The HDMI standard is about to get that much niftier.
Version 2.1 of the HDMI specification has been released. The new version of the standard includes eARC support for object-based audio and advanced audio signal control, wider dynamic HDR, and “Game Mode VRR” allowing a GPU to change the refresh rate of the image on the fly.
The standard was developed by the HDMI Forum’s Technical Working Group whose members represent some of the world’s leading manufacturers of consumer electronics, personal computers, mobile devices, cables and components.
HDMI and its new cabling remains backwards compatible to older equipment and the new specification will be available to all HDMI 2.0 Adopters and they will be notified when it is released early in the second quarter of 2017.
HDMI is currently supported across Apple’s entire product line via either a direct HDMI connection, an embedded HDMI implementation in Lightning, USB 3.0 or 3.1 type-C, or Thunderbolt 3. Apple only supports the older HDMI 2.0 specification that will be supplanted by the new version of the specification in the 2016 Retina MacBook, and the late-2016 Retina MacBook Pro across a USB-C to HDMI 2.0 adapter.
It’s currently unknown as to when Apple will support the HDMI spec, although the HDMI Group says a firmware upgrade might be possible to allow for this upgrade. This update, though, “depends on manufacturer implementation.”
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via AppleInsider and hdmi.org