How to Distribute a “True High Definition Video” Signal from a Blu‐Ray DVD Player Or Sky Satellite Box Around a Home Or Business

How to distribute a “True High Definition Video” Signal from a Blu‐ray DVD Player or Sky Satellite Box around a Home or Business.

Currently we can take the analogue signal from our Skybox or Blu‐ray DVD player – modulate the signal and distribute the signal using the TV antenna system. This only allows us to distribute a low quality analogue signal by this method. If we wish to distribute a higher quality signal we would need to run three cables for the Red – Green – Blue analogue signals to each TV.

After 2013 all the highest quality video will have an encryption key embedded in the signal and the only way to view this signal is if you are using HDMI cables and equipment capable of handling the encryption. This effects video from your Blu‐ray DVD, individual programs on Sky (Live Games – Live Concerts – New Release Movies) and movies that are stream‐able over the internet. (Not available In New Zealand yet)

Where the technology is going:

The video available from some cellphones is now higher quality than is broadcast via conventional analogue TV. CCTV cameras are moving rapidly to an IP based distribution and dumping analogue technology along the way. Video from these new devices cannot be modulated and distributed around the premises as it would have been even two years ago without converting it down in quality.

Why on earth should we have to lower the quality to send it around our building!

We are being promised all sorts of bells and whistles with products like “Video Anywhere” and “Video on Demand”, we have this today in some forms and yes this can distribute it over a computer network. Tomorrow this video is going to be higher quality and will have encryption keys embedded in the signal.

A good example of this comes from an American company called “Netflix”. Netflix offers its subscribers 24x7 access to movies of their choice from a vast library of videos, streamed to them over the Internet for US $8 per month. They are already responsible for 40% of all internet traffic in the North and South America. How easy would it be to “rip them” that is “copy them illegally” and repost them on the peer to peer networks?

It is actually difficult and I personally have not heard of anyone succeeding. To be honest – at US $8 a month for 24x7 accesses to any movie you wanted to watch, why would you bother.

Why is it difficult – because it already has the protection key embedded in the video stream! Yes you can use your laptop, Xbox, Wii and other devices to stream and watch these movies. This is because secure hardware components needed for a secure player are already built into these devices. When you log onto their site your player swaps its encryption key with the site and the video stream is modified to “only play” on your player – it will not work on anyone else’s player because their key is different. It can

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be recorded (saved) on your player but it will not play if copied to another player because it requires your key. In some cases your player will need to re‐logon to their site for permission to play the recorded content. The vast majority of users do not even notice that this takes place.

Looking even further forward why would you want to record it when it is available to you 24x7.

This is a video movie streaming company ‐ other business will start to offer news, sport, documentaries cartoons and many more types of streaming media. The one thing you can bank on is that the content will be delivered in increasingly Higher Definition with encryption.

Look at Netflix, the image (Copied from the Netflix Site) below shows a laptop receiving the streaming signal video from Netflix and displaying it on a large screen TV. The important item I want to show you is “not” the Laptop or the TV but the HDMI cable that is specifically mentioned in the text.

Connect your PC or Mac to your TV using an HDMI cable, select your desired TV episode or movie on the computer and watch instantly on your TV.

Why is this important – the encryption is all about stopping individuals copying the stream content! The laptop is receiving a secure feed; this feed can be watched on the laptop and possibly on an external monitor via a VGA connector. (It may only show you the video in standard definition over the VGA connector). If the laptop has an HDMI socket then it is a very easy method to connect it to the TV or computer monitor if they also have a HDMI socket.

After 2013 the encrypted video will play on the laptop but the signal will stop coming out of the VGA socket. It will be available over the HDMI cable as long as the TV or monitor meets the encryption standards. The HDMI cable enables a secure connection between the player and the TV.

At this stage the signal cannot be downscaled and modulated around the premises or sent over a computer network!

The hardware to achieve this encryption is already present in our computers, cellphones, tablets, TV’s and monitors ‐ it has simply not being implemented until all the pieces are in place. After 2013 the game changes. REMEMBER! This only affects video that is encrypted. Your standard DVD’s and anything that you produce yourself will not have this encryption and will not have these hassles.

Do not be surprised that the DVD will give way to the Blu‐ray DVD that has the encryption ‐ sometime before 2013!

SONY, EMI and Columbia have stated that they will stop manufacturing CD’s in 2013. (EMI now bust) Expect to see music videos on Blu‐ray replacing them.

The future of the Blu‐ray DVD is also limited. In the near future when you purchase a movie you will only receive an access key. This key will enable you to stream the movie to any location at any time over the Internet – there will be no physical disk! This technology is called “Ultra Violet Blu‐ray” and is now available as of November 2011. Samsung have released a Blu‐ray DVD player capable of receiving this stream in January 2012. http://uvdemystified.com/uvfaq.html#1.1.1

So where are we? ‐ after 2013 you will require video equipment capable of secure connections to watch

Blu‐ray DVD’s, specific Sky programs and specific streamed content from the Internet.

Scenario 1:

Today we have our (Sky Box, Media Center, VCR, DVD) box in the lounge it feeds our main TV and we take a feed from the video out and modulate it so we can watch the signal on any TV in the house. Little Johnny is sick and we switch “On” his TV and select the appropriate TV channel. In 2013 this will cease to happen.

As the installer of the system are you going to tell your client that with all this new technology that it actually offers less functionality? (Remember that it is only protected content, but has time goes on more and more of the content will be protected)

Scenario 2:

The owner of the local tavern has 5 TV’s around his bar they are all tuned to Sky Sports – They are fed from a single Sky Decoder. That signal could be modulated or we could even feed a composite or even component video to the TVs. After 2013 the analogue signal will disappear from games that are high profile. They will be Widescreen, High Definition and Encrypted to prevent individuals recording and re‐ streaming the content in real time in lower quality.

