HDMI IP Core

HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. As suggested by its name, an HDMI has the capability to transmit data such as audio and video from one digital device to another. If you have ever been involved with electronics or even heard people talking regarding this subject, you may have heard this term thrown around. That is because it is arguably the most commonly and frequently used high definition signal standard for the purposes of transmitting audio and video over a cable.

Not only is it widely used commercially and on a large scale, but it is also abundantly used in home appliances and gadgets, such television, DVD players, gaming consoles like Xbox and PlayStation, BluRay players, as well as your personal computer sets and laptops.

HDMI, however, is more than just a port on the side of your laptop or just a cable hanging from the back of your console. It is a set of standards, the EIA/CEA-861 in particular, that defines the protocol and circumstances for the transmission of compressed and uncompressed audio as well as various video formats. Since the signals that are processed by this standard are same as the signals that are used by the Digital Visual Interface or DVI, meaning connecting the two will not cause any compromise in the quality of the transmitted signals.

In older times, television sets and related technology used to use analog signals to produce images and audio, which often resulted in a relatively poor-quality output that was defined as standard definition. The resolution was a lowly 704×480 pixels whereas the aspect ratio remained a fixed 4:3. HDMIs aimed to change all of this and replace the analog signals with digital, resulting in the introduction of High Definition TVs. The resolution got bumped up to 1920×1080 pixels with a rectangular aspect ratio of 16:9.

How Does HDMI IP Core Works?

HDMI IP core is developed by several companies you can find them in the link below. The way that HDMI works is that it uses transition minimized differential signaling, or TMDs, to transfer information from one device to another. This sort of signaling prevents the signal from being downgraded as it travels along the length of the wire, which can vary from anywhere between one foot to up to 50 feet.

The sending device, which can be any digital device such as a DVD or a BluRay player, encodes and transmits a signal. Within the connection, one cable carries the coded signal, whereas the other carries the inverse. The receiving device, such as a console or HDMI compatible television, decodes the signal and measures the differential between the signal and its inverse in order to compensate for any loss that may have potentially occurred along the way.

HDMI also often employs the use of High Bandwidth Digital Copy Protection, or HDCP, an authentication protocol designed to solidify and enhance the security surrounding the data that is being transmitted across the cable.