All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything - Gizmodo Comments

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

Wwhat — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 15:12:49 EST

@Erwos: True but support is all optional, DVI also supports HDCP.
And they are talking about a HDCP-DRM-like scheme for USB even, basically you can mess up ANY digital link with DRM nonsense, even the HD airways have the locking bit looming.

Wwhat

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

Zillax22 — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:53:21 EST

the major companies would never let that happen, they make more money by making different kinds of cables that each cost too much

Zillax22

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

Erwos — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 10:21:50 EST

@Wwhat: Lucky for you, DisplayPort supports HDCP. That's not the solution.

Erwos

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

02 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 22:33:00 EST

I duuno... the nearest thing that has such "FANTASY CABLE" like features right now is the USB cable. It gives out both power and it can transfer files video/audio/data in a single cable. The HDMI is close too, but it doesnt supply power.

Wireless communication is likely to be the reality, forget the wires entirely... video and audio via wifi or infra-red technology is already there, it only the matter of time when all manufacturers agree working towards this goal. E.g Bluetooth

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

Accelerata — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 17:56:02 EST

@soldstatic: Yup, power is some of the noisest signalling. It tends to slam all over the place too when you have too much connected to the same lines. And if you want to daisy chain the way many people are suggesting, you'd have to have a heavy thick wire to handle that much current without melting. Even then, its likely to generate a lot of heat and pose fire hazard risks (or worse, overheating our precious precious toys)

Accelerata

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

luckypictures — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 17:47:47 EST

@DocGratis: Poopytrail.

luckypictures

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

Maxwells_Nylon_Hammer — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 17:37:36 EST

It's S/PDIF btw. and it can be coaxial or fibre optic.
Those Toslink cables are the pits, you can barely bend them and they fling out all over the place when you unravel them.

So what you're asking for is ONE CABLE TO RULE THEM ALL. I'm sure they've only got one cable type in Star Trek.

Bring back daisy chaining!

Maxwells_Nylon_Hammer

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

Collins1 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 17:32:35 EST

@greeneggsnsam: Breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth at the same time is called circular breathing.

Collins1

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

thepeel — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 17:20:57 EST

It's all about data.

The main thing here is not to think about it as Audio, Video, Internet, etc. We have to think about what we're trying to do. And all we're trying to do is get data from one place to another as fast and as cleanly as possible.

So, you build a cable that has one fat pipe that will send the data from one device to the next. It doesn't care what it's sending it just makes sure it gets there fast. The beginning and end devices worry about what to do with it.

Then you slap in a couple pins dedicated to power. Hell you could even add two sets if you want. You don't need to worry about people plugging a powered cable into a device that doesn't take power or taking the pins out of the cable. The manufacturer can take the receiving pins out of their device much easier.

If you're still worried about power, you can just keep it separate, and you've still cut down on a buttload of cables.

In addition, there's no reason wireless between devices in close proximity wouldn't work. Yeah there's interference, but it wouldn't be hard to overcome. Especially once short burst high bandwidth capabilities hit, you can easily double or triple up on the packets sent. Since the devices will be within a few feet max of one another, data loss should be minimal even with interference from power.

Personally I think the wireless solution is the way to go. I bring home a new piece of kit, turn it on and my other stuff recognizes it and it's capabilities.

This stuff isn't too far off. The problem with any of it is the issue of standards. As soon as everyone agrees on a cable, then they have to decide on an encoding process and a pairing process and handshaking process and a decoding process and don't even get me started once the DRM goons get on board.

It will happen eventually. But not without a couple more HD DVD v. Blu-Ray type situations first.

thepeel

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

teexcue — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 17:18:42 EST

Everything needs to have Apple's MagSafe connector. Yes, it's easier to unplug and could fall out of your video connection if tugged on, but it's better than having the connection destroyed when someone trips over it. MagSafe FTW!

teexcue

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

jchen824 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 17:03:28 EST

@gokor: I know excatly why they can charge that much for a cable, because they stole the flux capacitor design from doc and are using its power to create Monster cables.

jchen824

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

GOKOR — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 16:34:49 EST

@jchen824: Well, yes. Monster can charge that much because it's better and it's got a intercoil and a woven exterior and it conducts the power better and um...

