"In addition, Ver. 1.4 also introduces support for 3D over HDMI - supporting common 3D formats and resolutions up to 1080p, an expanded support for color spaces designed specifically for digital still cameras like sYCC601 and Adobe RGB, an Audio Return Channel for upstream audio transfers over the same HDMI cable, a Micro HDMI Connector – that is almost half the size of a standard 19-pin HDMI connector, sort of equivalent to a mini USB connector, and an Automotive Connection System for better in-vehicle HDMI use."

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EDIT: "

Are HDMI 1.4 devices going to be backwards-compatible with older HDMI (v.1.0 - 1.3) devices?

Yes, devices built to the HDMI 1.4 specification will be fully backwards-compatible with existing HDMI devices and their features.

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If the run is short, pretty much any cable will work for 1.4 (so long as they didn't add extra wires). The problem comes in long distances where the capacitance of the cable is too high on the non 1.4 cables which then slows down data transmision rates. Obviously this comes down to a plug & test, and if it doesn't work then you go and buy a cheap 1.4 cable online.

Good to start early. This won't be important until the next generation with systems designed specifically for 3D output at 1080P.

If next gen systems are to have the type of video processing power to do 3D  + improved graphics over this gen...what entry level price do you think we are looking at?

I mean, thats like going to Naughty Dog and telling them...

"Make Uncharted 3 look better than Uncharted 2. Make it 1080p. Make the refresh rate stable at 30 hz.  And when you are done, make the PS4 do all that TWICE, so we can have it in 3D"

The type of PC rig able to run this today would have 4 bg of ram, quad core cpu and a 400+ dollar video card gpu(GTx285 + or ATI 5850+)

that's what i'm interested in... it'd mean 250€ monitors!....

Entry level price? Between $249 and $299.

Also it'd be cheaper for developers to make games in 3D than it would be to expend the effort making even more high fidelity assets for the next generation. One or two programmers are a lot cheaper than a team of 20-30 artists!

The reason? The next generation GPUs/CPUs are both more efficient and powerful for the same number of transistors given a limited power budget and the console manufacturers have easily got at least three times as many to play with. Not only will the next generation hardware be more powerful, it will also be more efficient and it will be able to reuse many of the products of the left eye render for the right eye as they happen at identical frame-time. This efficiency is a hardware level feature which is only present in DX11+ GPUs.

I don't know if I agree with the whole efficiency aspect. I mean the GTX 480 which just came out pushes the boundaries with whats physically possible with video cards given the specifications for PCI-E slot. If we look at the history, these video cards are getting bigger, hotter and consume more and more power.

I personally think we may see the first dual GPU console next gen...and a 1000 watt power supply built in the X720 :)

I saw both things you guys are talking about - Samsung Monster vs Aliens and Sonystyle montage - and I didn't see much 3D, saw a little bit but nothing jaw dropping or anything like that, looked more like a gimmick to me. The guy at BB said some people just can't see 3D and I might be one of those, kinda sucks because I was looking forward to it, it actually kinda killed my hype for the 3DS too.

HDMI 1.4 will support 3 types of cables:

1. Current HDMI cables (1.0-1.3) for standard video/audio.  These can go from/to a 1.4 device to/from 1.0/1.3 device.

2. New HDMI cables for 1.4 (that include the up/down ethernet connectivity) Will also be necessary to transfer data >10.4 gb/s (the new 40k resolution).

3. A mini cable (like a mini USB port) for vehicles.

Old HDMI outputs (1.0/1.3) will most likely NOT be firmware upgradeable (1.4 is using a new chip, but 1.3b might be compatible.  No word on this yet)

Just to clarify what I said earlier :)

You have to remember that the current chips are 300M transistors, both the Xbox 360 and PS3 respectively. A modern GPU would be like the Xenos is to the RSX except it would likely have at least 4* the number of transistors. The Juniper GPUs from ATI are 170mm^2 and almost a billion transistors and they have about 5* the rated shader performance. On 28NM which is coming in 2011 they could fit 1.5B transistors into a space not much larger than the current Xenos die size.

You have to remember that the consoles are far more efficient in terms of how they use their resources and they don't have to use rediculous levels of AA and they can implement more efficient software techniques. A humble Juniper class GPU could match what the top of the range Nvidia chip can achieve if fitted to a console.