The complexities of HDMI 2.1 viewed through a new home theater.
In doing so, I discovered what a nightmare HDMI 2.1’s definition of “compatibility” is.
Two decades later, though, HDMI is alive and well but has somehow become needlessly confusing.
Listen ye to my cautionary tale and beware the dark woods of HDMI.
What is HDMI 2.1?
HDMI 2.1 is the latest version of the High-Definition Multimedia Interface connector first unveiled in 2002.
The HDMI 1.0-to-1.2a jump offered a 4.95 Gbps transmission rate.
1.3 bumped that up to 10.2 Gbps, and 2.0 brought it to 18.0 Gbps.
The more features you want to pass through that cable, the more bandwidth you need.
Along with that 48 Gbps bandwidth, HDMI 2.1 brings a variety of features.
Some are for general use, but a bunch are specifically focused on gaming.
Quick Frame Transport works to further reduce that latency.
The standard also supports 4K resolution at 120 Hz and 8K resolution at 60 Hz.
HDMI 2.1a additionally adds support for 10K video for commercial and industrial use.
The root problem, it turns out, was a setting on the receiver.
Again, a direct connection to the television worked fine here.
The cable was labeled on Amazon as offering all of the HDMI 2.1-specific features you could want.
The problem is that it’s not acertifiedcable.
If it’s present, it might be in one of the preview images.
The next stage of this story takes us back to the Onkyo receiver.
There just isn’t enough bandwidth there.
And you know who’s not doing anything to help this?
The very organization in charge of HDMI specifications: the HDMI Forum.
Now it’s here, and we’re left shrugging our shoulders.
Just as it started to gain somewhat of a foothold, the HDMI Forum did two things.
First, it made the decision to fold the HDMI 2.0 spec into HDMI 2.1.
The HDMI Forum is further exacerbating the problem, too.
Barmy confirmed in the same quote that features like VRR and ALLM are optional.
The HDMI 2.1 label is not a reliable guide.
As the receiver above shows, though, even that might not be enough.
In this environment, how is anyone expected to get a fully-functional chain of HDMI 2.1 devices?
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