Technology waits for no one. Even though HDMI 2.0 outputs are far from ubiquitous (even on new PCs), the group behind the popular standard is forging ahead with a new specification that delivers some eye-catching features.
The HDMI Forum on Tuesday announced the release of HDMI 2.1 with support for a range of high resolutions and fast refresh rates including 8K60Hz and 4K120Hz. Resolutions up to 10K are also supported for commercial / industrial / specialty usages with support for the following enhanced refresh rates:
- Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) reduces or eliminates lag, stutter and frame tearing for more fluid and better detailed gameplay.
- Quick Media Switching (QMS) for movies and video eliminates the delay that can result in blank screens before content is displayed.
- Quick Frame Transport (QFT) reduces latency for smoother no-lag gaming, and real-time interactive virtual reality.
The new tech also supports an automatic low-latency mode, eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel) and Dynamic HDR, the latter of which ensures that every moment of a video is displayed at its ideal values for detail, depth, contrast, brightness and wider color gamuts.
There's also a new cable, the Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable, which supports up to 48 Gbps of bandwidth and features a very low level of EMI emission. It's backwards compatible with earlier versions of the HDMI specification and can thus be used with existing HDMI devices.
The specification is available as of today to all HDMI 2.0 adopters. Compliance Test Specification (CTS) will be published in stages during Q1-Q3 2018. More information will be available at CES 2018 in January, we're told.