[One (M7) General] rockd0gg:
Many of us are eagerly awaiting to get their new HTC One and are excited about how HTC's beefiest phone ever will perform. Still in love with my faithful companion, my HD2, this finally is the phone that seems a proper successor. Connecting current gen phones to the TV to enjoy video, images and casual games on a big screen is a nice feature and certainly not missing on the new One. However, since implementations of how phones connect to TVs do vary between phone vendors, it is generally hard to find comprehensive information about that. So I walked the extra mile and tried to figure out where the new HTC One stands and what TV screen performance we can expect from that shiny device. As you can see in the pictures below, it seems that the HTC One does not really stand out from the crowd when it comes to MHL because it appears that it still uses the (older) first generation MHL chip by Silicon Image which caps it to 30Hz refresh rates and lower charging current. I thought (read: I was hoping) that HTC announced that the One will have MHL 2.0. Sammy's plastic brick #4 will have it.

The best image I could find so far (second attachment) shows the Silicon Image MHL transmitter chip at the One's logic board. (Image courtesy by ChipWorks http://www.chipworks.com/blog/recentteardowns/2013/03/28/inside-the-htc-one/)

Unfortunately the imprint is not clear and there is some glue left on it that makes it hard to read. To me, it reads as:

8244B0

PW?433B

OL2242

(Red represents clearly readable characters)

If you take that information (SiI*2*4) and compare it with the ICs that Silicon Image lists on its website, the only chip that matches the recognized characters is "SiI9244 - MHL 1.0 transmitter with HDMI input". That chip was already used in the HTC One X a year ago (see bottom picture), so no innovations here.

SiI9022	HDMI 1.4a transmitter with 24-bit RGB input

SiI9024	HDMI 1.4a transmitter with 24-bit RGB input and integrated HDCP support

SiI8558	MHL 2.0 transmitter with integrated 4-to-1 multi-media switch

SiI8246	MHL 2.0 Transmitter

SiI8240	MHL 2.0 transmitter with HDMI input

SiI9232	MHL 1.0 transmitter with RGB input and integrated HDCP support

SiI9244	MHL 1.0 transmitter with HDMI input

SiI8332	MHL 1.0 transmitter with MIPI DSI input, integrated HDCP support, and integrated switch

SiI8334	MHL 1.0 transmitter with HDMI input and integrated switch

SiI8336	MHL 1.0 transmitter with MIPI DSI input and integrated switch

SiI8338	MHL 1.0 transmitter with digital RGB input and integrated switch

SiI8352	MHL 1.0 transmitter with integrated HD scaler and digital RGB input

SiI8356	MHL 1.0 transmitter with integrated HD scaler and MIPI DSI input

(Source: http://www.siliconimage.com/solutions/mobile/)

For comparison, the same MHL transmitter chip in the HTC One X is shown in the attached picture #1.

(Image courtesy by Tech Republic, http://www.techrepublic.com/photos/cracking-open-the-htc-one-x/6363151?seq=53&tag=thumbnail-view-selector;get-photo-roto)

If you look up the chip's specs, you will find out that it supports:

HDMI 1.3

MHL output resolution support - from 25 MHz – 75 MHz, up to 1080p@ 24/30 Hz

Silicon Image announced the second generation MHL chips SiI8240, SiI8246 and SiI8558 back in May 2012. Their new features include faster charging (up to 900mA to 500mA on the MHL 1.0 chips), doubled output framerate, which is 60Hz @ 1080p and 3D formats. At least the former two would have been great to have on the new HTC One since it should have enough oomph to provide a full 1080p60 experience. With the older generation chip we are pretty much limited to 30Hz. Most TV sets may fall back to 24Hz or recognize it as 1080i mode. This will probably make things get slightly choppy and laggy if viewed on a TV screen. Bummer to me but not a deal breaker per say. I am curious how others think about that!

What is your experience with MHL? Want to share your experiences using 24/30Hz MHL on your previous MHL 1.0-enabled devices?

Some resources on this topic:

http://www.siliconimage.com/solutions/mobile/

http://files.shareholder.com/downlo...-d71de927a716/SIMG_News_2012_5_15_General.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_High-Definition_Link

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2204218