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Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) - definition

Mobile High-Definition Link or MHL is an industry standard for a mobile audio/video interface that allows consumers to connect portable consumer electronics devices to high-definition televisions (HDTVs) and audio receivers.

MHL was developed by the MHL Consortium, a consortium made up of leading companies such as Nokia, Samsung, Silicon Image, Sony and Toshiba.

The MHL current standard supports up to 4K (Ultra HD) high-definition (HD) video and 7.1 surround sound audio, including TrueHD and DTS-HD, while simultaneously charging the connected device.

MHL specification version 1.0 was released in June 2010. Later on the standard was further developed with the release of the MHL 2.0 specifications.

The first mass market smartphone, equipped with a MHL connector was the Samsung Galaxy SII and it was released in 2011.

MHL has the following features:

Transmission of 1080p uncompressed HD video
Transmission of 8 channel uncompressed audio (e.g. 7.1 surround sound)
Charges the device’s battery via the MHL cable - up to 500mA for MHL 1.0 and up to 900mA for MHL 2.0
High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) support
Remote Control Protocol (RCP) support allows you to use the TV the remote control to operate the MHL mobile device through the TV’s Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) function (must be supported by the TV).
Connector agnostic, requiring as few as five pins

With phones the MHL link is mostly setup on the Micro USB port, which is used for charging and data transmission on most of today’s mobile phones.

The most widely used adapter is the 5-pin Micro-USB-to-HDMI adapter. Initially, these required a separate power source to operate, but the current MHL standard allows for a passive converter without the need of an extra power source.

Samsung developed their own 11-pin MHL microUSB connector, so recent devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note II and Galaxy S4, require a proprietary 11-pin Micro-USB-to-HDMI adapter. The good thing is that if you already have a 5-pin Micro-USB-to-HDMI adapter, you would only need a new tip to use it with these smartphones.

In August 2013 the MHL Consortium announced the latest generation MHL 3.0 specifications.

MHL 3.0 comes with the following improvements:

Supports 4K (Ultra HD) 2160p30 video thanks to doubling of the bandwidth by using a bi-directional channel
Enhanced 7.1 surround sound with Dolby® TrueHD and DTS-HD
Power charging up to 10W
Backward compatible with MHL 1 and MHL 2
Latest HDCP 2.2 support
Improved Remote Control Protocol (RCP) with support for peripherals such as a touch screen, keyboard and mouse, which can be used to control the device over the MHL connection, allowing for instance to interact with your smartphone via your cars touch-enabled infotainment screen.

Related terms:

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2G | 3.5mm headphone jack | 3G | 4G | 5G | 802.11

A

A-GPS (Assisted GPS) | A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) | AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) | Accelerometer | Airplane mode | Alarm Clock | Alphanumeric | AMOLED display (Active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) | Analog | Android | ANT+ | Antenna | Aperture | APN (Access Point Name) | Apple AirPlay | Apple AirPlay 2 | Apple iOS | Apple iOS 10 | Apple iOS 11 | Apple iOS 12 | Apple iOS 7 | Apple iOS 8 | Apple iOS 9 | Apple Pay | aptX | Audio jack | Auto-focus | AVRCP (Audio/Video Remote Control Profile)

B

Bada OS | Band | Bandwidth | Bar | Base Station | Battery Charging | BeiDou Navigation Satellite System | Benchmarking | Biometrics | Bit | BlackBerry OS | BlackBerry Playbook OS | Bluetooth | bps (Bits per Second) | Brand | Broadband | Browser | Byte

C

Calculator | Calendar | Call alerts | Calling Plan | Camera | Capacitive Touchscreen | Car Kit | Carrier | CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access) | CDMA2000 | Cell | Chipset | cHTML (Compact HyperText Markup Language) | CIF (Common Intermediate Format) | Clamshell | CMOS (Complementary metal-oxidesemiconductor) | Color depth | Concatenated SMS | Connected GPS | Construction | Corning Gorilla Glass | CPU (Central Processing Unit) | Crosstalk | CSTN (Color Super Twisted Nematic) | CTIA | Custom ringtones | CyanogenMod

D

D-Pad (Direction Pad) | Data Disclaimer | DC-HSDPA (Dual Carrier or Dual Cell High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) | Digital Zoom | Display type | DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) | DNSe (Digital Natural Sound engine) | Downlink | DRM (Digital Rights Management) | Dual-band | Dual-Mode | Dual-SIM | DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) | Dynamic Memory

E

EDGE (Enhanced Data for Global Evolution) | EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) | EGPRS | EGSM (Extended GSM) | Email client | Emoji | EMS (Enhanced Message Service) | eSIM | EV-DO | EV-DV | Exchangeable covers | External Antenna Jack | External Display

F

FCC (Federal Communications Commission) | Feature Phone | Femtocell | Firefox OS | Firmware | Fixed-focus | Flash Memory | Flight mode | Flip-down phone | FM Radio | FM Transmitter | Form factor | FOTA (Firmware Over-The-Air) | FPS (Frames Per Second) | Frame Error Rate | Frequency | FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

