HDMI 2. 1 is the latest edition of the high-definition multimedia interface connector that was first introduced in 2002. The initial specification of HDMI 2. 1 represented a big step forward for the connector, consistent with a bunch of new features. The jump from HDMI 1. 0 to 1. 2a featured a transmission rate of 4. 95 Gbps. 1. 3 higher this figure at 10. 2 Gbps, and 2. 0 higher at 18. 0 Gbps. It takes a lot of bandwidth to facilitate some of the modern advances we’ve seen, such as 120 frames consistent with the moment in 4K resolution; HDMI 2. 1 is a breakthrough that enables this, providing up to 48 Gbps. The more features you need to pass through this cable, the more bandwidth you will need.
In addition to this 48 Gbps bandwidth, HDMI 2. 1 offers a variety of features. Some are designed for general use, but one organization is particularly aimed at games. General features come with the advent of the enhanced audio comment channel, or eARC, providing an easier connection between HDMI presentations and audio devices, with greater compatibility with more popular audio formats. The strength of the HDMI cable allows HDMI devices to transmit the strong cable to devices that require more force to transmit the 48 Gbps bandwidth; fundamentally it will be something fundamental that you will not notice. Fast media switching allows for faster transitions between media with the same solution and other frame rates, for example, a TV screen shot at 24 frames consistent with the moment and a sports broadcast in 60 frames consistent with the moment, either running on a 4K solution.
Gamers, on the other hand, will be able to use variable refresh rates, allowing your screen and the source device to agree when new video frames are streamed, so that even if your game’s frame rate fluctuates, the TV or the monitor may be in a position to replace and keep the motion smoother than it would otherwise be. Auto Low Latency Mode allows your game console to automatically set your TV to its gaming mode, which disables all symbol processing features and focuses on delivering symbols as temporarily as possible to decrease latency. Extra Quick Frame Transport reduces this latency.
Source-based tone mapping is a new HDR express feature to HDMI 2. 1a that allows the source device (the game console, set-top box, or other media player) to take care of HDR tone mapping for greater control through the source device. the best image. The popular solution is also 4K at 120 Hz and the 8K solution at 60 Hz. HDMI 2. 1a also adds 10K video for advertising and advertising use.
All this is to say that the speeds presented through HDMI 2. 1 are correct: they allow for many new and welcome features that can enjoy your game in other ways. But the criteria around HDMI 2. 1 have become incredibly complicated, making it unintuitive and requiring a lot of studies when buying a new TV or receiver.
The first challenge I encountered when setting up my new hardware was the result of my receiver. A settings menu on Xbox describing the features streaming through my TV were all green marks, unless the ability to play games at 4K 120Hz. Let’s put aside for a moment, the fact that there are very few games that really do this: it’s about making sure that what you’ve spent lots and lots of dollars on provides you with all the features you’ve paid for.
Connecting the Xbox directly to the TV with a cable provided by Microsoft worked wonders, so I knew the problem was somewhere in between. Using two cables provided by Microsoft to move from the formula to the receiver and from the receiver to the TV didn’t work either.
It turns out that the basic challenge was a setup on the receiver. The menus on the Onkyo TX-NR5100 may be worse, but they are confusing in most cases and absolutely inconsistent at worst. A specific 4K setting on the device forced me to replace it from “enhanced 4K” to “standard 8K”. Looking at other users’ reports with this online, it turns out that I’m far from the only one mistakenly believing that if I’m looking to use the enhanced 4K feature with my 4K TV, I’d have to turn on the enhanced 4K mode, rather than the standard 8K, which I think is for 8K TVs. If Onkyo had classified them more efficiently, perhaps HDMI 2. 0 and HDMI 2. 1 as labels, it might have been intuitive, however, it wasn’t in the slightest.
Enabling this setting turned the red X into a green check mark in the Xbox settings menu, but enabling 4K 120Hz still didn’t work: the screen flickered and returned to the original settings. Again, a direct connection to the TV worked well here. Despite everything it was the cable that allowed the last step to work, making me go to 4K 120Hz. This other cable provided by Microsoft was meant to move to my PlayStation 5, while a longer cable purchased separately would go from the TV to the receiver. The cable has been ranked on Amazon as a provider of all the specific features of HDMI 2. 1 that you could want. The challenge is that it is not a qualified cable. It turns out there’s a badge for this, directly from the HDMI Forum itself:
Amazon, however, is full of reasonable cables available from countless unknown vendors like IVANKY, YAHOUDY, and Sniocko. They’re rated with all those features, with product names like “48Gbps 2M Ultra High Speed Braided HDMI Cable, Dynamic HDR Support, eARC, Dolby Atmos, 8K60Hz, 4K120Hz, HDCP 2. 2 2. 3, HD TV Monitor Compatible” to make sure any and all imaginable terms you might search for are taken into account. However, not all of those cables are qualified and the vast majority of them are advertised with an HDMI connector symbol.
