Mario Aguilar of Gizmodo explaining the newly introduced MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link) standard:
The five-pin connection is supposed to deliver 1080p picture quality, 192khz sound quality, and 7.1 channel surround sound. The specification is designed to connect smartphones and tablets to HDTVs and HD displays—two types of products [that] don’t work together very well yet. But in theory, MHL could be used to connect a variety of devices to each other.
I see a few big issues:
- TVs aren’t replaced very often, so it’ll be awhile before everyone has an MHL-compatible TV set in their living room.
- An HDMI-MHL adapter will be available soon for MHL-less TVs, but who cares? Where’s the compelling product that’ll make people rush out to buy them? (Sorry, but I don’t think it’s the Roku stick)
- Better audio and video is great, but sitting on the carpet to show videos on the TV is what we did when digital camcorders were the big new thing. We should be past that by now. Wireless tech will soon offer the exact same benefits without a single annoying cable.
This isn’t the right train to hop aboard on.