The upcoming HDMI 2.2 standard leaves all its predecessors in the dust when it comes to speed, enabling resolutions up to 16K at 60 fps.
Rumors about HDMI 2.2 have circulated before, but more concrete details are now emerging. First of all, the data rate doubles compared to HDMI 2.1 — jumping from 48 Gbps to a staggering 96 Gbps. However, to actually reach these speeds, new cables are required. The compatible ones will feature an Ultra96 logo.
In terms of resolution, HDMI 2.2 supports 16K at 60 Hz. It also allows for 12K at up to 120 fps and 4K at up to 240 fps. Uncompressed full-chroma formats such as 4K@240fps/4:4:4 or 8K@60fps/4:4:4 are also supported — both with 10- or 12-bit color depth. Additionally, there’s a new feature called LIP (Latency Indication Protocol), designed to further improve audio-video synchronization.
Useful?
Whether such “turbo speeds” and ultra-high resolutions of HDMI 2.2 are really meaningful for home users is debatable. After all, native 8K content is still extremely rare. In practice, the “sweet spot” for most home TVs remains around 4K — and for many users, good old Full HD still does the job just fine. Going beyond 4K quickly drives up the cost and energy consumption of a display, while often adding little to the actual viewing experience. That said, higher resolutions might be useful in professional or high-end home cinema setups.