HDMI expands reach as preferred digital connectivity standard

SUNNYVALE, USA: HDMI Licensing LLC and the HDMI Forum Inc. announced that over 1,150 licensed HDMI Adopters are expected to ship over 800 million HDMI-compliant products in 2012 according to market research firm In-Stat; an increase of 17 percent over shipments in the year 2011. This translates into an installed base of over 3.1 billion HDMI products deployed worldwide which represents an increase of 34 percent over 2011.

“During 2011, HDMI technology expanded its reach in the consumer electronics space and started to penetrate new market segments such as automotive and portable handheld devices,” said Steve Venuti, president of HDMI Licensing, LLC. “With the launch of the HDMI Forum in October of 2011, we expect to see even stronger demand for HDMI technology in the coming years.”

The HDMI Forum Inc. was launched in October 2011 to foster broader industry participation in the development of future versions of the HDMI Specification. The organization is responsible for all new standardization activities, including development of future versions of the HDMI Specifications. Open to any interested company wishing to become a member, the HDMI Forum currently has 43 members.

The membership recently elected 11 members to the Board of Directors. Arnold Brown of Silicon Image was elected as chairman of the Board and Rambod Jacoby of NVIDIA was elected as president.

“We are very pleased that in just over 2 months, 43 leading consumer electronics, PC and mobile products companies have joined the HDMI Forum,” said Rambod Jacoby, president of the HDMI Forum. “With broader participation in the development of the HDMI Specification, HDMI will continue to be the leading consumer interface for HD devices.”

Current activities include ongoing meetings with the Technical Working Group as well as the Marketing Task Group. The HDMI Forum expects to release the next version of the HDMI Specification in the second half of this year. The next version, which is focused on meeting immediate market needs, will include increased bandwidth to accommodate higher resolutions as well as address new video timings and other features. In parallel, the HDMI Forum expects to develop a longer-term roadmap that will define the next generation of the HDMI interface.