Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customize your settings, hit “Customize Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences
  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.

This article is more than 1 year old

Want a new HDMI cable? No? Bad luck. You'll need one for HDMI 2.1

New spec hits 48Gbps and can carry 8K HDR videos

The HDMI forum has released the HDMI 2.1 spec, and promised it can deliver 48Gbps if you buy new cables that support the jump from HDMI 2.0s 18Gbps.

But while the organisation has probably delighted gamers and 8K video watchers with that headline number, they'll have to wait until deep into 2018 to get their hands on kit that employes the new spec.

If you're sceptical that a mere TV needs bandwidth that over Ethernet would be suitable for a data centre, think again: the HDMI Forum explained uncompressed 8K high dynamic range (HDR) video is dependent on the boosted bandwidth.

At 4K and 12 bits per colour channel, the spec supports 120 frames/second refresh rates, or 60 fps at 8K at a lower dynamic range, with chroma subsampling.

The HDMI 2.1 cable spec remains backwards-compatible with HDMI 2.0, for some reason (El Reg is wondering how many people buy the new cable before they've also bought the new TV and a suitable content source).

The forum's table below shows HDMI feature support across all versions.

Small HDMI feature table

HDMI Forum feature comparison, click to embiggen

For gamers, there's a variable refresh rate (VRR) feature, designed to cut lag, stutter and frame tearing; and quick frame transport (QFT) for lower latency. Quick media switching (QMS) should get rid of that brief black screen when switching content.

During the first three quarters of 2018, the HDMI Forum will roll out its compliance test specification, so if vendors are ready ahead of time, products should be ready for Q4 2018. ®

 

Similar topics

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like