G

Galileo (Global Navigation Satellite System) | GB (Gigabyte) | Gbps (Gigabits per second) | Geo-tag | GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System) | GNSS Positioning | GPRS | GPS (Global Positioning System) | gpsONE | gpsOneXTRA Assistance technology | GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)

H

H.263 | H.264 | H.265 | Half-QWERTY keyboard layout | Handwriting recognition | Haptics | HEVC | Hot Spot | Hot Swap | HSCSD (High-Speed Circuit Switched Data) | HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) | HSDPA+ (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access Plus) | HSP (Headset Profile) | HSUPA (High-Speed Uplink Packet Access) | HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) | Hz (Hertz)

I

iDEN (Integrated Digital Enhanced Network) | Image Signal Processor (ISP) | IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) | IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) | IP (Internet Protocol) | IP Ratings | IrDA (Infrared Data Association)

J

K

KB (Kilobyte) | Kbps (Kilobits per second) | Key Guard | Key Lock Switch

L

Land line | LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) | LED (Light-Emitting Diode) | Li-Ion (Lithium Ion) | Li-Polymer (Lithium Polymer) | LiMo OS | Linux | Location-Based Services (LBS) | Lock code | Long SMS | Long Term Evolution (LTE) | Loudspeaker

M

Macro | Maemo OS | Magnetometer | mAh | Mass Storage mode | MB (Megabyte) | Mbps (Megabit per second) | MeeGo OS | Megapixel | Memory card slot | Memory effect | Messaging | MHz (Megahertz) | Micro USB | microSD | microSDHC | Microsoft Exchange (Server) | MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) | MIDP (Mobile Information Device Profile) | Mil-Spec (MIL-STD) | MIMO | Mini-USB | miniSD | MMC | MMCmobile | MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) | Mobile games | Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) | Mobile IM (Instant Messaging) | Mobile WiMAX | Mobility DisplayPort (MyDP) | Models | Modem | Monochrome | MP3 (MPEG Layer 3) | MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) | MPEG-4 video | Multitouch input method | Music playback time (battery life) | Music Player

N

NAND Memory | Network capacity | Network coverage | NFC (Near Field Communication) | NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) | NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) | NOR Memory | Numeric keypad

O

OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) | OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) | Optical Zoom | OS (Operating System) | OTA (Over-The-Air) | OTG

P

Packet Data | Pager | PC Sync | PCS (Personal Communications Service) | PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) | Percentile rank | Phone Book Access (PBA) | Phone Life Cycle | Phone Physical Attributes | Phonebook | PIM (Personal Information Manager/Management) | PIN code (Personal Identification Number) | Pixel | Pixel density (Pixels Per Inch) | Polyphonic ringtones | POP3 (Post Office Protocol) | Port | Predictive text input | Price | PTT (Push-To-Talk) | PUK Code (PIN UnlocK Code) | Push

Q

QCIF (Quarter Common Intermediate Format) | Quad-band | Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) | QVGA (Quarter Video Graphics Array) | QWERTY keyboard layout

R

RAM (Random-Access Memory) | RBDS (Radio Broadcast Data System) | RDS (Radio Data System) | Rechargeable Battery Types | Resistive touchscreen | Resolution | Ringer ID | Ringing profiles | Ringtone | Roaming | ROM (Read-Only Memory) | RS-MMC (Reduced-Size Multi Media Card) | RSA (Rural Service Area) | RSS (Rich Site Summary) | Ruggedized (Rugged)

S

S60 user interface | SAP (SIM Access Profile) | SAR (Specific absorption rate) | Screen protection | SD (Secure Digital) | Secondary camera | Sensors | Side Keys | SIM | SIM lock | Single-Band | Skin | Slimport | Smart Watch | Smartphone | SMIL | SMS (Short Messaging Service) | SNS (Social network service) | Soft keys | Soft Reset | Speed Dial | Stand-by time (battery life) | Stereo Speakers | Streaming Video | Stylus | Sub-QCIF | SVGA | Symbian | SyncML

T

Talk time (battery life) | TCP/IP | TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) | TEST | Tethering | Text messaging (texting) | TFD (Thin Film Diode) | TFT (Thin Film Transistor) | Theme | To-Do list | Touchscreen | Trackball | Transflash | Transflective | Tri-band

U

UFS | UI (User Interface) | UIQ | UMA | UMTS | Unlocked phone | Upload | UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) | USB (Universal Serial Bus) | USB On-The-Go | USIM

V

VGA (Video Graphics Array) | Video call | Video Codec | Voice dialing | Voice mail | Voice memo | VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) | VPN (Virtual Private Network)

W

WAP (Wireless Application protocol) | watchOS | WCDMA(Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) | Wear OS | Wearable Technology | webOS | Wi-Fi | Windows Mobile | Windows Phone OS | Wireless email | WLAN | WMV (Windows Media Video)

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