Enlarge / Newer game consoles like the Xbox Series X and S support additional features on HDMI 2. 1 displays, but HDMI 2. one can mean different things depending on what product you’re buying. (credit: Microsoft )
If you dabble in high-end 8K TV equipment or own one of the newest Xbox or PlayStation consoles, you might be familiar with HDMI 2. 1 . The latest version of the ubiquitous display spec adds variable refresh rate assistance, reduces latency, and offers a big bandwidth increase that allows for higher resolutions, higher refresh rates, and greater color depth. At least, it can support those things.
It turns out that TV and monitor makers don’t actually need to support those marquee HDMI 2. 1 features to claim HDMI 2. 1 compliance. That’s the gist of a report from TFTCentral , which points out that will the HDMI 2. 1 specification actually fully replaces the HDMI 2 . 0 spec rather than simply upgrading it. So any manufacturer of which supports HDMI 2. 0-level functions is technically supporting “HDMI second . 1” because the HDMI 2. 0 spec doesn’t exist anymore. And the features we think of when we talk about HDMI two. 1—including Fixed Rate Link (FRL) signaling, variable refresh rate (VRR) support, Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), and the enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC)—are technically optional.
“Products can no longer get certified for 2. 0 only for 2. 1, and also a couple of. 1 features are optional to implement, so popular features like 4k120, ALLM, VRR are not required, ” Brad Bramy, VP of Marketing and Operations for the HDMI LA, confirmed in order to Ars. “Manufacturers could only implement eARC, for example, and claim to be a 2 . not 1-enabled device. ”
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