English Student faces extradition to USA and 10 years jail for website that showed where video streams were available. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10778786

They could hire 5 Sky boxes one for each TV but this limits the system. What do they do if they have a promotional Blu‐ray DVD that he wishes to play or even stream video from the Internet?

Scenario 3:

Corporate Client: This could be a block of Apartments’, Hotel, Shopping Mall, Manufacturing Plant. The needs of such clients will vary with the services they offer. Distributing the CCTV footage over the computer network is possible but will it interact nicely with the host of web enabled devices their clients will be using. Any streaming content generated by the body corporate (building) will need to integrate seamlessly with the individual clients needs. Apartment buildings are treated as single entities and instead of individual fiber links to each apartment only 3 or 4 cores may be allocated. A small apartment building of 30 apartments each streaming 40Mbit/ sec = 1.2Gbit/sec Internet feed.

Let’s say we are at the head office of a large electricity generator and one of their sites has suffered an extreme event in another part of the country. If there is news coverage the Executive, Senior Management, Emergency Operations Staff will all wish to monitor any footage that is broadcast. There could also be secure footage from the remote site available via the Internet. If each TV is web enabled how many streams of the exact same content do you think would be occurring at the same time. The ability to respond to changing events will be hampered by congestion at the Internet gateway to the facilities.

It would be a far wiser move to control access to such streams. It would be incumbent on the IT department to capture one stream and then disseminate this stream to those who need to view the content. This frees the Internet gateway from excessive traffic and moves the data distribution to the company network backbone. It will be highly likely that in the future such content will be subscribable or Pay Per View and therefore encrypted. This content will NOT be able to be transmitted around the facilities by RF or by computer network.

This scenario makes the assumption that the news feeds will be available via the web, while newsfeeds are available today they are not real time streamed video. This is solely due to the poor infrastructure on the national Internet backbone. Once the vast majority of premises have fiber to the premises one can expect this situation to change. For the corporate reading this document it is necessary to understand the changes that are happening to ensure the upgrade path of their facilities is catered for. Without this understand there will be a divergent infrastructure put in place.

One can only guess as to what will be the requirements of external video sources and which of those will be encrypted.

How Do We Achieve This

This section deals with sending the BEST possible HD Video Signal around your premises.

We need to begin with understanding what is High Definition Video?

Standard Definition video is the picture size and quality we have been watching for the past twenty years. It is transmitted to us via radio waves; we have been able to record and play‐back the recorded images on a VCR. This signal suffers from noise and ghosting.

This type of signal is referred to as an “Analogue Signal”

With the advent of the Digital Transmission Standards, Blu‐ray DVD and hard drive recorders we can now watch pre‐recorded movies in higher quality without the noise and graininess of a VCR signal. This improvement in signal quality is due to the fact that the signal we are watching derives from a “digital source”.

We now have a source of very high quality video that cannot be viewed on a standard definition TV; this is because it contains more information than can be shown on a standard definition screen. To be able to view the image on a standard TV, picture information and quality has to be lost.

This is achieved by “Down Scaling” the picture.

The new wide screen TV’s are able to show this wider picture and information.

What is frequently overlooked and causing some confusion ‐ is the fact that any higher quality signal better than a “Standard Definition” signal is referred to as a “High Definition” signal.

The signals that are transmitted to us from ground based transmitters and satellites “all” vary in quality and in resolution. They are all referred to as HD (High Definition) and Digital. However – none of these signals currently match the resolution and quality achievable from a Blu‐ray DVD. To add further confusion the term HD can refer to “High Definition” or “Hybrid Digital” and manufacturers tend to use both interchangeably.

This article discusses how to take the best Blu‐ray quality signal and distribute it around premises. There are better quality signals available but we are using this as a median

Standard TV is approximately 640 pixels wide by 579 pixels high (640 x 579) – now (720 x 480), (1280 × 720), (1440 x 1080) (1920 × 1080) (2560 x 1600) and (2560 x 2048) are referred to as HD signals. It should be obvious that 1920 x 1080 is going to contain higher picture quality than the 720 x 480 signal. It actually carries 6 times the amount of visual information.

This is something to be wary of when purchasing HDTV distribution equipment. It is not unheard of to have a HD extender state that it can handle 1920 x 1080 signals. While it accepts this signal, it down scales it to 720 x 480 to be able to attain its stated distance. This means that the signal received is not as good as it could be.

In the recent past, if we wished to distribute the signal from the back of a VCR player to, (for example) eight TV’s around a home or business it was a very easy task. We would take the RF signal from the back of the box and feed it to an RF amplifier and then mix it with the “free to air” signal.

If there was no “RF Out” then it was a simple task of taking the composite signal and the audio and using a modulator to achieve the same effect!

If we were looking for a better quality signal then we could run individual coaxes for the different signals. If we were looking to provide the best signal possible we would use individual cables for Red, Green, Blue and audio.

This however, is about to change completely.

The reason is that “NEW” and most existing audio/video equipment will behave differently. This new behavior will depend on the type of content you are trying to view! Collectively this change is referred to as the

“Analogue Sunset”

Currently, there are Composite and RGB outputs on some equipment; you will find that these outputs will not work when attempting to play protected Blu‐ray HD content. If you are very lucky they may play a “down‐scaled” image.

Video Source Device Content Displayed Analog Output Status Blu‐ray Disc player Commercially sold Blu‐ray Disc Standard definition only after 2010, disabled after 2013. PC Commercially sold Blu‐ray Disc Standard definition only after 2010, disabled after 2013. Depends on individual agreements between service provider PC Protected content e.g. iTunes and content owner. PC Non‐protected content No requirements to disable Satellite/Cable TV set‐top box Subscribed channels May not be disabled in the United States. In the US, only to be disabled for new services offering first‐ Satellite/Cable TV set‐top box Video on demand run movies for 90 days before availability on disc Source: Extron® white paper

(Ever wondered why you DVD player needs to know the date and time? Or why it needs to access the internet?)

A good example of this in New Zealand is Sky TV’s My Sky HDi satellite receiver. It will only display HD content when the HDMI output is plugged directly into a HDMI input on an HDCP compliant TV.

