HDMI Licensing, LLC, of Sunnyvale, California, promulgates the HDMI specifications. In 2009, they published the new HDMI 1.4 that was discussed in Appendix A5. HDMI cabling is typically used between the STB or BD player and the TV display. This upgrade has been viewed as one of the key developments to enable 3DTV. Of all the new HDMI 1.4 features, 3D is reportedly getting the most interest from the broadcasters.
The HDMI 1.4 work grew out of interactions between the HDMI Licensing group and a related working group in the CEA that owns CEA 861. There are improvements expected with new silicon interface chips as these support higher transfer rates on the interface, but the short-term goal is also to have existing equipment be as functional as possible because without HDMI support, one cannot readily deploy 3DTV. The HDMI Licensing group is also relaxing its specifications so that many existing STBs and TVs do not have to handle a variety of previously mandatory formats, often beyond their processing capabilities or needs. Instead, they can handle stereo 3D broadcasts in the top/bottom format with a firmware upgrade.