The HDMI Forum has officially finalized HDMI 2.2, the next generation of the video standard, rolling out to devices throughout the rest of this year. We already saw a bunch of key announcements at CES in January, but now that the full spec is here, it’s confirmed that HDMI 2.2 will eclipse DisplayPort in maximum bandwidth support thanks to the new Ultra96 cables.
What the heck is an “Ultra96” cable?
The key improvement with HDMI 2.2 over its predecessor, HDMI 2.1, is the bump in bandwidth from 48 GB/s to 96 GB/s. In order to ensure a consistent experience across all HDMI 2.2 devices, you’ll be seeing new HDMI cables with an “Ultra96” label denoting the aforementioned transfer rate capability. These cables will be certified by the HDMI Forum with clear branding that should make them easy to identify.
(Image credit: HDMI Forum)
This new bandwidth unlocks 16K resolution support at 60 Hz and 12K at 120 Hz, but with chroma subsampling. That being said, you can expect 4K 240 Hz at up to 12-bit color depth without any compression. DisplayPort 2.1b UHBR 20 was the first to do this with some monitors already available on the market, but that standard is limited to only 80 GB/s and HDMI 2.2 edges it by just a bit, which allows for even uncompressed 8K at 60 Hz.
It’s important to keep in mind that only cables explicitly labeled Ultra96 can allow for all this video goodness. As always, the HDMI Forum will allow manufacturers to make the claim that their devices are HDMI 2.2 compliant, but without actually enforcing the bandwidth rule. Therefore, it’s important to look for the Ultra96 label so you know you’re getting the real deal.
(Image credit: HDMI Forum)
Thankfully, though, if you don’t care about the super high resolutions or frame rates, HDMI 2.2 will be backwards compatible. That means you can use the new cables with older ports (or new ports with older cables) and get the lowest common denominator experience.
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Apart from backwards compatibility, HDMI 2.2 will bring another comfort feature called “Latency Indication Protocol” (LIP) that will help with syncing audio and video together. This only really matters for large, complicated home theater setups incorporating a lot of speaker channels with receivers and projectors (or screens). If you’re part of the crowd, expect reduced lip-sync issues across the board.
