At the 2015 CES, the MHL Consortium released its superMHL cable specification for supporting up to 8k pixel resolutions on consumer electronics devices ranging from wide screen TVs to mobile devices. http://www.mhltech.org

With superMHL, said Masud Syed, MHL Technical Marketing Manager, consumers c an link their mobile devic es, set- top boxes (STBs), Blu-ray Disc players, AVRs, streaming media stic ks and other sourc e devic es to TVs and displays.

The release of a new reversible superMHL connector supports enhanced video formats to deliver lifelike, immersive content between home theater produc ts and displays he said.

The new spec supports delivery of up to 8K pixel, 120fps video (Figure below ), deep color support up to 48-bit c olor depths, a wider color gamut and high-dynamic Range (HDR) support to strike the perfect balance of bright spectral highlights along with shadow details.

Supported are advanc ed connec tivity c onfigurations to link multiple MHL devices together (TV, AVR, Blu-ray player) and control them via one remote, power charging up to 40W, and new support for the MHL Alt Mode for the USB T ype- C specification

Syed said superMHL mandates a minimum set of feature requirements so consumers are guaranteed a full video experience on their 4K or 8K devices. To support these advanced features, MHL has introduced the new reversible superMHL connector.

“This 32 pin connector can carry conc urrent video, data and power charging all in a slim, consumer-friendly form fac tor,” he said. “A reversible design means that consumers don’t have to worry about the plug’s orientation or the c able’s direc tion eliminating frustration and offering a high level of flexibility.”

With more than 750 million MHL devices on the market, superMHL is backward-compatible with previous MHL 1, 2 and 3 specification versions and supports the latest HDCP 2.2content protection for the secure delivery of premium content.

The superMHL specification will be available for download at the end of January 2015.http://www.mhltech.org