four consecutive yearsWe were surprised by the features of HDMI 2.1 – a relatively new video connector standard that can provide variable refresh rates (VRR), low latency automatic connections (ALLM) and, of course, a giant tube with bandwidth of 48 Gbps (and constant rate signaling) for delivery. Resolution up to 10kB Up to 120 Hz update rate depending on cable and pressure.
But today I learn that Not only All of these features are technically optional, but the HDMI standard has the body really encourages TV and monitor makers that don’t have any of these things – zip, zilch, zero – are effectively lying and calling it “HDMI 2.1” anyway.
this is the word From TFTC middle, who confronted an HDMI licensing official with the news that Xiaomi was selling an “HDMI 2.1” monitor that didn’t support any HDMI 2.1 features and was told that this was a perfectly reasonable case.
It’s annoying.
This means that countless people, some of whom in our reviews encouraged us to look into HDMI 2.1 products, could be fooled into future bogus protections if they didn’t look at the fine print to see if features like ALLM, VRR or even high refresh rates were possible. . Worse yet, they would be fooled for no particularly good reason: there was a perfectly good version of HDMI without these features called HDMI 2.0, but the HDMI Licensing Manager decided to drop the mark when it introduced the new one.
Very little of this is really news, I see – Technically, we should know that HDMI 2.1 marquee features would be optional It’s been some time, here in On the edge We saw many TV ships without full support. In a story about how to buy Best TV game for PS5 and Xbox Series X, described them as “early growing pains”.
But now it looks like those pains might just be the beginning – now that Xiaomi has dipped its toe into the murky water and the HDMI powers have expressed their support. We confirm with the HDMI licensing official that, in fact, Xiaomi is already doing an extension the correct something about him. “Devices can no longer be certified to version 2.0,” wrote HDMI.org spokesperson Douglas Wright.
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“Does HDMI have any comments on the confusion this can cause consumers?” I order by email. “We all rely on manufacturers and vendors to properly declare what features their devices support,” adds Wright.
Do you trust your manufacturer or salesperson, who basically try to sell you as much as they can? Or do you think you can, for example, Standards Authority Should he be in charge of making a stamp that really means something rather than helping companies or even paying them to cheat him?
“What about USB?” you can ask. Yes, we are also concerned about the USB-C brand, where there is only one cable theoretically can It lets you charge your laptop, transfer up to 20Gbps of data, connect multiple monitors, and even connect to an external graphics card, but maybe Same Do not do any of the above. we saw some similar business scams From USB too – like when the USB Implementer Forum suddenly decided to make USB 3.0 and USB 3.1 look better in retail by calling them “USB 3.2 Gen 1” and “USB 3.2 Gen 2”.
But normally, I feel like USB-IF, at least try To calm consumer confusion with new combinations of logos and names, even if they are This ends up making many of them remotely viable.
As someone who has twice helped family members understand that the number of megapixels has nothing to do with your phone’s processing speed, that’s bad. And that’s before we consider that buying cables for these devices is also pretty bad, with very little guarantee that you’ll get a quality HDMI or USB-C cable that can actually provide enough bandwidth (and in the case of USB-PD, enough wattage) to activate all features, even if your TV, monitor, and laptop provide them.
Please do better, standards bodies.
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