HDMI 2.2 will likely be introduced subsequent month — and it might require a brand new cable

The group behind the HDMI customary, HDMI Discussion board, says that it’s going to element a brand new spec launch in a press convention on January sixth that can allow “a variety of upper resolutions and refresh charges.” The brand new capabilities will likely be “supported with a brand new cable,” in keeping with the HDMI Discussion board’s e-mail to The Verge asserting the presser.

The spec is more likely to be HDMI 2.2, as VideoCardz notes. The Discussion board’s e-mail hints at it too, noting that the HDMI Licensing Administrator, which two of the deliberate audio system on the occasion symbolize, is appointed “to license Model 2.2 of the HDMI specification.”

HDMI 2.1, which has solely ever acquired lettered revisions since its 2017 introduction, helps 48Gbps bandwidth, as much as 120Hz variable refresh charges, and resolutions as much as 10240 x 4320. VideoCardz speculates that the up to date spec might permit for greater resolutions and framerates with out the necessity for Show Stream Compression.

Regardless of the spec brings, that point out of a brand new cable is a tidy reminder that like USB-C, not all HDMI cables are the identical. It appears unlikely that HDMI Discussion board would change the port itself, so that you’ll in all probability have the ability to use your previous ones with the up to date spec, and a few may even help its greater bandwidth. Nonetheless, there’s at all times the prospect you want recent cables to get all the new capabilities when the time comes.