HDMI Adopted by 700+ Manufacturers as Many New HDMI-Enabled Consumer Electronics and PC Products Hit Market

-- HDMI Licensing, LLC, the agent responsible for licensing the High-Definition Multimedia Interface™ (HDMI™) specification, today announced that more than 700 consumer electronics (CE) and personal computer (PC) manufacturers have adopted the HDMI specification, up from 417 just 12 months ago. The widespread adoption of the HDMI specification by manufacturers further strengthens its position as the worldwide standard for high-definition digital connectivity. A wide array of new products featuring the most advanced HDMI 1.3-enabled connectivity such as x.v.Color, Deep Color and the finest high bit-rate audio have come to market from major players including Denon, Mitsubishi, Onkyo, Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Toshiba and Yamaha, with more products expected to be introduced this holiday season.

HDMI is the leader in digital connectivity for high-definition consumer electronics, including TVs, set-top boxes, DVD players and A/V receivers. In addition, the HDMI specification is experiencing rapid growth in the game console and PC markets, as manufacturers meet consumer demand for multimedia convergence. Nearly 200 million devices incorporating HDMI are expected to ship in 2008, with an installed base of nearly one billion HDMI-enabled devices projected by 2010, according to market researcher In-Stat.

“With the introduction of new products featuring HDMI version 1.3-enabled capabilities, we are seeing how HDMI continues to redefine the home theater experience for consumers,” said Les Chard, president of HDMI Licensing. “The widespread adoption of the HDMI specification demonstrates that it is the undisputed leader in digital connectivity. By bringing tomorrow’s technologies to the market, HDMI enables manufacturers to continually build products that exceed consumers’ expectations.” 

In addition to the dozens of new HDMI-enabled CE products that have been introduced, more than 120 HDMI-enabled PC products are currently available, including nearly two dozen desktop and notebook PCs, families of HDMI PC monitors and a broad range of motherboards and graphics cards. Major PC makers including Dell Computer, HP, Acer Inc., Gateway Inc., Sony, Toshiba, ASUSTek Computer Inc. and Hitachi Ltd. have already announced or delivered desktop and notebook PCs with the HDMI interface. The HDMI interface can also be found on products from leading motherboard and graphics cards manufacturers including ASUSTek, ATI Technologies, Inc., Diamond Multimedia, Gigabyte Technology Co., nVIDIA Corp. and VisionTEK Products LLC, and on PC monitors from Acer, BenQ, NEC, LG, Sceptre, Sony, ViewSonic and Westinghouse. HDMI has become the leading high-definition interface for consumer PCs, enabling direct connectivity to the more than 200 million HDMI devices and 300 million DVI-enabled devices expected in the market by the end of 2007.

In addition, many products supporting Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) functionality are available from Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp and Sony, with more to debut in this year’s holiday season. CEC encompasses a broad set of command and control functions that, when deployed, can revolutionize the way devices behave in a system, allowing users to control multiple CEC-enabled devices with a single remote control. The CEC products that are now hitting the market are showing the first promise of how an intelligent connection can change the user experience and reduce the complexity in operating these components.

About HDMI Licensing, LLC

HDMI Licensing, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Silicon Image, Inc., is the agent responsible for licensing the HDMI specification, promoting the HDMI standard and providing education on the benefits of HDMI to retailers and consumers. The HDMI specification was developed by Hitachi, Matsushita (Panasonic), Philips, Silicon Image, Sony, Thomson and Toshiba as the digital interface standard for the consumer electronics market. The HDMI specification combines uncompressed high-definition video and multi-channel audio in a single digital interface to provide crystal-clear digital quality over a single cable. For more information about HDMI, please visit www.hdmi.org