This is not a store where you can see this badge right on the checkout. If it is present, it would possibly be in one of the preview images. Even then, most people probably wouldn’t know how to look for that badge, because we’ve been taught that an HDMI cable is an HDMI cable. Inserting a branded cable (from Monoprice in this case) solved the problem, but it will be a massive trap for anyone looking for cables online who doesn’t know how to monitor that badge.
The next step in this story takes us back to receiver Onkyo. If you take a look at most HDMI 2. 1 compatible receivers, they’ll have 2 to 4 ports, each with 40 Gbps of bandwidth. They are not yet the full 48, but they are. it’s going to be enough to pass all the features that make HDMI 2. 1 attractive. However, some manufacturers have chosen to take shortcuts to make HDMI 2. 1 receivers more affordable, providing ports that only have 24 Gbps available. through, but you may not be able to stream 4K 120Hz images with 10-bit color. There just isn’t enough bandwidth.
It would be great if they were obviously labeled, but neither I nor the representative who helped me on the site where I bought noticed that the Onkyo receiver we had selected had this limitation. This is because it is not indexed anywhere in the receiver’s datasheet. or in the included box or quick start guide. In fact, the only position I personally discovered in the manual to download only on the Onkyo website. . . on page 153.
So, this receiver, while costing a bunch of dollars, carries 60% of the bandwidth that even an informed customer would expect based on their specifications, a fact that is obviously not ranked anywhere, something that many other people may not realize until they buy it. . .
Of course, there are two tactics to read this:
I note that, of course, Onkyo is not the only manufacturer that does this; Yamaha has at least one receiver with this limitation, and there are others as well.
And you know who doesn’t do anything to help with that?The frame rate of the HDMI specifications: the HDMI Forum. This consortium of companies is coming together to identify what features will be included in each new edition of the HDMI specification We were all excited about the announcement of the long-awaited HDMI 2. 1 a few years ago. Now it’s here and we shrug our shoulders. Just as it was starting to take hold, the HDMI Forum did two things.
First, it took the resolution of doubling the HDMI 2. 0 specification to HDMI 2. 1. The forum then announced a new specification, HDMI 2. 1a, which adds source-based tone mapping, a feature meant to demonstrate HDR content. But the forum has also selected to make optional many of the features that literally make HDMI 2. 1 what it is. The HDMI forum also makes the challenge worse.
“Products can no longer qualify for 2. 0, only 2. 1, and 2. 1 features are also optional to deploy,” Brad Barmy, HDMI’s vice president of license management, told Ars Technica in December 2021. So even if a manufacturer is looking to keep their HDMI 2. 0 product fair and easy to read, they are literally not allowed to do so. Barmy showed at the same appointment that features like VRR and ALLM are optional. In a way, it makes sense, for example, a Blu-ray player or Apple TV wouldn’t get any price for any of those gaming-focused features, but they can use eARC and font-based tone mapping. But it also means we want to take a “warning” technique to buy anything with an HDMI port in the future. The HDMI 2. 1 label is not a reliable guide.
All of this means that a port and cable that only support 18 Gbps bandwidth and don’t allow for HDMI 2. 1-specific features, such as ALLM and VRR, can now be classified as HDMI 2. 1. It is no longer enough to look for a device that supports HDMI 2. 1: you Want to consult the list of functions and even the manual. The HDMI forum itself claims that with this change, brands will be required to list supported features through the hardware.
As the receiver above shows, even that might not be enough. You know those limitations even exist, and then check out forums and technical sites to familiarize yourself with them. There’s no way brands will make those features easy to locate in their box art or in their limited space of Amazon symbols. The term “HDMI 2. 1” doesn’t necessarily make sense at this point, as it still doesn’t generate confusion or frustration for tech-conscious users and ensures that those who just need to plug something in can never have access to all the features they were promised in the box of their TV set.
In this environment, how can you expect to get a fully functional chain of HDMI 2. 1 devices?This adds to the fact that it can already be tricky to know what kind of HDMI you want to get all the features and which HDMI is compatible with modern versions of TVs. You might need to buy and turn on two receivers and two sets of HDMI cables, and a lot of troubleshooting, but if you have enough acumen to circumvent the HDMI 2. 1 maze, you can pull it off. But most people probably wouldn’t: they’ll give up somewhere along the way and live with it. Or they’ll spend a lot of money to get the latest and greatest, just to get something less.
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