HDMI 2.1a to be announced at CES 2022

HDMI 2.1a will arrive at CES 2022. Something that still worries users a little.

Buying an HDMI cable today is not an easy task. Indeed, in case you didn’t know, there are now many different versions of HDMI ports and cables. The current “standard”is HDMI 2.1, but it looks like things are about to get a little more complicated. The HDMI Forum would indeed choose CES 2022 to introduce a new version called HDMI 2.1a. Explanation.

HDMI 2.1a coming to CES 2022

This means that this version of HDMI 2.1a is a revised version of the HDMI 2.1 standard. This, in particular, offers a new feature, source-based tone mapping. This is an HDR feature that allows you to transfer certain HDR tone mapping operations to the source, in other words to your computer, your set-top box, etc.

The idea is that by offloading these tonal mapping operations in this way, instead of relying solely on the output device, namely your monitor or TV, the workload will be distributed, which in turn will result in a shared workload. The theory should help optimize streams, reduce latency, improve image calibration, and more.

Enough to bother users even more

As far as what this means for the end users that we are, it looks like we (too) have nothing to worry about. Indeed, according to the HDMI forum, manufacturers can make their devices compatible with this new HDMI 2.1a with a simple firmware update. At this point, no one knows when we’ll start seeing the first HDMI 2.1a compatible devices. No release date for these famous firmware updates has been announced either. To be continued!

In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have to tear our hair out to choose a cable, buy a new compatible device, know if updates will be made to take advantage of the latest innovations in this area. I hope one day things get easier.