...It's called Monster and the CEO is Japanese and makes me think of Godzilla every time I see him?

...yeah, I got nothing as to why Monster should cost so much more.

GOKOR

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

EMoShunz — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 16:17:14 EST

@netfish5: omg, coax, ur right! and, it could have been upgraded digitally! what were we thinking (i'm sure there is a logical reason, but i don't know it) we could have had our coax and ate it too.

EMoShunz

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

netfish5 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 16:06:03 EST

You know we already had one cable for everything. It was coax. It was used for audio, video, even networking. But then people wanted better. The that pretty much messed everything up. Stop wanting more and you'll be fine.

But given the current state, let's just eliminate all the extra cables and narrow it down to one. We'll call the program "The Final Solution". If everything were the same there would be no need for conflict. Just get one blond haired, blue eyed cable to restore order to the madness.

And if it works for cables, we can move on to people. Get rid of all the undesireables. Wait a minute this sounds familiar. Didn't someone try this before? A new order that will reign for 1000 years.

netfish5

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

DocGratis — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 16:04:11 EST

@jchen824: Very well Mister Adendersonnn.

DocGratis

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

jchen824 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:53:10 EST

I think one "wondercable" would be great, then Monster cable can charge $500.00 for 3 feet of goodness.

Thought aside, Some one should invent a couch that extracts the BTUs from people sittin on the couch. The average american is a couch potato for 4 hours and 35 mins a day and @ 120watts per hour thats alot of power! Better yet invent a bed that extracts the BTUs... allllright.

jchen824

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

x3r0 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:41:51 EST

Agreed with the others that say... Go wireless.

Wireless video, wireless audio, wireless USB, wireless SATA, Wireless electricity...

x3r0

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

DocGratis — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:14:20 EST

@luckypictures: Sorry I didn't magically interpret Gizmodo's goofy wish in a more standard format.
They want one AV cable (Hdmi+power)
They want one HDD cable (Whaaa SATA without L/I cable)

The point remains the same, new formats will eventually demand new cables. You can't do SATA over old IDE cables, you can't do HD 1080p over S-video.

Actually the wish is not total pie in the sky, as long as you don't mind changing the one cable every 5 years. You could make an all HDMI AV system right now (well except power and speaker cables)

DocGratis

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

arrgh406 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:06:37 EST

basically, what is needed it something with a lot of connectors, like a HDMI cable or Displayport. The amount of connectors id directly proportional to bandwidth, and bandwidth is necessary in order to "future-proof" gadgets. YOu can always upgrade what is transmitted, and how, but the cable could be used for anything

arrgh406

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

Arsenal6 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:36:35 EST

sounds good and is possible but it gonna cost damn lot

Arsenal6

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

Wwhat — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:46:24 EST

I'm content with having various cables, although I prefer HDMI to die and be replaced with displayport, I don't need the DRM/licence crap to infuse even the cables.
Oh and obviously eSATA should have included power in the connector.
It makes sense to me that some cables need a lot of pins and some don't and it would be silly to have a 24 pin connector for USB for instance, and it would be costly to have cables that have lots of pointless wires in it.
Nice try, but if you rant rant about something that really annoys you, not just for effect.

Wwhat

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

strider_mt2k — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:13:40 EST

-and the sales guys shake their heads sadly and ring up your sale.

cha-ching

strider_mt2k

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

ripfire — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:13:22 EST

I don't know what you're all talking about. The wiring is fine. It's the source device that is the problem: we have too many! Although, it would be nice if the source had multiple HDMI/DVI outputs because having it chain through your receiver isn't practical because we don't always want to use the receiver everytime we watch something.

ripfire

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

EMoShunz — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:54:44 EST

@omg-ponies: my experience is the engineers don't think of shit, and the service guys say, um, before you do that shouldn't you.....boom crash bang.....too late

EMoShunz

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

God made the pretty girls pretty because he likes them more — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:49:50 EST

HDMI's biggest problem - there wasn't an engineer involved to say "Hey guys, how are you going to keep it in the socket?"

God made the pretty girls pretty because he likes them more

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

FrankenPC — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:45:30 EST

HDMI "frozen black snakes" baffle me. Fiber is WAAAAY better. I guess it's simply super cheap to implement the electrical connectors.

