HDMI, the acronym for High Definition Multimedia Interface is a popular standard for transferring digital data without loss in quality. It is used in various types of computer peripherals and gadgets these days. This is ideal for the audiophiles who want the best audio visual experience from their gadgets.

HDMI Advantages
Needless to say HDMI has various advantages over other formats for data transmission. The most obvious advantage of HDMI over other formats is that it offers lossless digital data. There is simply no need for analogue to digital conversion or vice versa with HDMI based data transmission. The second big benefit of using HDMI is that there is no clutter of cables. HDMI transmits both video and audio and is helpful for the users who own a lot of gadgets and need to connect them often. HDMI allows apt picture conversion to the most suitable format, for regular and widescreen displays.

How HDMI is better than DVI
DVI is better than many older analogue standards but it loses its sheen compared to HDMI.  HDMI is compatible with DVI and hence no conversion is needed when using the HDMI to DVI adapters. However, DVI is limited to transmitting only video signal and the users are forced to use a separate cable for transmitting the audio signal. This leads to cable clutter which is not the case with HDMI. HDMI manages both video and audio through a single cable. DVI offers no specific security provision for the content but HDMI has a standard named HDCP for that purpose.

What’s New about HDMI?
Like everything in technology the HDMI standard continues to evolve with time. In the last few years HDMI has evolved and every new version has brought along some new features. The HDMI developers now do not name the various HDMI versions with numbers. Instead they prefer naming them like HDMI standard, HDMI High Speed, HDMI High Speed with Ethernet. The newest HDMI version supports transmission of 3D content. The newest features in HDMI 1.4 are Audio Return Channel and HDMI Ethernet Channel. HDMI 1.4 offers the new 4k resolution and supports enhanced colour depth.
The consumers need not bother much about the HDMNI standard variations. For most of them anything above version 1.3 will fit the bill. The users who have bought a new 3D HDTV however should ensure that they buy a cable that is compliant with version 1.4.