Fake HDMI 2.1 on some products, here's why

Fake HDMI 2.1 on some products

We know that one of the most important innovations in recent years in the audio / video world has been the transition to the HDMI 2.1 standard both as regards graphics cards, consoles and, more generally, devices that transmit video streams in very high definition, and for the devices that then have to display the transferred images, that is, for example, TVs, monitors and projectors.

Photo Credit: PIX1861 / Pixabay The HDMI 2.1 standard brings obvious advantages over the previous 2.0 thanks to a which goes to 48Gb / s using suitable cables. These include the transmission of uncompressed 8K video streams with HDR, in 4K at 120Hz and support for technologies such as Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) intended primarily for the gaming world.

Buying a TV or monitor with HDMI 2.1 inputs has become essential, but apparently you need to be careful. In fact, the HDMI Licensing Administrator Inc. has confirmed to colleagues at TFT Central (as reported by Wccftech) that manufacturers can market their HDMI 2.0 monitors as HDMI 2.1. Specifically, a company representative said:

HDMI 2.0 no longer exists and devices should not declare v2.0 compliance as it is no longer referenced HDMI 2.0 features are now a subset of 2.1 All new features and associated functionality to HDMI 2.1 are optional (this includes FRL, higher bandwidth, VRR, ALLM and everything in between) If a device declares compliance with 2.1, it must also indicate what features the device supports so that there is no "confusion" This means that if you are not careful, you run the risk of purchasing an "HDMI 2.1" monitor which does not actually support all the features of the standard. For example, Xiaomi recently distributed in the Chinese market a 24.5 ”monitor with 240Hz refresh rate not marketed as HDMI 2.1, but which has this wording in the technical specifications, where there is also an asterisk. Going to read the notes too, it turns out that the monitor supports the TDMS signaling protocols but not Fixed Rate Link (FRL), thus offering a data rate of 18Gb / s (like HDMI 2.0) instead of the 48Gb / s of HDMI 2.1.

Photo Credit: HDMI Licensing Administrator Inc. At the moment we do not know if HDMI Administrative Organization Inc. will make changes to its policy in order to prevent consumers from purchasing “fake” HDMI 2.1 products.