i am hving a problem with the hdmi setup going from my cable box to the hdtv,when u switch from the anolog channels to the digital channels there is a popping noise,is this caused by hdmi cables only sending digital audio?

North, you seem to have missed the point.  By making the source device need to negotiate resolution/rate with the display device it makes the possibility of flexible signal routing tedious.  All devices have to be _carefully_ selected to ensure they can all support the outputted res which is generally negotiated with the first display device attached to the matrix.  It is ugly when the idea of a matrix is a one to many route provider.

Distance is absolutely crap and too hit and miss for the average consumer.  To get over 5 metres is not bullet proof (even some 5 meter cables are crap).  This happened again for me the other day with standard 10m cables (the type one can buy out of the stores).  They worked fine on everything upto 1080p/24, but above that (1080p/50 or 60) the signal would glitch about once every five seconds.

Oh, and the whole intense negotiation thing requires stupid sync-up times (e.g. 5 seconds).

The only real solutions to complex (hi-end) home video distro systems in my opinion will be:
A) A custom matrix/extender solution that uses fibre and provides end to end (source device to display device) hook-up - HDCP maintained throughout.  It will need to have display emulation to trick all source devices into outputing the format required by the displays.
B) Display devices with two HDMI input ports that both have seperate decoding/negotiation subsystems that keep the HDMI stream live so that switching between ports doesn’t cause the source/display connection to drop sync.  It will then need two feeds from the matrix (not one…  so it at least doubles the price).  Then it needs an advanced automation controller that will flip-flop the matrix outputs in a cyclic fashion so that seamless switching between inputs can occur (i.e. no 5 seconds of black resync).

We used to be able to do this with component video switchers but they have removed that option from us with ICT (image constraint tokens - the thing that force downscaling on the analog outputs).

Basically, like I said, HDMI is a f’ing nightmare unless you want to plug your bluray player through a 2 or 3 metre cable into your telly.

Oh, and bluray players…  why does it take 20 seconds for them to eject a disc?  What possible reason do they need?  Just dump the program and eject the tray…  the user obviously wants nothing more from the disc…

All of this stuff is pathetically under engineered and lacking well thought out direction.  Forget all the Java add on Bull Sh*t.  Just give us players that work as fast as DVD players but with 1080p/24…

“It only provides transport for audio and video. What about closed captioning ? Why was it omitted from the specs ? “

Closed captioning is a feature of a device not the cables.

“1.) The source device must output at a resolution the display device wants.
2.) The copper output is extremely distance dependant. “

1) All ‘source devices’ are capable of outputting a res. any display device can use. So what does it matter? You can’t display 720p on a 480i tv just like you can’t display 1080p on a 720p tv. Its called progression.

2)Yeah, just like ALL cables. Course, you can just go with a cheap certified hdmi type 2 cable from monoprice and be all good without any problems. You don’t need fiber.

“DRM is always a nightmare for users. “

Wouldn’t say always. With hdcp you’ve had a bad experience? I’ve and others have not had one.

To quote Fairings “Nothing like in the old days just 2 wires and cheap price.”

You can buy a high quality hdmi cable for $5 and have 1 wire with a picture and sound quality that blows your socks off verses that 2 wire and the tv that went with it.

It if was any cheaper it would be free. You can give these things away - they’re that cheap.

HDMI is appalling.  Copy protection is fair enough but all of sudden we have lost all flexibility with these systems…  I put it down to two big mistakes:
1.)  The source device must output at a resolution the display device wants.
2.)  The copper output is extremely distance dependant.

These issues could have been avoided by:
1.) Having the source device output native format and let the display device sort it out.  This would make HDMI matrixing to multiple displays far more workable.
2.)  Use a serious fibre optic interface or a coax interface like HD-SDI.  Personally I like the idea of fibre as I am sick of consumer grade devices firing ground noise into each other and fibre will by default act as an opto isolator.  Sure, fibre is going to add to the device cost and the cables are going to be expensive, but the current generation of HDMI cables worth their weight are expensive anyway (particularly if you want a 20m cable that works at 1080p).