A few companies have demoed cellphone chips capable of
HD output, but the fact is HDTV inputs weren't designed with mobile power requirements and form factors in mind. Apparently unsatisfied by the
mini HDMI connector created as part of
HDMI 1.3, Silicon Image went ahead with its own design, reducing HDMI's 19 pins to 5 while still retaining compatibility for full HD and digital audio in a package it calls Mobile High Definition Link (MHL). Cutting out any serial connector or further compression, the first MHL equipped products are the VastLane SiI9220, SiI9222 and SiI9290, which could reach cellphones near you as soon as the third quarter of this year.
