Originally Posted By: Dignan
Originally Posted By: robricc
HDMI output on the phone is supported by using an MHL adapter, as seen in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENdJv_AI5vU

So I assume the dock is also an MHL adapter. What is missing in the phone's micro USB connector - but it gets from these adapters - that gives it the capability to display video? Is it additional power?


There's nothing *missing*, it's just not HDMI. HDMI is lots of LVDS pairs, and there's simply not the room to put them on the connector.

Hence, the video doesn't come out of the phone as HDMI - the phone doesn't actually have HDMI at all. Instead, it has MHL, which is likely very similar to displayport (high speed with embedded clock) - this needs less wires and so fits on the connector.

There's then a chip in the dock which receives MHL and turns it into HDMI, exactly as there is on iPads/iPhones (there it's displayport to HDMI). This is why the docks/converter cables aren't dirt cheap - they actually have a significant bit of silicon in them.