[…]If deciphering every version of HDMI wasn’t already tedious enough, we now know that the latest and greatest HDMI 2.1 standard, well, isn’t very standardized. A TFTCentral investigation revealed that the TV or monitor you purchase with “HDMI 2.1″ might not support any of the latest features.
TFTCentral smelled something fishy when it saw that a Xiaomi monitor with HDMI 2.1 support only reached the specifications for HDMI 2.0. Instead of 4K resolution, the panel was limited to 1080p. And the thing is, Xiaomi technically didn’t do anything wrong. It all comes down to semantics and some murky (and consumer-hostile) guidelines set by the HDMI Licensing Administrator.
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in short, HDMI 2.0 is a subset of HDMI 2.1, meaning its specifications are housed within the newer standard. The standards organization even said it would no longer certify for HDMI 2.0, telling TFTCentral that HDMI 2.0 “no longer exists” and that the features and capabilities of HDMI 2.1 are optional. As long as a monitor supports one of the newer standards, it can be called HDMI 2.1.
As you’d expect, HDMI 2.1 consists of many standards, so TV and monitor makers could theoretically grab the lowest hanging fruit, add it to their (formerly) HDMI 2.0 ports, and slap an HDMI 2.1 label on the box.
The HDMI standards body even confirmed to The Verge that what Xiaomi is doing is perfectly within the rules and that we all depend on manufacturers to be honest about their products. The problem is that they rarely are.
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HDMI 2.1 has made headlines in recent months because of the capabilities it enables on next-gen consoles and gaming PCs—specifically, the ability to run 4K games at 120Hz.
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Source: Don’t Buy an HDMI 2.1 TV Before You Read the Fine Print
Robin Edgar
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