HDMI 2.1 gets support for 8k/60, dynamic HDR and Game Mode VRR

HDMI Forum has announced an upgrade to the HDMI 2 standard. HDMI 2.1 will receive support for 8k display at 60Hz and 4k images at 120Hz. In addition, there is support for dynamic HDR and a new cable for fast data transfer.

HDMI Forum announced support for higher resolutions and refresh rates at CES Wednesday. In addition to 8k60 and 4k120 playback, the standard will receive support for dynamic HDR. The organization explains that the HDR metadata for scenes can be specified separately or even frame-by-frame, which would benefit the HDR rendering.

To facilitate the higher bandwidth of the new options, a new 48G cable will be introduced. This is backwards compatible but provides a bandwidth of 48Gbit/s with HDMI 2.1, where the maximum of HDMI 2.0 is 18Gbit/s. The cable uses the standard A, C and D connectors and supports the Ethernet channel.

Also striking is the presence of Game Mode Variable Refresh Rate. This gives HDMI support for dynamic refresh rate, which ensures that the display and the video card or APU work completely synchronously, so that tearing and stuttering are prevented. Previously, this was reserved for displayport, although AMD already demonstrated FreeSync-over-hdmi.

The standard will be published in the second quarter of 2017.