It ain't the first HDMI-to-Mini DisplayPort adapter that
we've heard of, but there's nothing like a little competition in a market that Apple's
own closed mindset helped create. Bitterness aside, we're pretty stoked to hear that Kanex -- the same company responsible for that oh-so-handy
Mini DisplayPort Adapter for Mac mini -- has introduced its own solution for piping Blu-ray, Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 signals right onto that gorgeous 27-inch panel that resides in your iMac. Our BFFs over at
TUAW stopped by the outfit's Macworld booth in order to give it a look, and they said that every pixel looked absolutely fantastic. Sadly, it looks as if you'll have to wait until April to drop your buck-fifty (not including cables), but hey, it's not like using that 13-inch CRT for a few more months will kill you. Or maybe it will, on second thought.
Update: Apogee is Kanex's parent company. Apogee specializes in audio and video solutions, while the Kanex brand focuses on audio and video solutions for Macs.
posted February 12th 2010 4:43PM
Is it too much to ask Steve Jobs to put an HDMI port inside some of his mac models and see how they sell compared to the ones with display ports? I barely know anyone with an Apple monitor, but plenty of people with apple laptops and an hdtv...
@nubbily
Steve already explained this... most HDMI devices only go up to 1920x1080. DisplayPort can go much higher. Basically, HDMI in its current state wouldn't be able to drive Apple's highest resolution monitor.
However, HDMI 1.4 can go up to 4096×2160... but I guess you'd have to have HDMI 1.4 devices to support it.
I'm with you, I'd rather have plain ol' HDMI to hook a MacBook Pro to a TV.
@nubbily
I think it has more to do with having to pay for the HDMI licensing which they don't have to do with displayport.
@nubbily MacBooks can connect to the iMacs.. you don't need HDMI.
And I never really cared much for HDMI, however, I might buy this little thing. And use it to connect my 360 to it, and maybe sell my 40" TV I have in my room. Since that's all I ever use it for
@Michael Scrip *coughbullshitcough*
Steve's explanation is a cop out to the truth. The truth is that they are trying to push displayport, unsuccessfully, just like they did with firewire and provide incentive for Mac users to pay the marked up price of the Cinema displays.
HDMI, like bluray and esata and soon USB3 are not passing fads. Hell, it took ages just to get a simple SDHC reader. Cmon! LOL! xD
@Ducman69
Too bad Firewire was on every camcorder for about a decade... Firewire is the standard for digital audio workstations... and Firewire was faster than USB since the beginning.
Sure, we never needed Firewire keyboards and mice... but for all that other stuff , it's great.
@nubbily
hdmi supports resolutions that high with the newer revisions and still works with the older devices that just need 1080
its just that companies feel the need to make customers buy special cables just for the device
@mtnDewFTW
you dont care for hdmi, so you would support display port
do you realize you are supporting something much less common
hdmi is present in tv's, bluray players, ps3, flip video hd recorders, 360's, desktops, and laptops
@Michael Scrip HDMI 1.3 would not drive the 27" iMac's monitor, but it wouldn't be hard or outrageously expensive for Apple to add some kind of scaler to scale 1080p sources up to the iMac's resolution. That's what HDTVs do when met with
It's a shame that the 21.5" iMacs don't have the port, as I'd prefer to have 1:1 pixel resolution @ 1920x1080 than some upscaling (no matter how efficient) going on.
@Jeff Kibuule 21.5" iMac does have a mini DisplayPort but it's not a 2-way port.
@strang It just seems more of an issue of Apple not wanting the feature in the 21.5 in macs to force an upsell. I'm not made of gold.
@strang
I believe that was implied in his comment.
Now give me some bi-directional support in an HDMI port on an iMac and you've got my dollar, but I doubt I'll ever see that.
i just buy the cable from monoprice.com. much cheaper than an adapter.
Are you kidding Engadget?
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10428&cs_id=1042802&p_id=5311&seq=1&format=2
@noot
"This device is not Bidirectional. It can only connect a Mini-DisplayPort source to an HDMI display. It will not work in reverse."
@Juicebot
Right you are, my bad.
I've always hated apple, but I never thought they'd do something THIS stupid...
@noot, @Juicebot hey guys, do you know if i would need an audio adapter as well? and if so, any what exactly would i need?
thanks,
noob
If they just add an HDMI port, there wouldn't be extra clutter.
Warning: meta comment ahead.
Ah...another typical Engadget post title:
Informative title...comma...snarky comment.
Rinse and repeat.
@jtl909 Haha, it's a nice format though :P
Apple by using the open DisplayPort standard is closed minded but somehow the closed/licensed/proprietary HDMI standard is open minded? I don't get that at all. DisplayPort has a number of advantages and offers easy compatibility via inexpensive adapters, no license fee's, higher bandwidth, and some advanced features like display daisy chaining, USB, input/output on the same connector, etc. DisplayPort is clearly the more open standard. You can whine about needing to buy an adapter, that's fair, but to try to frame it as an open vs. closed argument is just stupid. There's no contest there.
@(Unverified) the the open DisplayPort is clearly a Pian in the ass otherwise we would not seek out solutions for basic connectivity issues. I have 4 HDTVs at all have HDMI ports none have a DisplayPort. How about apple paying the $10,000 HDMI licensing fee and get over its self already.
@(Unverified)
A $9 adapter solves your problem but switching to HDMI limits a lot of functionality that $9 can't fix. For example, being able to dock your MacBook with one cable for display/USB/keyboard/mouse/sound is a nice thing. Higher bandwidth is important for larger displays. And the fact it's an open spec means Apple can simply add any features they want in the future.
