HDMI Spec 2.1 Coming In 2Q 2017

The HDMI Forum, Inc. has announced that Version 2.1 of the HDMI® Specification is on track for release in the 2nd quarter of 2017. Just when you thought your high-speed 18 Gbps cables were good enough for 4K HDR, here comes this new spec which promises us 8K video with HDR at 60 fps and 4K video at 120 fps. Well, if you are not a gamer, then where’s our 120 fps software – er, TV programs? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t know of anyone – broadcast, cable or streaming – that has any 120 fps programs. (Except for some 3D titles. Remember 3D?) And unless you have a streaming subscription or a UHD Blu-ray player, there’s no readily available 4K content for your 4K TV.

This is just another case of the consumer electronics industry trying to obsolete our good ‘ole 1080i/1080p HDTVs so they can sell us a new 4K model. But buyer beware! At the present time, there are four (count ’em 4) versions of HDR designed for home use. If you buy a set today, it could be obsolete by Christmas 2018. (Still got that Betamax in your garage?)

(Thumbnail from CE Pro Magazine.)

UHD: 8 Bits vs 10

Finally realizing that more pixels alone is not enough, the UHD Alliance has come out with specs for what they call “Ultra HD Premium.” Besides HDR and a wide color gamut, the performance metrics require that the video bit depth must be 10 bit. (I assume they are talking about the luminance channel here, as most video is encoded as luminance plus color difference signals.) However if you look inside almost any broadcast/cable/satellite transmission facility, you’ll see that most are using 8-bit mezzanine formats such as XDCAM HD 50 for server storage. Why is this so bad? Imagine paying $1K or more for a 4K monitor and seeing background colors like the thumbnail above. (Or at left depending on the screen size of your device.) And no, the graphic artist did not design it that way.

While the upcoming 4K Blu-ray Disc format (which requires a new 4K Blu-ray Disc player) and some streaming services (like Netflix) will be capable of delivering Ultra HD Premium content, don’t expect any from broadcast or cable services any time soon. The future over-the-air ATSC 3.0 standard will support Ultra HD Premium services, but you’ll need some future ‘to be announced’ converter box to make it work with today’s 4K displays. Gee, it’s fun being on the bleeding edge of technology, isn’t it?