Possible Tv-Out With Usb-Hdmi


Kangal

Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
245
Because of the PS3 push, HDMI technology has become the new standard.
I own a DSLR with mini-HDMI out and wondered if a USB can do the same
A quick google provided this LINK
This won't really apply to the pandora, at least not now.
Mainly since it doesnt have h264 hardware accelaration and hasn't been shipped.
But other limitation might be lack of Linux support for DisplayLink technology or driver issues.

Do you think that something like this might be theesable for a Pandora2 unit?
I see the advantages of this is to free up space and add two USB ports; allowing a much greater flexibility in functionality.

grandtec-grand-hd-cinema_hh_400p.jpg
 

Attachments

  • grandtec-grand-hd-cinema_hh_400p.jpg
    grandtec-grand-hd-cinema_hh_400p.jpg
    12.5 KB · Views: 151
Lets just see Pandora 1 in action first ,but hey man if there is a Pandora 2 then i recon it would
have hdmi as standard,yes some will say no but why not ? pimp my Pandora.
 
The HD push came from numerous other sources, HDTVs, Bluray, HDDVD. TV manufacturers, the government push for digital TV, etc...

(btw, MS stated "gaming doesn't need HD", the 360 didn't have built in HDMI until the Premium and Elite models which came after PS3.)
 
HDMI could be a problem due to licensing. It's under pretty tight control because the industry is afraid more HDMI chips out there mean more people will make perfect copies of movies and such.

What about a TV out cable that does component? Avoids HDMI sync problems, which are a pain if your equipment suffers from it.
 
here we go again!

we got the
"this gadget beats the Panda"
"im tired of wait,bla bla bla"
and now the always

"hey would this get us VGA/HD/HDMI video with panda?"

truth is that if we had a working full wifi, maybe we could even pump out video thru wifi (at the amazing speed of 5 FPS and tons of video lag.
the thing is that USB doesnt have the speed to be able to pump out the video, even if it could, i bet the processor wouldnt be able to pump up the video thru it.
analog converters wont give you any benefit converting signal into digital or HD, it will still look nearly the same (or worse)

as for panda 2 well lets wait until 1 goes out to the public first.
technology will advance and maybe we get mini DVI on the future or whatever it provides for better video until then, it is just all speculation.
 
The industry pushed HDMI because it's DRM enabled. It doesn't do much an analogue RGB connection can't do (sadly though, it's pretty difficult to find a pair of devices that will actually allow you to send 1080p over component. Because DRM.) As Zotty points out, HDMI costs money too.

Quite a while back there was a hypothetical discussion about a "Pandora Cube" - a desktop Pandora, minus the top half of the clamshell basically. DisplayPort came up as a good video out option. It's compact, royalty free (which is why Jobs likes it) and you can convert it to DVI/HDMI with a reasonably cheap adapter.
 
Zotty said:
HDMI could be a problem due to licensing. It's under pretty tight control because the industry is afraid more HDMI chips out there mean more people will make perfect copies of movies and such.

What about a TV out cable that does component? Avoids HDMI sync problems, which are a pain if your equipment suffers from it.


HDMI isn't much of an issue seeing that the Beagleboard has HDMI out, although the top resolution I could get working on mine was 1280x1024 although I run it consistently on 1280x800 because of my widescreen LCD ..I think the issue with the pandora having it, is just that the Pandora eats up the only video out with an LCD display and extra connectors take up space.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
But the Beagleboard is not true HDMI as far as I understand? Just DVI video using a HDMI port. So they don't have to pay royalty fees. If it had full HDMI support (video, audio, data) it would cost.
 
Gruso said:
But the Beagleboard is not true HDMI as far as I understand? Just DVI video using a HDMI port. So they don't have to pay royalty fees. If it had full HDMI support (video, audio, data) it would cost.

Right, forgot to mention that.. I think the only major difference is that it doesn't have audio out, but otherwise compatible to most HDMI devices.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks so far, but I think it is swaying away from what I really wanted to know.

Forget about who pushed for Bluray or HDMI, sorry if that comment was inflammatory.
A dedicated HDMI out will be pretty sweet.
But with a handheld you really need to think everything through properly and get the max functionality for the amount of portability you provide, that's my philosophy.