What is HDCP? HDCP stands for “High Definition Content Protection”. This is also referred to as DRM (Digital Rights Management). In simple terms it is an “Anti‐Pirating” device that prevents the contents of the Blu‐ray DVD or whatever encrypted source is in use ‐ from being copied. In the case of the device playing the encrypted signal, it has an individual software key embedded in the electronics that it needs to swap with the HDCP compliant TV in order for the TV to properly decode the scrambled signal that the box will send to it. You can record the signal you are watching but if this recorded signal is played on another device (Another Sky box or DVD player for example) it will not be able to decode the recorded signal because its internal key is different.

While you currently might be happy to send a lower quality signal via RF around your house or business, please remember that when you upgrade your current equipment it is very likely that it will not support anything other than a HDCP compliant device. This also means that you are assuming that manufactures will continue to incorporate an Analogue Tuner into their television after there are no commercial TV stations transmitting Analogue!

Note: It is also noteworthy to comment at this stage that any HD digital video content that you may produce for yourself (Handy cam) will not have the HDCP signal encoded and anyone will be able to watch the video without restriction. It is only content such as Commercial Blu‐ray DVD movies etc that will have this signal encoded in the video signal.

Point 1/ We have so far ascertained that the box playing the protected HDCP content will need to be connected to a HDCP compliant TV via an HDMI lead

This is fine if the box is next to the TV, the first problem that you will run into if you wish to distribute this signal around your home or business is the length of the HDMI cable. In my example I am going to distribute this signal to a total of 8 TV’s.

Originally there were restrictions placed on the length of the HDMI cable, currently this has changed and while there is no current length restriction in the HDMI specification, it is typically reliable over five meters. It is now possible to purchase longer lengths but they are extremely expensive and with no real guarantee to work for the following reasons.

Update 18 Jan 2012 – HDMI version numbers are no longer to be used when describing HDMI cables http://www.hdmi.org/manufacturer/trademark_logo_pub.aspx

Issues with extending HDMI cables.

Firstly there is the +5V sense line. This voltage is sent out by all HDMI devices and is used to detect if there is another HDMI compliant device connected. There is very little tolerance for variation in voltage ‐ if it is +4.95V this may be too low for the sensor of the connecting device and it will not detect its presence and the system will refuse to connect. The longer the run of cable the more likely you are to suffer from voltage drop, 0.05V is very easy to lose.

Next is the hand shaking (Key Swapping) – this is used to ensure that the devices are the same devices that started the conversation and is checked a minimum of every few seconds. If a message is lost then all communication is lost and the handshake process has to start from the beginning.

The digital signal switches at a high speed (+300MHz) so as the distance of the cable is extended then the speed of the signal can effectively drop and this can prevent the signal from being recognised by the receiving device. This will vary with cable quality and type; this is called the (digital) cliff effect.

HDMI Extenders Typical HDMI extenders on the market achieve the distance by using Cat5e or Cat6 cables. (Personally recommend Cat6 – the cable is slightly thicker so there will be less voltage drop over a similar run of cat5e)

These cables are made up of four pairs of twisted cables. The twist rate of each pair differs – the cable is specifically designed that way. The problem that this presents for HDMI transmission is that the total length of each twisted pair is different; this translates to different arrival times for each signal. The longer the cable the greater the time delay – because the HDMI is a very high frequency signal ‐ this delay can prevent the handshake or data signal from being received correctly and the link will fail.

These issues are very annoying over a single link. But consider this – the HDMI signal will need to be split (in our example) into eight signals. Anyone of our cables can have this issue and it will affect the signal to all the others as it renegotiates. Imagine having two or even three dodgy links!

When purchasing HDMI cable in longer lengths ensure it is the High Speed or Category 2 (10.2Gbps) rather than the Standard or “Category 1” (2.25Gbps) cable. The HDMI standard allows for data rates greater than 10.2Gbps so using anything that performs slower will not work in the future.

Things to consider when looking to purchase and install HDMI extenders.

• Some passive extenders require two Cat5e or Cat6 cables – these will need to be exactly the same length to prevent timing issues. Confirm the devices actual resolution against distance that the signal will travel. Remember the term HD applies to different frequencies. “HD compliant” is a throw away term that means absolutely nothing. • There are some passive Cat5e / Cat6 extenders that will achieve the same over one single cat5e cable. Be very wary as some of these actually require screened Cat5e or Cat6. (The use of the shield acts as a ninth wire) standard Cat5e or Cat 6 would not work. This fact is often absennt or well hidden in the advertising information. You will figure that one out when nothing works! • Active extenders require having their own power supply. Drawing power from the +5V rail from the cable can drop the voltage enough that the HDMI devices thinks that nothing is connected!

It may work with one brand of DVD player but not another and this may not happen until many months after the initial installation! • Look for an extender that will correct the timing issue generated by the different twist rate. • Ensure that the extender will pass the HDCP signal without compromising the signal. • Ensure that the extender is not down converting the signal to achieve the distance it quotes, something that is often missing or obfuscated in the advertising. • Ensure the extender will work at the highest data rate. I have had importers tell me they have installed hundreds that are working over 100s of meters. When asked what they used to test the link it is nearly always a DVD. This is no test! (See Data Rates in Appendix) The data rate from a DVD is a lot lower than a full 1080p signal with HDCP – it will travel longer distances. Even Blu‐ ray disks are often copies of standard DVDs just copied to the Blu‐ray disk format – this is still distributed at standard DVD data rates. • When installing the Cat cables it is essential that the minimum bend ratio is maintained. This is nearly always overlooked in a domestic installation. With so many trades working in one area the cable is often bent inappropriately or crushed. With Standard Definition TV one could get away with this issue. The HDMI data is uncompressed when we send it to the screen and the frequencies are not that forgiving and nothing can be done once the walls are lined.

