HDMI 2.1: What You Need to Know

Time to Get New Cables?

The HDMI Forum released the HDMI two.ane standard for video cables and connections last November, and that means upgrades are on the horizon. The current wave of TVs, game systems, and media streamers volition remain untouched for most of the coming year, but after the HDMI Forum's press conference on HDMI 2.1 at CES 2022, we have an idea of what the new standard volition bring. Before you scramble for new cables, hither's what you should know.

Faster, Meliorate 4K

The HDMI 2.one standard is faster than HDMI ii.0, the electric current connectedness used by modern habitation entertainment devices. Information technology nearly triples the bandwidth of HDMI 2.0, defining a maximum speed of 48Gbps compared with 18GBps. For 4K TVs, that ways an HDMI two.ane connection can handle 4K video at up to 120 frames per 2nd. That'south natively transmitted video, not the move processed, interpolated 24, 30, and 60fps video current TVs with 120Hz refresh rates can brandish. That means smoother activity that looks much less artificial.

These faster speeds hateful wider support for dynamic high dynamic range (HDR) video. Yes, that'due south ii dynamics in one term, but there's a reason. HDR expands the dynamic range of video, which determines how dark, bright, and colorful each pixel can get. Most electric current HDR content is static, defining a fix range with HDR10 or adjusting levels based on individual TVs with profile metadata. These levels stay constant through the movie or show you're watching.

Dynamic HDR makes the dynamic range variable instead of static. Additional metadata for each scene or frame tweaks the dynamic range of the picture to best fit the content. These adjustments let night scenes prove more than shadow detail and bright scenes show more than highlight detail past giving the video more than flexibility and control within the low-cal and color ranges of each scene.

HDR10+ is the most prominent dynamic HDR standard, beginning pushed past Amazon and Samsung and getting increased adoption from other manufacturers and studios. HDR10+ is currently possible through HDMI 2.0 connections and is available on Samsung's 2022 and 2022 flagship TVs, but the increased bandwidth of HDMI two.1 ensures time to come compatibility for any farther dynamic HDR standards or expanded HDR10+ content.

8K Enabled

HDMI two.0 was the existent step that enabled 4K video to proceeds momentum. HDMI 1.4 supported 4K resolution at up to 30 frames per 2d, merely HDMI 2.0'due south 4K60 compatibility set the standard for watching 4K content on a 4K Idiot box. HDMI 2.1 skips the 30fps step for 8K (7,680 past 4,320) and jumps direct to enabling the new, much college resolution at 60fps. Technically, the standard supports upward to 10K resolution in terms of sheer bandwidth, but 10K hasn't actually been defined beyond approximately ten,000 horizontal pixels. On paper, 8K120 and 10K120 are also possible through HDMI 2.1, merely they present entirely new questions near media format and transmission outside of cable speed.

Don't worry about rushing to get an 8K TV, though. Your 4K screen will remain valid and heart-catching for several years (though if yous nevertheless have a 1080p HDTV, you should consider upgrading). According to the HDMI Forum, only 400,000 8K TVs are expected to send worldwide in 2022, and they'll about entirely be released in Prc. That number will move up to 900,000 in 2022, with approximately one-half spread beyond Europe and Northward America and the rest in China. That'southward not a lot of 8K TVs for the next 3 years.

8K is yet a fledgling engineering science on the consumer side, with no significant media distribution or Boob tube manufacturing presence notwithstanding. It will be several years before 8K TVs become the new high-end, flagship standard, and at least a yr or ii after that before prices attain a level reasonable for normal consumers.

New Cables and Devices

TVs, media streamers, and game consoles volition need to exist built with HDMI 2.1 in society to use it rather than receive a firmware upgrade to enable information technology, since the much college bandwidth volition demand faster hardware connections to support it. This means HDMI 2.1 won't be found on your current devices at any indicate; it'due south strictly a new standard for new hardware to be released from 2022 onward.

HDMI 2.i volition crave new HDMI cables, which will exist labeled Ultra Loftier Speed HDMI Cables. They'll expect and function similarly to older HDMI cables, and use HDMI A, C, and D connectors (standard HDMI, mini HDMI, and micro HDMI respectively). Like HDMI two.0 and HDMI 1.4, cables will be backward compatible to a point, so HDMI 2.one devices will piece of work just fine with HDMI 2.0 cables for showing 4K60 content.

When Volition It Matter?

Don't worry nearly getting new HDMI 2.i devices and cables for at present. Information technology won't even be an pick for most of this year, and widespread consumer adoption won't get rolling until 2022. In fact, the HDMI Forum won't finish publishing its HDMI 2.1 compliance testing specification, which is required to certify HDMI 2.1 products, until Q3 2022.

More importantly, that backward compatibility I mentioned means your Tv, Blu-ray player, and other devices won't of a sudden end working when everything else has HDMI 2.ane. The HDMI 2.0 devices you've bought in the last few years volition still handle upward to 4K60 video, and even when you get something new with HDMI two.one, it'll still piece of work but fine with everything else in your home theater. It just won't support 8K60.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/feature/19149/hdmi-21-what-you-need-to-know

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