I was thinking if there was no dedicated TV-out, but 2x USB external connections.
And either could be used as power supply, battery charger/power source, connectivity for device.
This would mean we increase the Pandora's functionality greatly without sacrificing any portability.

To justify;
1)a TV-out is very useful
2)you don't always use TV-out
3)you may need 2x USB plugins at one time.
eg/ 1 USB to recharge unit and 1 USB to plug in a device (eg 3G SIM stick thingy)
eg/ 1 USB for one device (eg connect to school PC) and 1 USB to plug in a device (eg 3G SIM stick thingamyjik)
eg/ 1 USB to power a device (eg hard drive) and 1 USB to plug in a device (eg hard drive)

and if you need TV-out you just plug in the USB=HDMI cable.
it sounds very possible as both being digital signals unlike composite/S-video wich need converting.

So how possible is this for a ARM handheld device, if not possible on the Pandora.
Future implication for Pandora2?
 
Gruso said:
But the Beagleboard is not true HDMI as far as I understand? Just DVI video using a HDMI port. So they don't have to pay royalty fees. If it had full HDMI support (video, audio, data) it would cost.

It works so if Pandora2 did this it would be good enough for me. I notice a lot of devices that have HDMI don't output audio, is this why? It's fake HDMI? I would be interested to know.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The Beagleboard uses a HDMI plug for DVI simply because it's physically smaller than a DVI plug. But it's still just DVI.
 
Tor said:
The Beagleboard uses a HDMI plug for DVI simply because it's physically smaller than a DVI plug. But it's still just DVI.

Outside of audio most people would be fine with that.. like people really care about HDCP or DDC, seriously they just want the video out.. the rest is just semantics.. DVI and HDMI video are electrically are the same.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Kangal said:
Thanks so far, but I think it is swaying away from what I really wanted to know.

Forget about who pushed for Bluray or HDMI, sorry if that comment was inflammatory.
A dedicated HDMI out will be pretty sweet.
But with a handheld you really need to think everything through properly and get the max functionality for the amount of portability you provide, that's my philosophy.

I was thinking if there was no dedicated TV-out, but 2x USB external connections.
And either could be used as power supply, battery charger/power source, connectivity for device.
This would mean we increase the Pandora's functionality greatly without sacrificing any portability.

To justify;
1)a TV-out is very useful
2)you don't always use TV-out
3)you may need 2x USB plugins at one time.
eg/ 1 USB to recharge unit and 1 USB to plug in a device (eg 3G SIM stick thingy)
eg/ 1 USB for one device (eg connect to school PC) and 1 USB to plug in a device (eg 3G SIM stick thingamyjik)
eg/ 1 USB to power a device (eg hard drive) and 1 USB to plug in a device (eg hard drive)

and if you need TV-out you just plug in the USB=HDMI cable.
it sounds very possible as both being digital signals unlike composite/S-video wich need converting.

So how possible is this for a ARM handheld device, if not possible on the Pandora.
Future implication for Pandora2?

a dedicated video output that the pandora already has cannot be changed by a usb video converter thing, there are several issues about using usb as a video port like, video lag, low FPS (most of the things i've seen pump less than 25 ON LOW RES), nasty driver compatibility, and wasting CPU time doing what the GPU could do all alone and better and for what? maybe a semi high resolution video? maybe direct digital? something that you coud do with composite out and video converters cheaper than the usb video out units?.

btw panda has 2 USB slots one standard and one mini used as OTG
 
Last edited by a moderator:
DroneB Dev said:
a dedicated video output that the pandora already has cannot be changed by a usb video converter thing, there are several issues about using usb as a video port like, video lag, low FPS (most of the things i've seen pump less than 25 ON LOW RES), nasty driver compatibility, and wasting CPU time doing what the GPU could do all alone and better and for what? maybe a semi high resolution video? maybe direct digital? something that you coud do with composite out and video converters cheaper than the usb video out units?.

btw panda has 2 USB slots one standard and one mini used as OTG
^ninja'd :ph34r:

Thanks, great post.
Summary why this is a bad idea
USB = CPU => choppy and/or low resolution graphics + toll on the CPU (decreasing performance for other tasks?)
HDMI = GPU => better output and no toll on main CPU
Too difficult to implement/drivers
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Don't get ahead of yourself, I have yet to see my pandora1, never mind a pandora2.
 
Back
Top