“We published these latest enhancements to support the market need for broadcast 3D content,” said Steve Venuti, president of HDMI Licensing, LLC. “When we launched 1.4 in June of 2009, we deferred the selection of mandatory 3D format(s) for broadcast content until the market direction was more clearly defined. The market has spoken and the HDMI Consortium has listened and responded to accommodate those market needs.”

The specification includes, as you would expect, hard core information about frequencies, resolutions, bits and bytes, pixel alignments, and other minutia for engineers.

Here are a few implications for consumers.

You need an HDTV, obviously. The lowest grade “Primary Format”, as it’s referred to in the spec, for 3d is 720p all the way up to 1080p.

You need a *new* HDTV, not so obvious. Part of the upgrade for 3D is the requirement for two color pixels for every one 2D color pixel. According to the spec there are three ways HDMI allows pixels to be arranged but any way you order it, it will require twice as many dots.

The most popular format implied by the 3D specs are, a you might guess, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. Although 4k is supported by the HDMI spec no mention of it was made in the extract.

HDMI 1.4 was released with features such as an integrated data channel (internet access), integrated bi-directional audio (in and out), 4k, a micro and automotive interface, and expanded color depth. 1.4a was release specifically to address implementation details of 3D.

You can download the spec at http://www.hdmi.org
See the full press release at http://www.hdmi.org/press/press_release.aspx?prid=120

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Today Toshiba announced a TWELVE megapixel camera and chip for mobile. With most a US domestic cameras using cameras at or below 5 megapixels this is a chip that really pushes Moore’s law.

The device offers support for up to two cameras, with the primary camera using a MIPI link and the secondary camera using a MIPI link or parallel port. The bridge enables high-speed serial interfaces on both the Host via MDDI and camera side via MIPI CSI-2 allowing support for up to 12 megapixel primary camera and up to 2 megapixel secondary camera in one handset. It is compatible with systems using Qualcomm® baseband processors with an MDDI interface.

There has long been talk of a relationship between Apple and Qualcomm. If that were the case this this just might be the thing that gets a forward facing camera in the iPad and iPhone.

See the release from Toshiba

More on iPad/iPhone/iTouch specs

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