Alas, the oft heard “HDMI is not a locking connector! … It is a self-ejecting technology!” Well, no more. What was once the Achilles heel of a desirable workflow is now the secure backbone. Ottovonmo Productions introduced PPC's patented Locking HDMI cable to the production industry at NAB 2008. Able to lock into any HDMI connector, this new locking HDMI cable solves a myriad of problems in the industry.

The struggle for ever better video quality has become easier with each passing NAB show. We are now seeing dramatic opportunities for high quality footage at affordable price tags and manageable file sizes. We’re seeing stand-alone, on-camera recorders that are giving us better than HDCAM quality footage, captured with prosumer and consumer hardware.

HDMI especially has opened new doors to the video community for getting higher quality footage, as we are now able to send out an uncompressed 4:2:2 color sampled picture to be recorded to a codec of our choice, just as HD-SDI can, but without the hefty price tag. The one major problem is that there has been no true locking HDMI cables. So what value does HDMI offer to our cameras and recorders if our simple HDMI cable continuously falls out? The answer is “None”; it is worthless. Thus the complaint of many in the production community that HDMI is unprofessional and untrustworthy for professional use. It simply disallows content producers to use this technology confidently.

Adam Wilt, writer and technical reviewer for Pro Video Coalition and filmmaker, had this to say about PPC’s new locking HDMI cable: “I was unable to apply sufficient pull … for fear of damaging the cable or the equipment it was plugged into; it didn’t let go!… Yet a simple squeeze on the raised release button let me pull the cable out when I wanted to… Verdict: Great idea, well implemented.” (Check out a great 3D rendering of the product and pricing at www.LockingHDMI.com)