If we look at a Full HD signal (1920 x 1080) that means each pixel has 8 bits of data sent serially so there is: 1920 x 8 bits = 15,360 bits ‐ per line. There are 1024 lines per image field: 1024 x 15,360 = 15,728,640 bits per field. There are 24 frames per second: 24 x 15,728,640 = 377,487,360 bits per second or 377 Mbits/sec ‐ per component colour (see Note 1)

We are sending 3 (RGB) x 377Mbits + Audio + Control = 1.3 Gigabits/sec over our extension cable.

( Note:1) • HDMI Category 1 certified cables are specified as 74.5Mhz • HDMI Category 2 certified cables are specified as 340MHz

One thing you should never do is cut the plug from the end of an HDMI cable. You will not be able to reconnect to the extremely fine connections found on an HDMI plug. Trying to join the cable in the middle you will not be able to match the original cable specifications that are required.

There are currently no fixes! ‐ Just do not go there!

Point 2/ To this point we have ascertained that we can extend the HDMI signal to another location as long as the right equipment has been purchased and certain precautions are taken with the installation of the extender cable.

To distribute this single HDMI signal to our eight TV’s we will require purchasing an eight way splitter and enough extenders to meet our requirements.

The next issue that we will run into is the fact that the splitter will need to be HDCP compliant or the source will not allow a protected signal to be viewed.

As stated earlier, the signal source (Blu‐ray DVD in our example) has an encryption key that it swaps with the TV so that the TV can decode and display the signal. In our example we have eight TV’s so there will need to be eight conversations taking place. The DVD player has only one HDMI output so it cannot tell which device it needs to talk to so the eight way splitter has to hold this conversation with the TV’s. The splitter itself therefore has to be HDCP compliant to perform this task.

PLEASE Note: If the content is not HDCP encrypted then any basic HDMI splitter will distribute that signal with no limitations. The issue only arises when the signal is HDCP encrypted. Commercial Blu‐ray DVD media is/will be encrypted and your player will stop showing this media on analogue outputs in 2013. Remember that My Sky HD is already conforming to the 2010 encrypted data requirements!

Point 3/ To this point we have our compliant splitter, we are connected to our compliant extenders and we are plugged into our eight TV’s. We try to play our protected content but the screen states that there is a non‐compliant device connected and it will not play without scaling the signal down or possibly not at all! This may affect “all” or only one or more of the TV’s. This depends on the functionality of the splitter.

The most likely culprit at this stage will be one of the TV’s. Just because it has an HDMI connector does not mean that it is HDCP compliant or even fully HDMI compliant. There are several HDMI standards ‐ HDMI 1.1 to the current which is HDMI 1.4b. This would be especially true if you were trying to distribute a 3D video signal. HDMI is a somewhat confusing standard – a manufacturer only has to meet one of a number of requirements of the specification to call their product HDMI xx compliant. It can fail miserably on all other requirements but still be called compliant because it can meet just one of the requirements. The HDMI consortium states that when one is purchasing a compliant product “think features” not “standards”. For the professional installer this is of no practical help as the clients requirements will change over time.

To track down the culprit bypass the splitter and connect each TV directly into the source. When the offending TV is located this TV should not be used on the system if you are planning on distributing protected HD content. If all the TV’s passes this test then you should look at the eight way splitter to check if it conforms.

Point 4/ At this point we have our installation and all our TV’s HDCP and HDMI standard compliant.

The next most likely issue is that only a certain number of the TV’s are showing any picture. You have individually bypassed the splitter and each TV works fine, it is only when they are all or most of them are connected does it start exhibit this issue. Also it is not always the same TV’s sometimes they start working and others stop!

The issue here will probably lie with the source (the Blu‐ray DVD player in our example) and the issue is to do with the software keys. Each of the TV’s has its own key that it swaps with the source equipment so to be able to decode the encrypted data stream. The source has to generate a personal key for each TV and here lies the problem. The manufacturer has no idea how many TV’s their product is going to be connected to; there is a good chance that it will only be one. For every key they install in their product they are required to pay a license fee, to stay competitive they limit the number of Keys they install in their products. To date the manufactures do not advertise how many keys are installed, but it is a fair guess that if the product is cheap it will not contain many keys. In our example we will require that the source box will have nine keys installed. Eight for the total of eight TV’s and one for the splitter that requires its own key! When purchasing any device that will be streaming video you will require knowing out how many keys it has available.

For Reference: The New Zealand My Sky box has three keys installed, so in our example we will only ever have two TV’s showing a picture.

Solution:

The encryption keys issue can be solved by a proprietary device that is inserted after the source device and makes the whole system look like there is only one TV connected. One of these devices will need to be connected in each feed to a TV as it now takes over the role of providing the encryption keys and performing the HDCP protocol requirements with the TV. This is over and above the parts shown in the previous diagram.

Point 5/ Right! We now have the installation and the TV’s compliant and the source has enough keys for all the TV’s. We have pictures on all the TV’s and the content being shown is HDCP protected content – BUT the video signal is being scaled down to a lower resolution?

The issue now will be a signal called EDID Extended display identification data ‐ it will be coming from one of the TV’s. Actually this signal will be coming from all the TV’s but one in particular will be causing this problem.

Most people’s interaction with EDID is when they set the resolution of their computer monitor. Only one of these settings is the screens native resolution. To achieve the other resolutions there is a graphics processor inside the monitor the stretches or squashes the image to fit the screens native resolution. On some settings the screens contents just look awful. While we can set the resolution manually when using a computer, in the scenario we are discussing this will be taken out of our hands.

The EDID signal tells the device it is connected to what screen resolution it is capable of displaying (720 x 480, 1280 × 720, 1440 x 1080 and 1920 × 1080). The important figure is the TVs’ native resolution. The specifications may state that a TV can display 1920 x 1080, however; the TV manufacture to reduce costs has installed a physical screen of let’s say 1440 x 1080 and will scale down the 1920 x 1080 signal to suit the screen. So the native resolution of this screen is actually 1440 x 1080. The 1920 x 1080 picture will not look the best but hey ‐ it works. Now if this TV is connected to our Blu‐ray DVD player this EDID conversation will take place and the DVD player will scale down the signal to 1440 x 1080 so that it looks the best it possibly can on the TV, which is great and what we would expect.

However, when we are splitting the signal this behavior is not what we need. What tends to happen is this. The TV with the native resolution of 1440 x 1080 states, hey my best resolution is not 1920 x 1080 “switch down” to my native resolution of 1440 x 1080. Another TV pipes up and says I can do 1920x1080 but I cannot do 1440 x 1080 you will need to switch down to 1280 x 720. This continues until all the TV’s

can agree on a single resolution – the system will always default down to the highest common denominator. This final value can be a lot less than each of the TV’s individually is capable of showing. All of a sudden the cheap TV purchased for the kids room does not look like a bargain anymore, it is dragging the whole system down to its level ‐ often lower.

Solution:

Again there is a proprietary device that sits between the TV and the system. Again it is required to meet HDCP and other compliancy issues. In our example one side will be programmed to indicate “I’m 1920x1080” so that the signal resolution is not downgraded at the source. The TV itself will negotiate with the device and sees the device as 1920 x 1080 and will need to downgrade the higher quality signal internally. If the TV is unable to display the setting it will be blank.

Another solution is to ensure that all TVs are exactly the same model; given that each generation will be different this would be a difficult and expensive task.

Finally we have our high quality signal distributed around the premises. We have achieved this by individually adjusting every link.

Our problems are not quite over just yet!

HDCP Handshaking

Whenever a TV is being switched to a HDCP source it needs to perform the HDCP handshaking which can take anywhere from five to fifteen seconds. This process will blank all TV’s for this time period. Just what is needed when the “All Blacks” are 10 meters from the try line!

HDMI CEC

I have yet to strike a problem where the HDMI CEC signal is causing a problem; I expect that this will only be a matter of time. CEC stands for Consumer Electronics Control. This signal is becoming common on home AV equipment; it enables different brands of equipment to be controlled by any other manufactures equipment and remote controls. Pressing DVD on any brand of remote turns “ON” the DVD – Home Theatre Amplifier and the TV and it achieves this by communicating through the HDMI cable. – Great a few less buttons to press and a few less remotes on the coffee table. In our scenario any one turning their TV “OFF” in their room will have the signal pass back down the chain and turn “OFF” the equipment for everyone else!

Internet Connection

The latest TVs are now able to surf the Internet and come equipped with a network interface to be able to be connected through the home computer network. One would expect that you have run a network connection to the TV’s you are wiring for. (However this falls outside the scope of this document) It is mentioned because as from the HDMI 1.4 specification the HDMI cable is capable of carrying a TCP‐ IP network (Internet) connection. This would require our distribution network to be connected to the premises computer network. Special attention will need to be paid to our distribution network and the computer network interface to prevent closed network loops (network storm) from disabling the computer network. (Again beyond the scope of this document)

Internet connections will be required for streaming HD content from the Internet. Companies such as Sky TV (aka Fatso ‐ www.fatso.co.nz) will offer HD content by this method because they currently suffer from limited bandwidth restrictions when sending HD content via satellite signal. This content will be received by a suitable set‐top box (probably your existing Sky box) and will need to meet the requirements of this document if it is to be distributed around your premises.

When HD content that contains HDCP is placed into the Blu‐ray player the player can attempt to register the DVD over the internet and will not play the content until it has performed that task!

Most of the Internet capable equipment that is manufactured is expected to be permanently connected to the Internet to allow for firmware updates. Products are now designed to be completely reconfigurable via the Internet. Not allowing for such an event can mean equipment connection failures as one piece of equipment is updated while others are left in their old configuration. If the encryption is broken on the secure network (Such as the current Blu‐ray master key) then everyone’s PC will update the fix for the system automatically.

HDMI DLNA certified Client

Again at this stage this communications protocol it is not known to cause issues, mainly because it is currently under‐used in our scenario. DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance. This protocol allows devices such as your cell phone and tablet to recognise and send pictures, data, music etc to your TV, computer or printer. It is included here because it will be using not only the HDMI cabling but also the computer network. The manufactures now advertise that their devices are capable of displaying video streamed off the web or from computers in your home. These devices are HDCP compliant and while seeming to perform as expected after the end of 2013 they will not show HDCP compliant source unless everything in the signal chain is compliant.

Matrix Switching

Up to this stage we have been dealing with just one source. If we wish to distribute the Blu‐ray DVD and the Sky HDi signals plus others, then we will need to have a matrix switcher. This enables each TV location to select its own source. It is included because in this scenario it has all the inherent problems mention but multiplied by the number of source devices. The inclusion and configuration of a matrix switcher is beyond the scope of this article and is mentioned for completeness.

At the Enterprise level this is magnified even more so. With the take up of mobile devices such as smart‐ phones and tablets that are capable of displaying rich content then the whole delivery chain will need to be taken into account. After 2015 all computers will only have Display‐port and HDMI connectors so monitors purchased will require conforming to HDCP compliance if they are to operate with protected content.

These are the most likely situations that you will find yourself in ‐ as an installer. What use to be a walk in the park is now full of traps for the uninitiated!

It is not an impossible task to install a reliable distributed HDTV system. It takes an understanding of the issues and careful planning.

Alternative Solutions:

Known to work:

Fiber instead of copper: There are fiber extenders available, while they are more expensive they will work over extremely long distances and are virtually future proof in terms of higher speeds in the future. Multiple DVD Players: Instead of having just one Blu‐ray DVD player, install each room with its own DVD player. If the TV is to be wall mounted ensure that you have at least one HDMI cable in the wall cavity. Multiple Sky Boxes: It is possible to hire multiple My Sky boxes, again rent one for each room. The issue then moves to having a correctly designed and installed satellite signal distribution system. (This is outside the scope of this document.)

Works sort of:

Wireless link: This is point to point, that is the player will only be talking to one TV so it is not a distributed solution. Unless the TV can talk back to the wireless box then the HDCP handshaking will not be taking place so you will not be watching high definition protected content! This type of wireless signal is very high in frequency (5GHz) and typically will have trouble passing through walls. There is a system that works 60 GHz but that is most definitely line of site only. While there are systems that do this they are generally designed for the TV to be in the same room as the transmitter. This type of system is designed for Europe to suit single room European Style Apartments where there are no wall cavities to hide wiring. However, one has to remember that we are dealing with a decrypted signal the lowest HD resolution of 720 x 480 has a combined serial data rate of 200mbits / sec. The typical HD TV is expecting to see 1920 x 1080 which has a combined data rate of 1.3 Gigabits/sec. This works out to be every 3 cycles of the 5GHz is a data signal.

Computer Network link: an unlikely but possibly solution for the future. This is effectively what we have discussed here and has all of the attendant issues that I have highlighted. For content that is not HDCP encrypted then this is definitely a possibility. Again we have to remember that we are dealing with a decrypted signal and the data will need to be serialised, can the network it will be running over handle the (1920 x 1080) 1.3Gigabit / sec ‐ PLUS the data packets this data will have to wrapped in to travel the network. (This is only ‘one’ stream and is not the highest HD format that is currently available.) This also implies that there is a correctly designed and installed computer network. Streaming HD content over a computer network requires special selection of networking equipment to prevent network loading issues.

RF modulating the HD signal: This is how we used to achieve signal distribution in the past and it worked very successfully. The reason it will not occur is because of the HDCP signal – it is a handshake that requires the TV to reply to a handshake request. The signals we receive over the air are pre‐encrypted and decoded by the receiver. We can record these signals and play them back but only from the device they were recorded on because of the encryption keys. Typically the signal quality and resolution would not be as high as could be obtained from a Blu‐ray DVD.

To be able to achieve the same we would have to first purchase an “encryption device” these were valued at NZ $25K the last time I asked, and then we would need to purchase a digital modulator. There is another possible solution called MOCCA – this system supposedly is capable of sending HD pictures (At what resolution?) over existing Aerial infrastructure. To date there are no MOCCA compliant devices on the New Zealand market.

HD over mains: I have seen this advertised recently and the question here is “What do they mean by HD”. The nature of mains wiring in any given premises will vary greatly with its ability to carry a RF signal. The highest frequencies will be attenuated by the physical nature of the mains cable itself. Typically the frequencies used are around 600 KHz and would not support the high data rates required for the signals we are looking to distribute. Most mains operated A/V equipment comes with ferrite cores either in the mains lead or inside the unit as part of its assembly. These are included to prevent RF interference from entering the product through the mains connection. These ferrite cores will diminish or even remove any RF signal we are trying to distribute around premises. With this product we are deliberately introducing a signal source that all other manufactures are trying very hard to eliminate. It should also be obvious that only one signal could be streamed at any one time if the system works at all. This would not co‐exist nicely with other “over mains” devices. For premises that are wired for three phase mains the signal will only be on one phase so the others would be bare of signal.

Thoughts to add in somewhere: • The trend is a solid move to ever higher bitrates, this is across multiple devices. Users are expecting to be able to watch the same movie on their TV, touchpad or smartphone. These have very different content requirements requiring components to provide adaptive bitrates and distribute them simultaneously and seamlessly across an individual system. While somewhat available today they are not capable or ready for the data heavy requirements that will be needed after 2013. • The actual bitrates will vary according to the medium – (A smartphone screen can get away with lower resolution) any device generating a signal will need to generate different bitrates for every possible device simultaneously. Either that or there will be multiple scalars to adjust the signals to suit. • After Dec 31st 2013 some protected content will be at low data rates, typically however most protected content will only be high data rates. • Users will expect to move from one format to another seamlessly requiring proper infrastructure. • Content delivery networks (Telco’s, Internet Providers ‐ etc) – are working on their own solutions because it provides them with a competitive advantage. This generates disparity at the interface. • Bandwidth limitations around individual premises are likely to be the next bottleneck once fiber to the premises is delivered. • As the size of our TV screens increases then so does the resolution of these screens to ensure that the quality of the picture remains. SONY have just released a 4K projector for the domestic market – Blu‐ray disk are not suitable for 4K content so newer media

will be required – possibly Ultra‐Violet Blu‐ray. 4K resolution is not even shown on the chart below! • LG Sharp and SONY unveiled new 4K TVs at the 2012 CES show • Sharp displayed their 8K resolution TV at the 2012 CES show – it reportedly required 14 HDMI cables to drive it, possibly due to the lack of current content. • As more of our televisions become “Web Enabled” they will need to match the resolutions of our current computer monitors. This change will change the way in which content will be delivered and distributed. • The latest Xbox in design has graphics capability that will rival the very best graphics cards can currently deliver. It is using the same graphics processor that was used to render the movie “Avatar”. The current device is capable of playing Blu‐Ray DVDs and is currently used by owners to distribute video around their homes. That is – until the end of 2013.

