The article was not promoted by SandyGeorgia 17:57, 28 November 2009 [1].
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I am nominating this for featured article because I believe that it is a notable subject in the consumer electronics world since there are over 600 million HDMI devices. The article covers the history, technical specifications, and revisions of HDMI along with the relationships that it has with other devices. The article was listed as a good article over a year ago. Any comments would be appreciated. GrandDrake (talk) 02:39, 17 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Comments: Materialscientist (talk) 03:54, 17 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose largely on 1a (prose is not engaging) and 1b (doesn't comprehensively include 1.4 or a variety of devices beyond PC and Blue-ray). The main problem is that it is overfull of facts and doesn't explain (to the general reader) how and why. For example, the reviewer above asked about DRM (Digital Rights Management). Yes the article mentions HDCP but the reader would have a hard time guessing what it is, how it works, who wanted it in the spec and why, etc.
Take the second sentence. This gives me a list of seven analogue cable formats. Why do I need to know them at this point in the article? The statement "It represents a digital alternative to" is very weak (in what way does it "represent" rather than just "is"). Compare what the HDMI folk say: "HDMI is the global standard for connecting high-definition Consumer Electronics and PC products." Change the "the" to "a" to downgrade the advert-speak and you've got a sentence that explains in laymans terms what HDMI is about. Another example is the "(such as the PlayStation 3 and some models of Xbox 360)" comment. Way too much information; saying "video games consoles" was just fine for the lead.
"The HDMI Founders began development on HDMI 1.0 on April 16, 2002" Why is "Founders" capitalised"? That day was simply the date of some press announcement. The exact day that HDMI began development isn't really important and probably unknown.
"At the time, DVI-HDCP (DVI with HDCP) and DVI-HDTV (DVI-HDCP using the CEA-861-B video standard) were being used on HDTVs." You've lost most general readers by this stage. The reader probably doesn't even know what DVI is/was and almost certainly won't know what HDCP is. And I can guarantee they won't have heard of the "CEA-861-B video standard" much less care about it.
As mentioned in earlier comments, overciting is a problem. For example, "HDMI began to appear on consumer HDTV camcorders and digital still cameras in 2006." has five references. There are at most two facts in that sentence so I'd expect two sources at most. The first source contains all that is needed to prove the first digital still camera with HDMI was launched in 2006. The next two aren't needed. The last two fail to prove (as far as I can tell) that Canon's camcorder was the first with HDMI. Ideally, Wikipedia articles should be based on secondary sources (which would contain a statement similar to the one in our article) rather than editors researching the primary literature (product reviews, manufacturer spec sheets) to collate facts.
I think it would help to have a single bullet-point full citation for the HDMI spec. Then each fact that you are drawing from that source could have a shortened footnote "HDMI Specification 1.3a Section 5.2.3.2". For the cases where you need to draw from multiple sections or pages, don't include multiple citations in the body text. Rather, have a footnote that mentions the multiple sections or pages.
For "applications", the article only mentions Blu-ray disc players and personal computers. What about cameras, camcorders, games consoles, set-top-boxes, home-theatre PCs, smart phones. The PC section is far too long, detailed and contains material that isn't really about HDMI but about individual hardware components or software packages. Why do people want HDMI on their PC? Why do they need feature X of HDMI 1.3 on their PC? I don't care what the "ATI Radeon HD 5870" graphics card can do any more than I want to open up my camera to see what chipset was used to control its HDMI connecter. Is there a specifc game or type of game that needs these features? Is there a professional need for the extra colour capabilities for artists or designers? Is there a minimum that I need to play Blu-ray discs on my PC? The rise of the Home Theatre PC isn't mentioned and is surely important (connecting computer equipment to consumer televisions).
Lastly, this article seems to be mostly built around the 1.3 specification, which has now been superseded by 1.4. For example, there is a new Type E connector that is locking, making it suitable for internal automotive connections. The new Ethernet and audio-return channels and 3D support aren't covered in any depth. I appreciate that 1.4 is new and has little product-support yet.
I think the article needs a fairly radical overhaul to make it an engaging read and focus more on getting the point across rather than bare facts. Too much to achieve during FAC IMO. Previous peer reviews have made comments on the over technical nature of the prose. Perhaps you could establish a dialogue with a non-technical collaborator and use them to help revise the prose. Have a look at the aimed-at-consumer literature and see how manufacturers attempt to explain "Deep color" and other jargon to their customers. Be ruthless when trimming those highly technical facts. Perhaps try re-writing a section in completely non-technical language with no acronymns and then force yourself to justify adding in each technical bit. If you really love and don't want to lose the technical information you have collected, consider creating daughter articles on HDMI versions or PC support for HDMI, etc. Colin°Talk 16:54, 28 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
SandyGeorgia (Talk) 17:56, 28 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]