The HDMI Forum announced the upcoming release of Version 2.1 of the HDMI Specification at CES 2017 in Las Vegas. The latest version is intended to support a range of higher video resolutions and refresh rates, including 8K60 and 4K120, Dynamic HDR, and increased bandwidth with a new 48G cable. Version 2.1 is designed to be backward compatible with earlier versions.
"This new release of the specification offers a broad range of advanced features for enhancing the consumer entertainment experience, as well as providing robust solutions to the commercial AV sector," said Robert Blanchard of Sony Electronics, president of the HDMI Forum. "This is part of the HDMI Forum's continuing mission to develop specifications for the HDMI ecosystem that meet the growing demand for compelling, high-performance and exciting features."
Version 2.1 features include:
- Support for higher resolutions and faster refresh rates including 8K60Hz and 4K120Hz
- Dynamic HDR
- 48G cables enable up to 48 Gbps bandwidth for uncompressed HDMI 2.1 feature support including 8K video with HDR. The cable is backward compatible with earlier HDMI versions.
- eARC supports audio formats such as object-based audio, and enables audio signal control capabilities including device auto-detect.
- Game Mode VRR with variable refresh rate
The new specification will be available to all HDMI 2.0 adopters, and they will be notified when it is released, which is expected early in Q2 2017.