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HDMI 2.1 Is Here With 10K and Dynamic HDR Support (engadget.com)
Swapna Krishna reports via Engadget: Back in January, the HDMI Forum unveiled its new specifications for the HDMI connector, called HDMI 2.1. Now, that HDMI specification is available to all HDMI 2.0 adopters. It's backwards compatible with all previous HDMI specifications. The focus of HDMI 2.1 is on higher video bandwidth; it supports 48 GB per second with a new backwards-compatible ultra high speed HDMI cable. It also supports faster refresh rates for high video resolution -- 60 Hz for 8K and 120 Hz for 4K. The standard also supports Dynamic HDR and resolutions up to 10K for commercial and specialty use. This new version of the HDMI specification also introduces an enhanced refresh rate that gamers will appreciate. VRR, or Variable Refresh Rate, reduces, or in some cases eliminates, lag for smoother gameplay, while Quick Frame Transport (QFT) reduces latency. Quick Media Switching, or QMS, reduces the amount of blank-screen wait time while switching media. HDMI 2.1 also includes Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), which automatically sets the ideal latency for the smoothest viewing experience.
Sure, I like innovation but most television providers still deliver their content at 720p. The Verizon FiOS install guy quietly admitted to Verizon only offering HD content at 720p. Why in the sam hill would I pony up the money for a 10K TV when content is nowhere near ready.
Celebrate, celebrate my friend ! This will enable 10K consumer TVs which I can buy for 500€ and use as my main monitor for opening 10 terminals (or whatever) simultaneously.
Does it required the connectors to be gold-plated for faster throughput?
No, there's a new precious metal used these days to maximize the speed of marketing throughput.
They call it "bitcoin".
If my video cable runs Linux I may just have to abandon modern society as having gone completely insane.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
In addition to the other good points raised - the human eye can detect the *presence* of detail at considerably higher detail than it can actually resolve what that detail is. E.g. it can tell that there's a difference between a high-resolution checkerboard pattern and a uniform field of the same average color, even though it can't tell what exactly the pattern is.
Perhaps more relevantly,HDMIis a video interconnect standard, and there's lots more video uses than just TVs, monitors, and signs. A couple obvious ones:
- Light field displays - the HoloPlayerOne for example integrates images from 32 different angles using a "2k" 2560x1600 display, meaning that assuming an optimal pixel distribution it averages only 128k pixels per view, or about 358 pixels square on a display about a foot across. Pretty chunky. 7680x4320 8K would push that up to a 1018 square, 10k a bit farther. I bet you a 40" lightfield display would benefit from many times more pixels than that.
- VR/AR, because lets be honest - pixel densities and field-of-view both have a long way to go before they start reaching human perceptual limits. And that's even before you consider integrating light-field or other technology to provide proper focal depth.
Basically, a video interconnect standard is well behooved to stay many years in front of widespread adoption, so that developing display technologies are inclined to user the existing standard rather than having to develop a new one that might become a competitor.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
Gold plating on cable connectors isn't all that expensive even with the current cost of gold
Disclosure. I am the general manager of a company that manufactures custom wire harnesses for my day job. I buy terminals and connectors daily.
First a bit of pedantry. Connectors are assemblies typically consisting of a housing, some sort of contact and sometimes some locks or seals. Gold plating goes on the contact portion of the assembly, typically a terminal or insulation displacement contact. So saying "gold plated connector" is a bit of a non-sequitur although I understand what you mean.
When you are talking about gold plating a contact the price difference between a gold plated version and a tin or bronze or copper version typically is close to an order of magnitude. If I use a contact that would cost $0.01 in a tin version, the gold plate version will typically cost $0.07-0.10 each. Basically move the decimal point. Now this might be a relatively small cost in the overall cost of the cable assembly but it definitely isn't cheap on a component cost basis.
99.99% of the time that gold plated contacts are specified they are a complete waste of money that provides zero marginal utility to the customer. There are applications where gold is the proper material but these applications are uncommon. The vast majority of the time gold is used it is purely for marketing value to unaware consumers. It works fine but its an unnecessary extra cost most of the time.
The frame rate the cable is capable of supporting has nothing to do with display refresh rate. Example: LCD's of recent years refresh at 120hz, using 24 and 30hz source frame rates.
10K is not 16:9 but an ultra-wide variant of Ultra HD. 10240 * 4320.
There is no such thing as 16K, yet. ... which is 15K ! 4 * 3840 = 15 * 1024.
And if someone tells you they have 16K then they probably have only four times Ultra HD
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley