HDMI 2 1 has arrived Here's everything you need to know
0HDMI 2.1 has arrived Here's everything you need to know.
HDMI 2.1 is here, delivering breathtaking bandwidth and enabling a raft of mouthwatering new capabilities. The new standard won't impact the average user today or even in the near future, but new hardware coming to market within the next year and into the next decade will deliver better experiences with movies, games, virtual reality, and more.
Increased bandwidth is the most salient improvement HDMI 2.1 delivers. We're talking a staggering 48 gigabits per second, compared to the 18Gbps that HDMI 2.0 can handle. That bandwidth bump makes possible all of the larger numbers you'll see in the rest of this story: 8K and 10K video resolution, 4K resolution with a 240Hz refresh rate, and so on. You'll need a new cable--as in the render above, it will be labeled Ultra High Speed HDMI--but that's a small price to pay for what's delivered. HDMI 2.1 also supports VESA's Display Stream Compression (DSC) for even greater bandwidth. In fact, some of the higher resolution/frame rate combinations you see listed in the chart below can only be realized when DSC is in use.
Note that these are only common possible resolutions and frame rates. For example, 4K at 240Hz can be used if so desired.
Where these higher refresh rates will come in handy is with HFR (High Refresh Rate) video. You might remember the first installment of The Hobbit was shown in select locations at 120 frames per second. Why? To reduced the motion blur with fast moving items that is a weakness of slower frame rates. With HFR, you can see the rain drops in a storm. Without it, they're indistinct. HFR in the home is a long ways off, but Hollywood, industrial, and scientific uses are myriad.