A group of the world’s largest consumer electronics manufacturers announced an alliance this week to develop and promote an industry standard to allow mobile devices to connect to HDTV sets and displays to play back HD content.
The companies that comprise the Mobile High-Definition Interface Working Group—Nokia, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba—account for more than 65 percent of the world’s mobile phone market (a fifth member, Silicon Image, develops silicon for HD video). The new mobile connectivity standard, based on Silicon Image’s Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) technology, will be defined, promoted and marketing by the Working Group as an industry standard open to any adopters and enable the development of mobile products that adhere to the standard. The Working Group says it plans to provide “a single cable with a low pin count interface [that] will be able to support up to 1080p HD digital video and HD audio in addition to delivering power to a portable device.”
The announcement comes a week after Samsung introduced its Instinct HD, which provides HD video playout via HDMI. In addition, Microsoft’s new Zune HD connects to HDMI via an HD AV dock for playback on HD displays.
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