Silicon Image is ‘on track’ to announce this quarter a promoters’...

an AV interface technology for connecting portable CE devices to an HDTV set through the TV’s standard HDMI input. It connects portable consumer electronics devices -- such as mobile phones, digital cameras, camcorders and portable media players -- to HDTVs using a single cable connected to the TV’s standard HDMI input port. MHL-enabled devices will allow a user to view multimedia content in HD, in contrast to the poor image produced when the portable device is linked to the TV through standard analog connections, Silicon Image has said. The company has landed an MHL design win for a “major mobile phone OEM,” which will begin shipping the phone this quarter, Tirado said. He said the company has made its first MHL licensing deal, but he didn’t identify the licensee. Tirado said he expects MHL to take off when creation of the working group is publicized, like HDMI finally took off when Silicon Image posted the finished spec online. The company wants the MHL spec to come out this year, he said. With the recent announcement of the HDMI 1.4 spec, “we are starting to see customer silicon innovation, not just cost reduction,” Tirado said. HDMI 1.4 “lays the foundation for profound changes in the HD entertainment experience,” he said. “The addition of Ethernet inside the HDMI cable acknowledges the importance of continued cable consolidation and connecting the home theater stack.” With version 1.4, “HDMI certification has now embraced the trend in IP connectivity necessary for a whole new class of entertainment content, services and applications by including it in into the HDMI standard,” Tirado said. “At the same time, we're looking forward to future enhancements in picture quality that will come with 3-D movies and television. The HDMI standard now incorporates the necessary protocol changes to handle this important improvement in visual quality.”