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What is SATA?
Serial ATA (SATA, or IPA: is a computer bus technology primarily designed for transfer of data to and from hard disks and optical drives.
It was designed as a successor to the legacy Advanced Technology Attachment standard (ATA), and is expected to eventually replace the older technology (retroactively renamed Parallel ATA or PATA). Serial ATA adapters and devices communicate over a high-speed serial link.
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Historic Information on the Interface.
SATA 1.5 Gbit/s
First-generation SATA interfaces, also known as SATA/150 or (erroneously) as SATA 1, communicate at a rate of 1.5 gigabits per second (Gbit/s). Taking into account 8b10b coding overhead, the actual uncoded transfer-rate is 1.2 Gbit/s, or 150 megabytes per second (MB/s). In actual operation, SATA/150 and PATA/133 are comparable in terms of their theoretical burst-throughput. However, newer SATA devices offer enhancements (such as native command queuing) to SATA's performance in a multitask environment. During the initial period after SATA/150's finalization, both adapter and drive manufacturers used a "bridge chip" to convert existing designs with the PATA-interface to the SATA-interface. Bridged drives have a SATA connector, may include either or both kinds of power connectors, and generally perform identically to native drives. They generally lack support for some SATA-specific features (such as NCQ). Bridged products gradually gave way to native SATA products.
SATA 3.0 Gbit/s
Soon after SATA/150's introduction, a number of shortcomings in the original SATA were observed. First and foremost, at the application-level, SATA's operational model emulated PATA in that the interface could only handle 1 pending transaction at a time. SCSI disks have long benefited from the SCSI-interface's support for multiple outstanding requests, allowing the drive targets to re-order the requests to optimize response-time. Native command queuing (NCQ) adds this capability to SATA. NCQ is an optional feature, and may be used in both SATA 1.5 Gbit/s or SATA 3.0 Gbit/s devices. First-generation SATA devices were scarcely faster than legacy parallel ATA/133 devices. So a 3 Gbit/s signaling rate was added to the Physical layer (PHY layer), effectively doubling data throughput from 150 MB/s to 300 MB/s. SATA/300's transfer rate is expected to satisfy drive throughput requirements for some time, as the fastest desktop hard disks barely saturate a SATA/150 link. This is why a SATA data cable rated for 1.5 Gbit/s will currently handle second generation, SATA 3.0 Gbit/s sustained and burst data transfers without any loss of performance. Backward compatibility between SATA 1.5 Gbit/s controllers and SATA 3.0 Gbit/s devices was important, so SATA/300's autonegotiation sequence is designed to fallback to SATA/150 speed (1.5 Gbit/s rate) when in communication with such devices. In practice, some older SATA controllers do not properly implement SATA speed negotiation. Affected systems require user-intervention to manually set the SATA 3.0 Gbit/s peripherals to 1.5 Gbit/s mode, generally through the use of a jumper. [1] Known faulty chipsets include the VIA VT8237 and VT8237R south bridges, and the VIA VT6420 and VT6421L standalone SATA controllers. [2] SiS's 760 and 964 chipsets also initially exhibited this problem, though it can be rectified with an updated SATA controller ROM.[citation needed] The 3.0 Gbit/s specification has been very widely referred to as ?Serial ATA II? (?SATA II?), contrary to the wishes of the Serial ATA standards organization that authored it. The official website notes that SATA II was in fact that organization's name at the time, the SATA 3.0 Gbit/s specification being only one of many that the former SATA II defined, and suggests that ?SATA 3.0 Gbit/s? be used instead. (The Serial ATA standards organization has since changed names, and is now ?The Serial ATA International Organization?, abbreviated SATA-IO.) Most SATA drive and controller manufacturers also do not use the term ?SATA II?.
SATA 3.0 Gbit/s is sometimes also referred to as SATA 3.0 or SATA/300, continuing the line of ATA/100, ATA/133 and SATA/150.
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External SATA Standardized in mid-2004, eSATA defined separate cables, connectors, and revised electrical requirements for external applications:
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High Definition Multimedia Interface
HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) is the first industry-supported, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface. HDMI provides an interface between any audio/video source, such as a set-top box, DVD player, and A/V receiver and an audio and/or video monitor, such as a digital television (DTV). HDMI supports standard, enhanced, or high-definition video, plus multi-channel digital audio on a single cable. It transmits all ATSC HDTV standards and supports 8-channel digital audio, with bandwidth to spare to accommodate future enhancements and requirements.
