in PC applications.  Because of bandwidth requirements and high-speed, sharp-edged, clock rates, DVI's single-cable design is limited to a maximum length of 5-meters (16.4-feet).  DVI's cable length limitation presents few problems in PC-video applications but can be problematic in home entertainment applications because of the 5-meter length limitation and the fact the DVI cabling and connector interface does not have provisions for audio.
The High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) was designed as the standardized home theatre/entertainment connection by the HDMI Organization.  The HDMI Organization was founded by Hitachi, Panasonic (Matsushita Electric Industrial), Philips Consumer Electronics, Silicon Images, Sony, Thomson (RCA) and Toshiba.  The HDMI consortium now is comprised of more than 200-consumer electronics designers and manufacturers.  In addition, HDMI has the support of major motion picture producers like Fox, Sony and Universal and satellite system operators such as DirecTV, Dish Network and Sky as well as the cable industry's CableLabs.
The HDMI Organization Specification Revision 1.3c has standardized on a single cable bandwidth of 5-Gbps (5 Gigabits/second).  HDMI connectors and cable assemblies have been designed to enable an uncompressed all-digital interface between DVD players, satellite receivers and/or set-top boxes and audio/video monitors such as DTV (digital television) and flat-panels.  HDMI's smaller standardized consumer-friendly friction locking connector design featuring a single-cable when fully implemented by the consumer electronics industry will reduce installation costs and improve home entertainment system performance.
♦		HDMI's 5-Gbps bandwidth offers consumers, system designers and consumer electronics manufacturers extensibility for quite some time to come.  Currently, standard HDTV broadcasts use less than 50% of HDMI's available bandwidth.  With capacity to spare, HDMI can incorporate new technological advancements and capabilities well into the foreseeable future.
♦		HDMI supports all uncompressed standard, enhanced and high definition formats (e.g., 480I, 480P, 720P, 1080I, 1080P) as well as standard NTSC and PAL formats.  In addition, HDMI supports standard PC formats (e.g., VGA, XGA, SXGA, et cetera).
♦		HDMI use High-bandwidth Digital-Content Protection (HDCP) as its content protection protocol.  HDCP provides a secure audio/video interface that meets the security requirements of content providers and systems operators.  HDCP was developed by Intel to protect digital entertainment content during transmission.  HDCP encrypts the transmission of digital content between the video source and the receiver, projector or digital display.  Intel designed HDCP to protect the integrity of the media that is being transmitted.  HDCP does not prevent the consumer from copying or recording the digital content.
♦		HDMI is backward compatible with Digital Visual Interface (DVI).
		·		Fully backward-compatible with using the CEA-861 profile for DTVs
		·		DVI-equipped TVs will display video from HDMI sources.
		·		A DVI-to-HDMI Adaptor is required.   Separate audio cables are required because the HDMI audio is not available using an adapter.
♦		All Elite Electronics HDMI Cables are designed and produced in accordance with the HDMI Revision Specification 1.3c  using a single long-length standard copper cable construction concept that is capable of carrying up to 5 Gigabits/second bandwidth video and multi-channel audio.  The HDMI Specification specifies the required cable performance but does not specify the maximum cable length.  Elite Electronics is currently supplying high-quality HDMI cables from 1-meter (39-inches) to 15-meters (49-feet) in length.  We can achieve longer distances by using active cabling techniques (i.e., amplifiers and/or repeaters) or fiber optic cabling.  As the HDMI semiconductor manufacturers improve their product technology, longer copper cable lengths will be achievable without using repeaters; resulting in additional installation cost-savings.
		·		HDMI's audio capability easily carries all compressed multi-channel digital formats (e.g., Dolby Digital, DTS (Digital Surround), et cetera) and can carry up to 8-channels of uncompressed digital audio.
♦		Reduced costs and complexity of multiple-cable installation concepts currently used to connect A/V systems.
♦		HDMI SMT receptacles with through-hole locking-lances (shell tabs).