FrankenPC

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

strider_mt2k — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:42:15 EST

Cancerous agents in the cable? that's just asking for interferon.

strider_mt2k

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

Erwos — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:41:16 EST

@weendex: Sure you can. In fact, the next version of the PoE spec is supposed to allow for 56 watts of power per cable, which is more than enough for hard drives and such. Unfortunately, even 10gb/s ethernet isn't good enough for ultra-high-end displays (think 2560x1600 at 48 bit color depth with a refresh of 60hz). I guess you could run two cables in a pinch, but that's messy.

However, we could simplify a lot of the cable mess by:
1. Moving to HDMI completely. Axe analog output from everything, including iPods and Zunes. It's a small connector, too.
2. Making one grand unified device cable with reasonable power on it, and then introducing full and mini sized versions of it. USB3 and FW-3200 are just artificially segmenting the market at this point. You could even eliminate SATA/eSATA, as both USB3 and FW-3200 have more bandwidth than SATA/eSATA.

Erwos

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

EMoShunz — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:40:53 EST

@soldstatic: good point

EMoShunz

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

soldstatic — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:34:29 EST

power inside the transmission cable? thats just asking for interference.

soldstatic

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

Dute — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:29:52 EST

monoprice!

Dute

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

Opie — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:27:14 EST

One Plug to rule them all, One Plug to find them,
One Plug to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Gizmodo where the Geeks lie.

Opie

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

strider_mt2k — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:23:42 EST

Universality is an illusion.

Universality in consumer electronics doubly so.

strider_mt2k

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

chaoslink — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:20:05 EST

1. Make each type of data streamed belong to a different pin "bundle" in the cable terminal.
2. Make the socket only connect to the "bundles" it uses.

That way the different pinout is on the socket and the cable never changes. The socket size always remains the same, so there's no worrying about how you plug it in - the pins are just aligned properly (maybe with something to align bundles inside the socket).

chaoslink

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

Reilaos~ — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:18:24 EST

Sooo... we want a fusion of DisplayPort, USB, and some Audio capacity (though USB is capable of similar, though lower-quality things already) with higher bandwidth and the ability to power things larger than already powered by USB?

Reilaos~

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

jrog — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:13:31 EST

@weendex has a hammer with a scope.

Once everything movies to an IP network, you'll have your inter-connectivity. Gigabit ethernet is cheap. Cables are cheap. Datarate is high, and there is near infinite flexibility. Power and data, and you are done. Then the TV can communicate with the cable box over IP, or the Computer, or the AV receiver. It doesn't matter.

jrog

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

mxmora — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:10:20 EST

You already have it, its called FireWIre.

mxmora

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

luckypictures — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:08:08 EST

@kc2idf: New Best Comment.
@omg-ponies: Touche`

luckypictures

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

nightsky — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:05:18 EST

Introducing the Pear Everything Cable. It makes 2D 3D, It makes Mono 7.1 surround, It make your girlfriend hot. All this for $275,879,000.00 US

nightsky

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

workingonyourinvoice — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:03:41 EST

@weendex: Very true. I briefly had an old PowerMac G4 with all my music, videos, etc. hooked up to the tv, and ran it through remote desktop on my PowerBook wirelessly. It was nearly perfect, but the quality on the TV wasn't up to snuff.

workingonyourinvoice

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

weendex — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:57:00 EST

You can already do everything on a CAT5e cable network (except power, for obvious reasons), you just need the right hardware to make it work.

weendex

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

spawnofbill — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:53:55 EST

Um, don't know where you heard otherwise, but the 3200 spec for firewire is going to use the same cables as 800.

Personally I like having different cables for different things, leads to less confusion when your connecting different devices. Video is one type, audio is another, my high speed peripherals are firewire, while my low-speed ones are USB. Pretty simple to me.

spawnofbill

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

God made the pretty girls pretty because he likes them more — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:52:56 EST

@greysky: Forget Monster - how much would Pear Audio charge?