What are the advantages of HDMI over existing analog interfaces such as composite, S-Video and component video?
Quality HDMI transfers uncompressed digital audio and video for the highest, crispest image quality. All Digital HDMI ensures an all-digital rendering of video without the losses associated with analog interfaces and their unnecessary digital-to-analog conversions. Low-cost HDMI provides the quality and functionality of a digital interface while also supporting uncompressed video formats in a simple, cost-effective manner. Audio HDMI supports multiple audio formats, from standard stereo to multi-channel surround-sound. Ease-of-use HDMI combines video and multi-channel audio into a single cable, eliminating the cost, complexity, and confusion of multiple cables currently used in A/V systems. Intelligence HDMI supports communication between the video source (such as a DVD player) and the DTV, enabling new functionality.
Questions and Answers:
Is HDMI backward-compatible with DVI (Digital Visual Interface)?
Yes, HDMI is fully backward-compatible with DVI using the CEA-861 profile for DTVs. HDMI DTVs will display video received from existing DVI-equipped products, and DVI-equipped TVs will display video from HDMI sources.
Will current HD TVs and set-top boxes using DVI-HDTV be compatible with HDMI devices?
Yes. Currently there are TVs with DVI-HDTV inputs available from a variety of manufacturers. Those devices will be compatible with future HDMI-equipped products.
What types of video does HDMI support?
HDMI has the capacity to support existing high-definition video formats (720p, 1080i, and even 1080p). It also has the flexibility to support enhanced definition formats such as 480p, as well as standard definition formats such as NTSC or PAL.
Products Supporting HDMI:
DVD Players and Recorders: Single Disc Player
Toshiba SD5960 Cinema Series Progressive Scan DVD Player with HDMI Output
Televisions (TVs): LCD Flat Panel
JVC LT32X575 32 Inch LCD TV
Panasonic TC22LH1 22-Inch 16:9 LCD Monitor
Panasonic TC26LX20 26 Inch Viera LCD TV with HDMI Input
Panasonic TC32LX20 32 Inch Viera LCD TV with HDMI Input
Sharp LC20PX1U 20 Inch LCD TV
Sharp LC26GD6U 26 Inch LCD TV
Sharp LC32G4U 32 Inch LCD Panel
Sharp LC32GD6U 32 Inch LCD Monitor
Sharp LC37G4U 37 Inch LCD Panel
Sharp LC45GX6U 45 Inch 16:9 LCD Display
Televisions (TVs): Plasma Flat Panel
JVC PD42V475 42 Inch Plasma TV
JVC PD42X795 42 Inch Plasma TV
JVC PD50X795 50 Inch Plasma TV
Panasonic TH42PX20UP 42-Inch HD Ready Plasma Display
Panasonic TH50PX20UP 50-Inch HD Ready Plasma Display
Pioneer PDP4340HD 43 inch PureVision Plasma TV with PureDrive
Pioneer PDP5040HD 50 inch Plasma TV
Pioneer Elite PRO1000HDI 50 Inch PureVision Plasma Television
Televisions (TVs): Projector
Sony VPLHS20 Cineza HDTV Capable LCD Projector
Sony VPLHS3 HDTV Capable Projector
Televisions (TVs): Rear Projection
JVC HD52Z575 52 Inch TV
Panasonic PT47WXD63 47 Inch High Definition Rear Projection TV with ATSC Tuner
Panasonic PT47X54 47 Inch HD Television with HDMI Input
Panasonic PT50LCX63 50 Inch LCD Projection TV with ATSC Tuner
Panasonic PT53TW54 53 In HDTV Television with 6 Speaker VIVA Sound System
Panasonic PT53WXD63 53-Inch High Definition Rear Projection TV with ATSC Tuner
Panasonic PT53X54 53 Inch HD Television with HDMI Input
Panasonic PT60LCX63 60 Inch LCD Projection TV With ATSC Tuner Built-In
Toshiba 46H84 46 Inch Tabletop TV
Toshiba 51H84 51 Inch 16:9 TV
Toshiba 51H94 51 Inch 16:9 TV with HDTV Tuner
Toshiba 57H84 57 Inch 16:9 HD Ready TV
Toshiba 57H94 57 Inch 16:9 TV with HDTV Tuner
Toshiba 65H84 65 Inch 16:9 TV
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