HDMI Licensing, the agent responsible for licensing the high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) specification, this week announced that the forthcoming HDMI version 1.4 will support “additional” stereoscopic 3D formats. It looks like shutter glasses will not be the only stereo 3D technology supported by the industry.

“As a leading global standard for HD connectivity, the HDMI Consortium takes the market’s needs very seriously. 3D is a nascent market and thus continues to evolve quickly. The addition of the new format will secure the application of 3D for broadcasting, in addition to the existing applications for Blu-ray and gaming,” said Steve Venuti, president of HDMI Licensing.

In order to respond to “recent input from the industry”, the HDMI consortium will meet in late January ‘10 to add an additional 3D format (tentatively named “Top/Bottom”) to the HDMI specification, supporting the use of this format over HDMI.

HDMI Licensing proposes to entail legacy set-top boxes (those that are already deployed in the market) to comply with the HDMI specification version 1.4 requirements for 3D functionality even if only implementing one or more of the 3D formats in Appendix H of the specification.

In order to meet the needs of the market, the HDMI Founders have decided to allow legacy set-top boxes to use formats contained in Appendix H without having to implement the HDMI specification’s mandatory 3D formats, provided that they fully comply with the signaling protocol defined in Appendix H. This will continue to be in effect and will be reevaluated once a mandatory 3D broadcast format is defined.

Despite of certain waivers, legacy set-top boxes that do not support the mandatory 3D formats may not claim 3D functionality as defined by the updated HDMI adopted trademark and logo usage guidelines, the consortium said.

Tags: HDMI, Stereo 3D