HDMI 2.2 will require new “Ultra96” cables, whenever we have 8K TVs and content

The physical connector is, confusingly but expectedly, the same.

We've all had a good seven years to figure out why our interconnected devices refused to work properly with the HDMI 2.1 specification. The HDMI Forum announced at CES today that it's time to start considering new headaches. HDMI 2.2 will require new cables for full compatibility, but it has the same physical connectors. Tiny QR codes are suggested to help with that, however.

The new specification is named HDMI 2.2, but compatible cables will carry an "Ultra96" marker to indicate that they can carry 96GBps, double the 48 of HDMI 2.1b. The Forum anticipates this will result in higher resolutions and refresh rates and a "next-gen HDMI Fixed Rate Link." The Forum cited "AR/VR/MR, spatial reality, and light field displays" as benefiting from increased bandwidth, along with medical imaging and machine vision.

Examples of how HDMI 2.2's synchronization abilities will benefit home theaters.

 

A visualization of how far HDMI has come in bandwidth, from 1.0 to 2.2.

 

A bit closer to home, the HDMI 2.2 specification also includes "Latency Indication Protocol" (LIP), which can help improve audio and video synchronization. This should matter most in "multi-hop" systems, such as home theater setups with soundbars or receivers. Illustrations offered by the Forum show LIP working to correct delays on headphones, soundbars connected through ARC or eARC, and mixed systems where some components may be connected to a TV, while others go straight into the receiver.

HDMI 2.2 is not a real thing you can buy into yet, as both cable and device manufacturers have not received the full specification yet and need time to build supported components.

As to whether you need to buy into HDMI 2.2, that's another issue. You can already get uncompressed 8K, 60HZ video signals with 8-bit color depth or compressed 10K at 120Hz with 12-bit color depth through a top-flight HDMI-2.1b-compliant cable. It's the rare home system that needs more than that right now, let alone one that has any content to actually play at those rates.

The Forum, perhaps knowing the deep grief that is trying to buy a "high speed" cable in modern times, wants people to look for an "Ultra96" badge on cable packaging. In addition, one can scan a QR code and see that a cable has been certified and is not counterfeit.

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