Typical screen resolutions 3:2 4:3 5:3 5:4 8:5 16:9 17:5

• Computer monitors have higher resolutions than most televisions. As of July 2002, 1024×768 eXtended Graphics Array was the most common display resolution. Many web sites and multimedia products were re‐designed from the previous 800×600 format to the higher 1024×768‐optimized layout. • The availability of inexpensive LCD monitors has made the 5:4 aspect ratio resolution of 1280×1024 more popular for desktop usage. Many computer users including CAD users, graphic artists and video game players run their computers at 1600×1200 resolution (UXGA, Ultra‐ eXtended) or higher if they have the necessary equipment. • Other recently available resolutions include oversize aspects like 1400×1050 SXGA+ and wide aspects like 1280×800 WXGA, 1440x900 WXGA+, 1680×1050 WSXGA+, and 1920×1200 WUXGA. • A new more‐than‐HD resolution of 2560×1600 WQXGA was released in 30" LCD monitors in 2007. • In 2010, 27" LCD monitors with the resolution 2560×1440 were released by multiple manufacturers including Apple. • Panels for professional environments such as medical use and air traffic control, support resolutions up to 4096×2160. (4K)

Try delivering a compatible signal to these devices if they are all connected to the same source. The most common computer display resolutions manufactured are as follows: Width Height % of Internet Users 768 1024 0.8 800 600 1.44 1024 600 2.37 1024 768 22.63 1024 640 0.28 1093 614 0.54 1152 864 1.91 1280 800 14.55 1280 1024 7.96 1280 720 1.66 1280 768 1.84 1280 960 0.86 1360 768 2.65 1366 768 15.63 1440 900 6.92 1600 900 3.12 1680 1050 3.75 1920 1080 3.70 1920 1200 1.04 Other 6.08

Current Screen Sizes / Resolutions: Note: These statistics were gathered from visitors to three million video gaming websites, normalised to counteract geolocational bias, and may not be representative of computer users in general.

Covers the three month period from June to August 2011. Code Name Aspect Width Height % of ratio users XGA eXtended Graphics Array 4:3 1024 768 5.12% XGA+ eXtended Graphics Array Plus 4:3 1152 864 1.04% SXGA (UVGA) Super eXtended Graphics Array 4:3 1280 960 0.95% UXGA Ultra eXtended Graphics Array 4:3 1600 1200 0.81% SXGA Super eXtended Graphics Array 5:4 1280 1024 11.80% HD High Definition 16:9 1360 768 1.42% HD High Definition 16:9 1366 768 6.50% WXGA Widescreen eXtended Graphics Array 16:9 1280 720 0.69% HD+ High Definition Plus 16:9 1600 900 4.05% FHD (Full HD) Full High Definition 16:9 1920 1080 21.78% QFHD Quad Full High Definition 16:9 2560 1440 0.65% WXGA Widescreen eXtended Graphics Array 16:10 1280 800 5.28% WXGA+ Widescreen eXtended Graphics Array Plus 16:10 1440 900 9.20% WSXGA+ Widescreen Super eXtended Graphics 16:10 1680 1050 18.01% Array Plus WUXGA Widescreen Ultra eXtended Graphics Array 16:10 1920 1200 7.80% Other 4.92% HDMI Versions: 1.2 / 1.3a / 1.3b 1.4 / HDMI version 1.0 1.1 1.3 1.2a 1.3b1 / 1.3c 1.4a sRGB Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes YCbCr Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 8 channel LPCM, 192 kHz, 24 bit audio Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes capability Blu‐ray Disc and HD DVD video and audio at Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes full resolution Consumer Electronic Control (CEC) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes DVD‐Audio support No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Super Audio CD (DSD) support No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Deep Color No No No Yes Yes Yes xvYCC No No No Yes Yes Yes Auto lip‐sync No No No Yes Yes Yes Dolby TrueHD bitstream capable No No No Yes Yes Yes DTS‐HD Master Audio bitstream capable No No No Yes Yes Yes Updated list of CEC commands No No No Yes Yes Yes 3D over HDMI No No No No No Yes Ethernet channel No No No No No Yes Audio return channel (ARC) No No No No No Yes 4K × 2K resolution support No No No No No Yes

HDMI Connectors:

Type A: Has 19 pins and supports SDTV, EDTV and HDTV modes. Type B: Has 29 Pins for use with very high‐resolution future displays. Type C: Has 19 pins, a mini connector designed for portable devices. Type D: Has 19 pins, a micro connector. (Resembles a micro USB) Type E: Automotive connector.

HDMI “In Line” Extenders:

Many HDMI “In line” extenders attempt restore the signal by using a schmitt trigger on the incoming signal. This is not suitable on long extensions because it does no correct for the timing differences due to cable length. The better extenders deconstruct the incoming signals and then totally reconstruct the signal ready for retransmission. This corrects any timing differences and can be used to double the distances traveled by the signal.

HDMI Data Channels:

DDC: Data Display Channel – Used to read the EDID data of the display. TDMS: Transition Minimized Differential Signaling – Used to send the display data to the screen. CEC: Consumer Electronics Control – Brand agnostic control of AV equipment via remote control. (Trade Names for CEC ‐ Anynet+ (Samsung); Aquos Link (Sharp); BRAVIA Link and BRAVIA Sync (Sony)) Audio: Stereo PCM, 8Ch LPCM, DVD Audio, Super Audio CD, DTS‐HD Audio. HDCP: High‐bandwidth Digital Content Protection – DRM protection of video content.

HDMI Capable Devices:

Mobile Phones: The Samsung Galaxy, LG Optimus, HTC Sensation & Evo 3D, Motorola Atrix and Triumph mobile phones all support HDMI playback/screen mirroring via either HDMI output or MHL output. Nokia N8 supports HDMI playback via Mini‐HDMI (Type C) connector. Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc and Motorola Droid RAZR both support HDMI playback via Micro‐HDMI (Type D) connector.

Tablets: Tablets such as the Motorola Xoom, BlackBerry PlayBook and Acer Iconia Tab A500, support HDMI using Micro‐HDMI (Type D) ports. Others, such as the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer support the standard using Mini‐HDMI (Type C) ports. The iPad and iPad 2 have a special A/V adapter that converts Apple's data line to a standard HDMI (Type A) port. Samsung has a similar proprietary thirty‐pin port for their Galaxy Tab 10.1 that can adapt to HDMI as well as USB drives. The Dell Streak 5 smartphone/tablet hybrid is capable of outputting over HDMI. While the Streak uses a PDMI port, a separate cradle is available which adds HDMI compatibility.

Digital Cameras and Camcorders: Most standalone camcorders, as well as many digital cameras, are equipped with a mini‐HDMI connector.

