Photos have been popping up depicting what appears to be the first true HDMI-HDCP ATI video card, complete with HDMI connector and onboard SPDIF audio jack. This card appears to be HDMI only - it features no DVI or VGA connections. The card"s low profile would make it particularly suited for small form factor PCs, which many find perfect for home theater operations. The job of encoding and serving the protected HDCP video signals will fall to a Silicon Image HDCP TMDS transmitter.
ATI card partner Sapphire Technologies, which produces its own line of video cards as well as ATI-branded cards, has confirmed it is working on an HDMI compliant card. Other details such as availability are not yet known, but it is clear that HDMI compliant video cards are on their way.