In theory, HDMI can provide some useful capabilities. For example, you can carry multichannel PCM audio through a single cable rather than converting it to analog and using six or eight cables, or you can carry a digital bitstream for DVD-Audio or SACD, or you can (eventually) carry a digital bitstream for the new HD audio formats, and you can do any of those in the same cable that you carry HD digital video. That could be pretty darn handy. If HDMI had been more properly developed as a unified audio/video standard before being introduced to market, I'd consider it to be a pretty smart idea. The reality is that HDMI was pushed out to market long before it was of any real use (HDMI v1.0 was functionally identical to using DVI and a coaxial or optical digital cable when it was released in December 2002), then it was revised three times in about 24 months (versions 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 were all published between May 2004 and June 2006). The result is a confused mess that is obscuring what is finally becoming a potentially useful interface. Give us another six to twelve months, and hardware might start providing some real opportunities for making HDMI useful - assuming compatibility problems can get resolved. So far, though, HDMI's been more headache than anything else.