Blu‐ray Disc: Blu‐ray Discs offer new high‐fidelity audio features that require HDMI for best results. HDMI 1.3 can transport Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS‐HD Master Audio bit streams in

compressed form. This capability allows for an AV receiver with the necessary decoder to decode the compressed audio stream. Some low‐cost AV receivers, such as the Onkyo TX‐SR506, do not support audio processing over HDMI and are labeled as "HDMI pass through" devices.

Personal Computers: PCs with a DVI interface are capable of video output to an HDMI‐enabled monitor via an adaptor, they are not be capable of displaying protected content because they do not support HDCP.

Newer PCs will include an HDMI interface and may also be capable of HDMI audio output, depending on specific hardware. Even with an HDMI output, a computer may not support HDCP, Microsoft's Protected Video Path, or Microsoft's Protected Audio Path.

• Laptops may have a Blu‐ray player built‐in, they will show protected content on their in‐built screen but the VGA connector will be disabled while this is occurring. If they have an HDMI connector they will deliver video if the monitor is HDMI compatible and HDCP compatible for protected content. • The first computer monitors with HDCP support were released in 2005. The Protected Video Path was enabled in graphic cards that supported HDCP, since it was required for output of Blu‐ ray Disc video. • Because audio is incorporated in a HDMI signal, video card manufacturers are now incorporating audio codec’s in their video cards. The ATI Radeon HD 5870 released in September 2009 is the first video card that supports bitstream output over HDMI for Dolby TrueHD and DTS‐HD Master Audio. • In December 2010, it was announced that Intel, AMD, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, and LG would stop using LVDS from 2013 and legacy DVI and VGA connectors from 2015, replacing them with DisplayPort and HDMI providing the best connectivity options moving forward.

Corporate IT networks will need to start to manage DRM issues for their networks. The PC equipment they are purchasing has the DRM management hardware built into the components. On top of this vendor software sits and provides algorithms for the decryption of their streams. As time progresses their users will start to use content that is DRM enabled. As long as the content is sitting directly in front of them then generally there are no issues. It is only when this content is to be displayed elsewhere and / or shared that issues will arise. With cloud computing video content will not necessarily be stored locally; this will have issues for the Internet gateway.

• Broadcaster NHK plans — during the Summer Olympics in London — to test its Ultra HD system, which has 16 times the resolution of current HDTV and 22 surround‐sound audio channels.

There are issues such as found with Apples iPad. The iPad will play restricted content and it is how Apple deal with this content is different to most other vendors. The scenario normally plays out like this: • Take one PC with HDMI Connector, turn it on and plug it into a monitor and the PC will display its desktop on the screen of the monitor. • Take one Apple iPad with HDMI Connector, turn it on and plug it into the same monitor and the iPad will display its desktop on the screen of the monitor. Now for the ‘got‐you’ • Take one PC with HDMI Connector turn it on and plug it into a HDCP compliant Switch (or similar) and plug that device into the monitor and the contents of the PC will display its desktop on the screen of the monitor. • Take one Apple iPad with HDMI Connector turn it on and plug it into a HDCP compliant Switch (or similar) and plug that device into the monitor and the screen remains blank!

On the surface it appears that the HDCP compliant Switch (or similar) is faulty. What is actually happening is this. Apple runs the iPad always in HDCP compliant mode, they do this because when protected content is played – it plays instantly! There is no waiting for the devices to authenticate. In the above scenario the monitor is not HDCP compliant, when the iPad is directly plugged into the monitor the iPad detects that it is not compliant and switches its resolution down to standard definition. When we include a HDCP compliant device in the signal path what happens is this. The iPad sees the HDCP compliant device and stays in HDCP mode, on the other hand the HDCP device sees that the monitor is not compliant and refuses to pass the signal. Hence the screen stays blank!

Blu‐ray Data Rates:

The compressed Blu‐ray video stream has a bit‐rate of 40 Mbps; however we are not dealing with the compressed stream when extending the HDMI signal. The signal we are dealing with has been uncompressed by the player and is being sent directly to the pixels on the screen via the HDMI cable.

To be backwardly compatible with the DVI signals ‐ the minimum standard is set to 8 bits per pixel colour. (See below) (Please Note: The decrypted colour data is streamed serially over the cable.)

If we look at a Full HD signal (1920 x 1080) that means each pixel has 8 bits of data so there is: 1920 x 8 bits = 15,360 bits ‐ per line. There are 1024 lines per image field: 1024 x 15,360 = 15,728,640 bits per frame. There are 24 frames per second: 24 x 15,728,640 = 377,487,360 bits per second or 377 Mbits/sec ‐ per component colour (see Note 1)

We are sending 3 (RGB) x 377Mbits + Audio + Control = 1.3 Gigabits/sec total over our extension cable.

( Note:1) • HDMI Category 1 certified cables are specified as 74.5Mhz • HDMI Category 2 certified cables are specified as 340MHz

The 720 x 480 HD signal will have – 720 x 8 bits = 5,760 bits + sync per line.

There are 480 lines per image field: 480 x 5,760 = 2,764,800 bits + sync per frame.

There are 24 frames per second: 24 x 2,764,800 = 66,355,200 bits per second or 66 MB/sec ‐ per component colour

or 3x 66 Mb + Audio + Control = 200 Megabits/sec total over our extension cable.

The data rate is 6 times greater for the 1080 signal. That’s five times more video information!

The current HDMI standard 1.4b specifies 48bit per pixel at 1920 x 1200 at 60Hz

This translates to ((48 x 1920) x 1200) x 60 = 6.6 Gigabits/second – per colour component Or 19.9 Gigabits/sec total over the extension cable.

The latest SONY 4K projector can handle 12 bit per pixel at 4096 x 2160 at 60Hz:

4096 x 12 bits = 49,152 bits ‐ per line. There are 2160 lines per image field: 2160 x 49,152 = 106,168,320 bits per frame. There are 60 frames per second: 60 x 106,168,320 = 6,370,099,200 bits per second or 6.37 Gbits/sec ‐ per component colour