MHL is being developed by the MHL Consortium, a consortium of developers of mobile devices.
Features
- The HDTV charges the connected device.
- Uses a single, thin cable to connect the mobile device to the HDTV.
- The HDTV remote will control the connected device with guaranteed mixed manufacturer interoperability.[1]
- 1080p uncompressed HD video.
- 8 channel (e.g., 7.1 surround sound) uncompressed audio.
- Supports High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP).
- MHL is connection agnostic (i.e., not tied to a specific type of hardware connector). The first implementations dual-purpose the most popular mobile connection (micro USB) and the most popular HDTV connection (HDMI). Other than the connectors being used, no USB nor HDMI technology is being used. It is exclusively MHL signalling through the connectors and over the cable. Other proprietary and custom connections are also allowed.
By transporting the digital content in digital form, the full impact of the picture (whether still images or video) can be seen on HDTVs.
History
Silicon Image originally demonstrated a mobile interconnect, based on its TMDS technology, at the January 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).[2] This interface was termed "Mobile High Definition Link" at the time of the demonstration, and is a direct precursor of the implementation announced by the MHL Consortium.
The company is quoted as saying it did not ship that original technology in any volume, but used it as a way to get the working group started.[3]
A Working Group was announced in September 2009 to develop a specification based on MHL Technology.[4]
The MHL Consortium was announced by the companies of the Mobile High-definition Working Group on April 14, 2010.Nokia, Samsung, Silicon Image, Sony and Toshiba had been working on a specification since the Working Group announcement in September, 2009.[5][6]
MHL, LLC is the agent for overseeing the licensing and promotion of the MHL specification.
Introduction
An abridged version of the specification was made available for download on April 14, 2010 from http://www.mhlconsortium.org/. A nonrefundable fee of US$100 is charged.
The MHL 1.0 Specification was announced on June 30, 2010.[7]
Details on adopter agreement are also available on the MHL Consortium website.[8]
The Compliance Test Specification (CTS) was announced on December 21, 2010.[9]
Reception
Almost immediately after the specification was announced, articles appeared highlighting the use of the industry-standard micro-USB connector to send high-definition video and audio, as well as take in power, and use a command bus between the mobile device and the TV.[10][11]
Some writers confuse the origins of MHL with that of HDMI, while also stating that MHL is based on Silicon Image's technology released in 2008.[12]
Products
Silicon Image announced a family of chips supporting MHL including a transmitter, a bridge and a port processor.[13]
Samsung announced at the 2011 Mobile World Congress that their 'Galaxy S II' mobile device features MHL output.[1][14]
HTC announced at the 2011 CTIA that their 'EVO 3D' mobile device supports MHL output and in addition that the HTC 'Sensation' will also have this capability, as well as its successor, the 'Sensation XE'.
The following retail products are known to have MHL technology available:
HD Televisions
- Toshiba Regza WL800A LED TV range (one of the earliest TV's to ship with MHL).[15][16][17]
- Samsung's UN55D8000YF, UN55D6300SF LED TV range.[17][18]
Mobile devices
