The HDMI Forum has formalized the next generation video standard, HDMI 2.2, which will be rolled out over the rest of the year. We had a series of major announcements at CES in January, and now that the full specification has been released, it has been confirmed that HDMI 2.2 will surpass DisplayPort in terms of maximum bandwidth support thanks to the introduction of the new Ultra96 cable.
What exactly is an "Ultra96" cable?
The key improvement of HDMI 2.2 over its predecessor, HDMI 2.1, is the increase in bandwidth from 48 GB/s to 96 GB/s. To ensure a consistent experience across all HDMI 2.2 devices, you'll see new HDMI cables labeled "Ultra96" to indicate this transfer rate capability. These cables will be certified by the HDMI Forum and clearly branded for easy identification.
This new bandwidth unlocks support for 16K resolution at 60 Hz and 12K resolution at 120 Hz, but with chroma subsampling. That means you can expect 4K 240 Hz resolution with up to 12-bit color depth without any compression. DisplayPort 2.1b UHBR 20 was the first standard to achieve this, and some monitors have already achieved this, but it is limited to 80 GB/s, while HDMI 2.2 goes a step further and can even support uncompressed 8K resolution at 60 Hz.
It's important to remember that only cables that are explicitly labeled Ultra96 can achieve this amazing video transmission. As always, the HDMI Forum allows manufacturers to claim that their equipment is HDMI 2.2 compliant, but it doesn't actually enforce the bandwidth limit. So be sure to check for the Ultra96 label on the cable to ensure you're buying the real deal.
Functions and Features
Thankfully, though, if you don't mind super-high resolutions or frame rates, HDMI 2.2 will be backwards compatible. That means you can use the new cable with the old port (or the new port with the old cable) and get a minimum-standard experience. For example, if you plug an HDMI 2.2 Ultra96 cable into a TV that only supports HDMI 2.1, you'll still get the features and speeds of HDMI 2.1 without any problems.
In addition to backwards compatibility, HDMI 2.2 will also bring another handy feature called Latency Indication Protocol (LIP) that helps with audio and video syncing. This feature is only useful for large, complex home theater systems, such as those with a large number of speaker channels, receivers, and projectors (or screens). If you're one of those people, lip sync issues will be reduced across the board.
Device Support
The first HDMI 2.2 devices are expected to hit the market in the last quarter of this year, and AMD's upcoming UDNA GPUs are rumored to be among the first graphics cards to adopt the standard. Little is known about the next generation of Radeon graphics cards, but early leaks have pointed to limited HDMI 2.2 support for UDNA, which will limit the maximum bandwidth of most models.
Currently, AMD's Radeon Pro graphics cards are the only ones to support the full DisplayPort 2.1b UHBR20 standard, and the RX 9000 series graphics cards only transfer at a rate of 54 GB/s (down from a maximum of 80 GB/s). It remains to be seen whether AMD will adopt similar UDNA technology to provide full HDMI 2.2 bandwidth only on its workstation GPUs.
Source: Content compiled from tomshardware
