About The 980; What Makes The 980 Unique - Quantum Data 980 User Manual

980 User Guide – MHL Compliance Tests
Rev. B29

1 About the 980

This chapter provides an overview of features of the 980 Protocol Analyzer and the 980 Manager. The 980
Protocol Analyzer is an HDMI and MHL analyzer for source devices. It provides visibility into the HDMI/MHL
protocol to help resolve common interoperability problems in HDMI/MHL systems. The 980 Manager is a PC
application to manage and use the 980 Protocol Analyzer.
There are two options for the 980: 1) 980 225MHz "Gen 2" and 2) 980 297MHz "Gen 3". The 980 225MHz "Gen 2"
is able to parse HDMI/MHL streams from source devices with a TMDS clock up to 225MHz. The 980 297MHz "Gen
3" version is able to parse HDMI streams from source devices with a TMDS clock and pixel clock up to 297MHz
and MHL streams up to maximum speeds.
Note: Only the 980 297MHz "Gen 3" version supports MHL protocol analysis.
1.1

What makes the 980 Unique?

The 980 Protocol Analyzer for HDMI or MHL source devices provides full visibility into the protocol, timing, control
and auxiliary data. It captures and decodes encrypted or unencrypted metadata (audio sample, infoframes and
other data packets) as well as DDC transactions and CEC messages (C-Bus transactions for MHL).
Competitive "analyzers" available on the market are more limited because they utilize commercial silicon chips.
The 980 uses a proprietary solution and therefore can provide much greater visibility into the protocol, timing and
control data. The competitive "analyzers" support some of the 980 features but not nearly all of them. They support
functional testing but not true interoperability testing. Functional test "analyzers" often support only real time
monitoring. The 980 supports capture and store as well as Real Time monitoring.
For these same reasons, the 980 can support all of the tests in the HDMI and MHL source protocol compliance test
specification. Functional test instruments cannot. For example, the 980 supports all the Protocol tests in Test 7-17
of the HDMI Compliance Test Specification and the Basic Protocol Tests in the section 3.2.2.2 in the MHL
Compliance Test Specification related to control periods, preamble and guard bands. Similarly the 980 can
Page 3 July 26, 2011