God made the pretty girls pretty because he likes them more

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

greysky — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:50:21 EST

imagine the price monster would charge for this cable!

greysky

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

genius74 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:33:19 EST

@Tommasta:

I agree with you there.. color coded and a standard cable for each function or group of functions:

Audio - Red
Video - Green
Audio & Video - Black

etc,etc,etc

genius74

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

JrezIN — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:29:17 EST

I don't buy any gadget that doesn't use a standard USB cable (normal, mini or micro).
I don't get how people still buying music players lacking standard cables (and lacking supporting standards like UMS/MSC).
I don't expect hi-rez video in USB right now... but you see, USB3 is in the corner, and if wasn't for stupid lack of costumer care, hi-def video signal could be used via USB3 (but nooooo, they have to lock you with HDCP and cia!)
Imagine using a simple UWB gateway to make USB signal wireless, including hi-def video signals... but noooo, they don't want you dreaming about that... instead, they tell you to dreaming about buying their video stream in each one of your devices and buy devices that are compatible with their services... (not the other way around!) including cables and chargers for each one of them.

well, awaking...

JrezIN

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

kc2idf — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:21:45 EST

One Plug to fit them all, One Plug to find them, One Plug to connect them all and in the darkness bind them

kc2idf

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

eineins — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:18:22 EST

I would settle for a few cables.
1. AV cable TV, monitor, Digital or analog audio
2. Data cable Connect to mp3 players, hard drive, phone. Delivers both data and power.
3. Power cable a cable that is universal for power bricks, PCs, recievers.
4. Possibly a portable power adapter for cell phones mp3 player. Or a lower voltage outlet for the home with a usb connector on it. with optional wiring to hook the thing into your network for data transfer.

If manufacturers would stick with what is available things would get ideal. Hdmi for av. usb for data and the atx for power things would be great.

If I forget a cable on a trip at home I'm not spending 30 bicks on an ipod or zune specific cable.

eineins

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

agrajag42 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:17:08 EST

As long as Sony exists, there will never be one thing for anything.

agrajag42

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

DeeJayQueue — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:12:07 EST

I think what the article was trying to get at wasn't to still have separate cables for each type of signal, but they all look the same. I think the point was to have one cable that carried every type of data, at the same time.

Plug 1 cable from your game console/computer/cable system to the reciever, plug 1 cable from the reciever into the tv, plug the tv into the wall. Done. Power, A/V, Data, etc, all flowing over 1 cable chain.

Personally I wonder why recievers don't have hard drives built in, especially the newfangled Home Theater ones. (maybe they do, and I'm just ignorant of them). Once your reciever becomes your central media hub, it's easy to centralize the throughput.

DeeJayQueue

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

image18301 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:11:28 EST

To touch on the Monster debacle, there are many points to consider that may not at first seem relevant. I had once bought a long pair of M1000 interconnects which sounded great. I had to store them for over a year and when I used them again, they didn't sound as good as I remembered. I blamed my rose-colored memory but upon insection I had found that the copper in the strands had visibly oxidized over time! The PVC covering they were using allowed air molecules to permeate into the copper. I later found out that better companies used Teflon to cover their wires to combat this specific reason. So, I guess the point here is that something can be really good new, but how many tests have there been which rate performance over time? Especially with in-wall installations, this may be a very serious issue.

image18301

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

luckypictures — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:11:25 EST

@DocGratis: Dude, please read all comments before posting, and they never said all consumer goods.

luckypictures

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

luckypictures — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:08:14 EST

@omg-ponies: The first 3 sentences, priceless.

luckypictures

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

God made the pretty girls pretty because he likes them more — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:57:16 EST

Blah blah blah. Gizmodo wants. Too damn bad, Gizmodo. Belkin and its aftermarket ilk are far too interested in a legion of different plugs to allow one universal cable, plug or connector.

There's money to be made in chaos.

God made the pretty girls pretty because he likes them more

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

DocGratis — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:56:44 EST

This whole concept is ridiculous...
You want one cable for consumer goods? So what that my HDD uses the same cable as my toster? How about my dryer? So what every device has to have a transformer in cable of handling the load that my dryer normal takes?

You know those power bricks and wall warts, you want those embedded inside everything?

Now lets think about the concept of that still doesn't make your life easier. How the hell would you plug in devices into a mother board. Your HDD, DVD, Blu-ray, and floppy all have the same connector device...