@(Unverified) The biggest problem I have with apple's use of displayport is that at least on my MacBook Pro, it doesn't support audio. DP's technology inherently includes multi-channel digital audio, but apple has crippled my computer's output. So rather than be able to buy a direct conversion cable that would pull digital A/V from my single DP port to HDMI, I have to use a somewhat clunky DP+USB (or digital audio) cable that combines the audio to HDMI.
All that could be avoided if Apple just designed their DP to output audio. They can use the open standard and the end users can use whatever connectivity method they need.
iPad
/s
While this shouldn't be necessary, I'm very stoked about it
But does it support audio? The DisplayPort specification technically supports sending audio, but there haven't been any HDMI adapters as of yet that will do audio too (over HDMI). The ones that offer audio too send it over a separate jack (rca-style plug or USB).
@aardWolf What're you on about?!
HDMI does audio. 1.4 spec does audio both ways.
Get it right son..
@FORDY
It's not the HDMI part I'm concerned about. Go google displayport to HDMI adapters. 95% of the ones you find will NOT support audio through the displayport.
@aardWolf
You are right, Apple does not support audio through the mini displayport. However, there a few adapters that get around this:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10428&cs_id=1042802&p_id=6331&seq=1&format=2#description
All macs support digital audio out through the 3.5mm jack which this adapter takes advantage of. I would much prefer Apple supporting audio through displayport right out of the box, but there are ways around it.
I love people talking about HDMI limiting functionality when the lack of HDMI accounts for the largest function limitation of display possible at this time.
Equally true is arguing open vs closed. Display port is open ... it's just not utilized very much at all. HDMI is clearly a more important connect at this point, but stay tuned.
MP3 is proprietary and widely used... Try releasing a digital music player that doesn't play mp3s...
Flash is also proprietary and widely used... Try releasing an internet table that doesn't play flash... oh wait...
@Atkins
Everyone is bitching about how Apple is gratuitously incompatible. They intentionally make it more of a bother to hook up their gear to the rest of the world.
Although it's worse than even that. From generation to generation of the same model you might not even have the same connectors. So the dongles that fit one Mac might not even fit the next.
HDMI seems useless on any Mac, considering that the Mac can not output DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD.
@(Unverified)
It's not about displaying HD or movies. It's about connecting to most modern displays without needing another expensive and clunky adapter.
The POINT of HDMI is that it's one cable, one connection per device, and you're done. You can go to a friend's house and he'll probably have an HDMI cable hooked up to his HDTV or computer monitor (if he's up to date with his tech), and if you have HDMI built into your laptop, you can just plug in... No problems, no fuss, no extra adapters you need to carry around.
DisplayPort is useless to 99% of the consumers out there unless you get the adapters to go with it. Not many people have a device with DisplayPort connections.
And why can't Macs have both Mini DisplayPort AND HDMI? My ASUS laptop has HDMI and D-SUB/VGA, as well as Firewire and USB. That's four different methods of video output in one laptop that costs LESS than any MacBook (and actually has more power under the hood, but that's another story).
Why is it that Macs are designed with such a minimal number of ports and connectors? The last MacBook I owned (an aluminum model) had no FireWire, one Mini DisplayPort, two USB ports, and an gigabit ethernet port, two audio ports (in and out) and that's about it.
My ASUS has four USB, one FireWire, one VGA, one HDMI, one gigabit ethernet, one eSATA, an antenna port (for an optional TV tuner card), plus three audio ports.
The problem with Mini DisplayPort on Macs isn't the port itself; It's Apple's insistence on it being the ONLY port, and requiring Mac owners to buy a handful of $30 adapters to use their Mac on all the standard external displays that exist.
@ZeroCorpse
Why should Apple put that stuff in if it's targeted at people that don't need it? It sounds like you got what you needed, it's just not an Apple product. And I have an Apple product and would prefer not to have it bristling with ports... it has more ports than I need.
@skoochy
> Why should Apple put that stuff in if it's targeted at people that don't need it?
Clearly you're not paying attention or you have blinders on. Unless someone just bought their monitor from the Apple store, they are going to have connectivity issues. Anyone with a nice quality monitor that they just didn't buy yesterday, or a monitor they didn't buy at the Apple store is going to pose a problem.
Unless you are experiencing artificial turnover and only ever buying Apple equipment, you are going to run into a problem.
Not everyone that's ever bought an Apple has an "Apple only" fixation.
I imagine that's why there is an entire section in the Apple store dedicated to this very problem.
These are available at abt.com
Monoprice.com sells a HDMI to Mini DisplayPort cable for like $10. I bought one a week or two ago and it works great for driving my 32 inch HDTV from my macbook.
This article gets the facts wrong about the previous Engadget article! The so-called competition is from Apogee, the parent company of Kanex, it even says in the other article that they are going to market it under the Kanex name. Way to pay attention!
FYI everybody, there is a great device that can accomplish this in 720p which i currently own for my imac. There are multiple youtube videos displaying this product including mine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvtuV16_RjQ if you don't want to wait till april for this 1080p adapter this one is great and it doesn't require an added audio cord, it includes everything you need for $150 and honestly 720p is good enough for many people, its a little grainy when playing a video game but trust me when i say that you won't be disappointed. you can buy it from tekserve, just see for yourself: http://www.tekserve.com/store/414/HDMI/-6323
HDMI = DVI + Audio. But in order to display Blu-ray or PS3 video through an HDMI port you have to have HDCP support which Apple monitors do not have. Therefore this device must have HDCP support built-in so it is NOT the same as a $9 HDMI->Displayport adapter.
Here is an email i got from Kanex regarding output resolution.
Hi Steven Bates,
You have received a message regarding your service request.
No, the Kanex XD can only output resolution of 720p for Xbox and PS3.
Kanex Team:
http://www.kanexlive.com
Kanex Blog For Support, News & Information:
http://www.kanexlive.com/blog