HDMI Ultra Certified Cables
The HDMI Forum and the HDMI Licensing Administrator (HDMI LA) announced a mandatory certification program for all Ultra High Speed HDMI cables this week at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show, CES. Ultra Certified Cables are ones that pass the HDMI 2.1 specification and are backwards compatible with older HDMI devices. The full 48 Gbit/s bandwidth is not possible without the new cables.
Here is the gist: The bandwidth requirements for this new specification are so high that the cable’s tolerances need to be tested after they’ve been constructed. The testing is done at an independent facility so there won’t be any cheating. Once passed, each cable will get a unique, anti-counterfeit, Ultra High Speed HDMI Certification sticker, complete with scannable 2D barcode and serial number. This will certainly make every cable more expensive.
Features of HDMI 2.1 Ultra Certified Cables
- Maximum supported resolution is 10K at 120 Hz
- Dynamic HDR for specifying HDR metadata on a scene-by-scene or even a frame-by-frame basis
- Display Stream Compression (DSC) 1.2 for video formats higher than 8K with 4:2:0 chroma subsampling
- High Frame Rate (HFR) for 4K, 8K, and 10K, which adds support for refresh rates up to 120 Hz
- Enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC) for object-based audio formats such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X
- Enhanced refresh rate features:
- Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) reduces or eliminates lag, stutter and frame tearing for more fluid motion in games
- Quick Media Switching (QMS) for movies and video eliminates the delay that can result in blank screens before content is displayed
- Quick Frame Transport (QFT) reduces latency
- Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) automatic latency setting to the lowest ideal latency
This program is related to but not the same as the existing Premium Certification Program. According to Krista Haughey at AudioQuest, the standards for cable testing were supposed to be released 2 years ago. We will see products bearing the new HDMI Ultra Certified sticker once the testing methodology is released to adopters.
Over the past year I’ve seen dozens of cables on Amazon that say HDMI 2.1 certified. This is an outright falsehood. This certification is new. The HDMI standard was only recently ratified. To be certain you aren’t buying a counterfeit you must look for the HDMI ULTRA HIGH SPEED certified label. You can verify the cable’s serial number at www.HDMI.org.
Among the first products we saw that use the new HDMI ultra certified cables are Sony’s 8K television. New 8K products from Samsung, LG and others announced at this week’s trade show. Blu-Ray players will be sure to follow.
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