With one cable type you could plug your Toster into your motherboard floppy disk connector, but that doesn't mean its going to work. (or your PS3 controler into your Xbox360, but still no go)

And what kind of magical super cable could handle all that AND all future improvements and bandwidth increases? Oops now we have extra-superHD (101080p with 50.2 sound, you need to get Magical super cable 2.0 (MSC 2.0), which will either be a whole new type of connector...)

DocGratis

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

luckypictures — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:53:15 EST

@auroragb: Also, not necessarily. Go all the way back to speaker wiring/audio. Red/black. Color had to match up. And yes, it does work if you switch it around on both ends, but that's entirely besides the point of the article, and my comments. For your AVERAGE CONSUMER, color coding is the answer. The average consumer doesn't know that you can use any RCA cable to complete any connection that uses the RCA standard. Composite on component, component on composite, et cetera.

luckypictures

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

zimstyles — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:51:03 EST

"Want to connect hard drives? You could use USB 2.0, or FireWire 400 is just about as fast. Want FireWire 800? Oops, you'll need a different cable for that."

Actually the new firewire standard uses the same cable as the old standard... just my two cents :-)

zimstyles

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

luckypictures — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:50:58 EST

@auroragb: One PLUG for everything, not one cable.

luckypictures

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

frigg — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:49:17 EST

@charlie...

minor correction: I think the new firewire 3200 will use the same cable as firewire 800.

frigg

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

auroragb — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:44:49 EST

@luckypictures: But how is color-coding a "one plug for everything" solution? you still need different cables. It's actually more confusing because the pin-out fit, but the functionality is not there. traditionally, pin-out, rather than color, defined functionality. Composite cables still work even if you don't match the color, as long as the same mismatch is done on the other side.

auroragb

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

EMoShunz — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:43:51 EST

@auroragb: ya, that's what MikeSWelch said. i agreed with him, it is a good point. thanks.

EMoShunz

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

EMoShunz — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:42:32 EST

@Tommasta: good point about the airwaves.

EMoShunz

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

Canadian Impostor — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:42:08 EST

@mtopper: [en.wikipedia.org]

Canadian Impostor

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

auroragb — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:41:56 EST

@EMoShunz: If the AV in slot is not ready for power, the power pin should not be present. The connector and cable can stay the same.

auroragb

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

auroragb — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:40:50 EST

@mtopper: I would make all the cables the same, but they would be cheap because of economies of scale. Think about it: BILLIONS of cables

auroragb

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

greeneggsnsam — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:40:29 EST

If it does all of that at the same time, it will need to somehow send and receive data at the same time- is that possible? Like breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth at the same time (impossible).

greeneggsnsam

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

luckypictures — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:40:02 EST

@Tommasta: Ah, good point about cable confusion. However, that is easily solved with standardized colors, a la PS/2 cables, compostie, component, et cetra.

luckypictures

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

EMoShunz — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:39:38 EST

@WorkingOnYourInvoice: @PDSM: now your talking. again, still need some kind of daisy chaining power passthrough to clean it up a bit.
i saw an article somewhere they were working on wireless power too...but who knows if that'll be feasible in the next 20 years. but all wireless signal...cool!

EMoShunz

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

luckypictures — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:39:04 EST

@luckypictures: Well, fuck me for not clicking on the link first. I assumed you were referring to the general scam that is Monster.
Apparently a business has chosen to take it to a whole new level of scumbaggery.

luckypictures

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

Tommasta — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:38:31 EST

@WorkingOnYourInvoice: That would be an absolute mess of the airwaves. Besides, lower quality, more interference, issues with pairing devices... Wireless has its place but not in streaming HD content to your TV or sending music to your amps.

@Luckypictures: I might be misreading, but are you suggesting using the same connectors in the cable, just not including the specific features of that cable such as power, etc.? That would make the world of cables just as complicated, only you wouldn't have connector shape to differentiate between what cable is what. More confusing.

I think they could just standardize each field. Audio? Coax. TV/Video? HDMI. Simple. All of the cables on your computer are color coded and easy as heck to deal with - and that area of the world changes so much we shouldn't even try to make just one connector for it anyway.

Tommasta

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

luckypictures — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:37:11 EST

@Wayde: Please tell me you were being facetious, pleeeeeeaaaasseeee.

luckypictures

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

EMoShunz — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:37:08 EST

@MikeSWelch: good point. which gives me an idea, a power passthrough would be nice. one plug to the wall, and the rest is powered from one chain link up, like a better usb.

EMoShunz

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

aec007 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:34:07 EST

Why cables at all?
We should communicate via the aether at quantum speed through the space-time continuum...

aec007

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

Wayde — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:32:49 EST

Beware of buying these cables though, I saw this Monster HDMI cable scam on another blog

Wayde

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

blank — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:29:10 EST

"Don't blame me. I'm an interpreter. I'm not supposed to know a power socket from a computer terminal."

blank

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

luckypictures — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:29:05 EST

@luckypictures: Please ignore the first sentence in my last post. I was forgetting that the power source could be something like a receiver or computer, not just a powerbank.

And to continue on, there would be a fortune to be made in power banks.

The market would not necessarily be smaller, and require one to lose profits. There's always going to be Joe Schmoe that thinks that he'll notice the difference with his oxygen free gold plated triple shielded blah blah blah Monster Cable is better.

(To note, I do understand the benefits of some of the above, but the point is that your average consumer has no clue about shielding, or why gold plating is better, or even why HDMI is better than composite)

luckypictures

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

PDSM — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:28:54 EST

Wireless!!! Stop dreaming about wires !

PDSM

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

workingonyourinvoice — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:26:36 EST

I say take it a step further: No. Wires.
I'd be happy to plug in the biggest, meanest looking, ugliest power cable if it were the only plug I had to deal with. Everything else should communicate wirelessly. Wireless video, wireless USB, wireless audio, etc.

workingonyourinvoice

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

EMoShunz — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:26:25 EST

@luckypictures: good start for sure!

EMoShunz

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

luckypictures — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:26:14 EST

@mtopper: I don't think power would necessarily have to be an issue, because that would require a central power bank, a la GreenPlug.

And standardizing the connection wouldn't necessarily mean that all functions would have to be included.

You could just not have the functionality in that particular plug. For example: Plug #1 Has audio, video, power. Plug #2 Has Audio, video. Plug #3 Has just audio. HOWEVER, they all use the same connector. What goes between the connectors doesn't have to be the same, but the connecting ends could be, just eliminating the need to hook up all pins.

luckypictures

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

MikeSWelch — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:25:56 EST

@EMoShunz: You missed this part of the article "and it needs to be smart enough not to ruin anything you plug it into."

It wouldn't be that hard to do. If the audio receiver doesn't need power, don't include the designated power pins in that port.

MikeSWelch

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

luckypictures — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:23:20 EST

GREENPLUG FOR PRESIDENT!

luckypictures

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

mtopper — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:22:40 EST

good idea - will never happen in real life. and the reason is economics. too many cords would be produced with MORE functionality than needed for most uses. this would drive the per unit cost far above what would be acceptable for the consumer. imagine paying $150 for a wire simply to connect your music player to your computer or hook up the speakers to your stereo, just because it has power, hdmi etc capacity in it (that isnt needed).

mtopper

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

Munch the BanNail — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:20:58 EST

Yeah, but if they do that, how are they going to force us to buy everything all over again every 5 years

Munch the BanNail

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

Roddy — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:20:19 EST

HDMI rules. 1 cable from dvd player to reciever, 1 cable from reciever to TV = High definition with the best surround sound I've ever heard.

Roddy

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

hmooby — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:16:43 EST

you're scaring all the noobz away...wtf? Toslink?L-connector? Ahhhhh.....

hmooby

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

rmeehan17 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:11:13 EST

it's not fantasy. you've got the major cell phone makers deciding on one plug for phones so that's a start.

rmeehan17

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

raleel — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:09:45 EST

Amen Brother. the devices on the end shouldn't really make that much of a difference. I can understand distance issues, but one cable spec for up to 50', another one for up to 500', and then another for up to a mile. that should be plenty.

raleel

All Giz Wants: One Plug For Everything

EMoShunz — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:08:41 EST

you are right! except for the power...that needs to be different, could you imagine grandma accidentally plugging in her power cord into the audio/video in slot...boom

EMoShunz