The High Definition Media Interface has become the standard for transmitting video to screens of various types and in various areas. Since it is used both in the world of computing and in consumer electronics. However, in its two decades of existence and in order to adapt to new standards, HDMI has undergone an important evolution. What is the most interesting version of HDMI?
The move from the classic tube televisions to the so-called high definition based on screens derived from LCD technologies served the creators of multimedia content to impose a type of interface for the transmission of information that would prevent the unauthorized copying of the content. In the case of VHS video, they added anti-copy systems that made the content from one tape to another not copied well, but with DVD and through the composite video cable it was possible to copy the content of a movie without problems.
Concerned about the incipient pira-cy of movies on the network through versions encoded in formats such as DivX, they ended up opting for the creation of a new video interface that they christened HDMI, for its construction they took the DVI standard as a reference, without However, they added two improvements. The first was an audio carrier from the same cable and the second was HDCP, which was thought to prevent the reproduction and copying of high definition content.
The beginnings of HDMI: version 1.0 to 1.2
The birth of version 1.0 of the HDMI interface occurred in 2003, at that time high definition televisions, 1280 x 720 pixels at that time, were counted on the fingers of the hands. What’s more, the first high-definition consoles such as Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were nothing more than a project and formats such as Blu-Ray appeared in the rumors as news.
The first revisions of HDMI were not widely adopted by the market, after all, Full HD panels did not yet exist and other video interfaces gave enough bandwidth to be able to reproduce at 720p and 60 Hz, hence why its adoption was much later. And what is it that produced it? Well, the appearance of the Blu-Ray that was accompanied by the third generation SONY console that required an HDMI interface to be able to transmit data through the HDCP.
The evolution from HDMI 1.0 to 1.2 was as follows:
- Version 1.1 of the HDMI standard added support for DVD Audio , allowing sound to be transmitted to players from the interface and not having to rely on red and white composite or component video cables.
- The HDMI 1.2 version expanded the audio capacity up to 8 channels . Of this there was an improved version that was 1.2a and that added the so-called CEC or Electronic Consumer Control. Which allows you to control the volume and certain image options from the same control knob.
HDMI 1.3 to 1.4b, the evolution with DSC
In the middle of 2006, HDMI had not yet been adopted on a large scale in the field of consumer electronics, but the adoption of LCD screens had finally unified two worlds that had been separated for decades, that of PC monitors and computers. televisions. From that moment until today, both would share a good part of the technologies and it became necessary to adopt higher resolutions and frequency rates.
The first major change in the first major evolution of HDMI? An increase in bandwidth that went from 3.96 Gbits per second transfer speed to 8.96 Gbits per second . This allowed it to go up to a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels at a rate of 144 Hz. Both were impossible on televisions at the time, but which were clearly within the needs of PC monitors.
The big news was DSC compression technology, which is based on the HDMI output interface compressing the RGB information of each pixel. Which allowed it to even reach 2160 or 4K resolutions under certain conditions. The interface had an improved version in the form of 1.4b, which increased the bandwidth to 10.2 Gbits per second, allowing higher resolutions.
HDMI 2.0, 4K support
The jump from Full HD to 4K was as important with respect to image quality as that from PAL or NTSC to HD resolutions, of course four times more pixels require four times more information to transmit. That is why at the end of 2013 the consortium of companies that dictate the HDMI standards and agree on it among themselves decided to create version 2.0 of the standard, which in its initial version reached 18 Gbps and therefore it was achieved that in some resolutions previously established, the use of DSC compression, which impaired image quality, will not be required.
Although its great novelties not only had to do with the implementation of a higher bandwidth and resolutions, but with elements such as HDR support , through version 2.0a, support for 7.1 audio with 192 KHz sampling quality per channel. , support for widescreen monitors with a 21: 9 aspect ratio and video and audio synchronization for video broadcasting over the internet, designed for platforms such as Netflix and HBO that were beginning to emerge at that time.
Version 2.0 also involved the implementation of an improved HDCP , which is key for the playback of UHD Blu-Ray movies, as well as certain content transmitted over the internet.
HDMI 2.1, the end of the road?
The latest HDMI standard is 2.1, which allows you to view video at 8K resolution, although only at 30 Hz , in any case its greatest asset is the increase in its bandwidth that suffered an increase to 48 Gbps , the increase being more important in the evolution of HDMI and allowing it to support a large number of resolutions without DSC compression in between.
It is actually an improved version of HDMI 2.0 . Since outside the bandwidth does not provide additional news, but this has been large enough to ensure its continuity for many years without minor improved versions appearing, which was something that affected the evolution of HDMI 1.X, where monitors and video devices were quickly out of date.
So at the moment an improved version is not expected, since the HDMI 2.1 is more than enough for many years onwards. What happens if we connect two devices of different generation?
Nothing really, just that the video transfer will adapt to the bandwidth of the less fast part. This helps all HDMI devices to be forward compatible, although for example your Full HD console will not reproduce at 4K because it uses an interface with version 2.1 of the standard. This is thanks to the fact that in all versions the shape, distribution and functionality of the pins has always been the same.
So when buying a cable, make sure that it is certified for use in the version of the HDMI interface you need. This means that for the newer versions you will have to buy new cables if the ones you had were intended for previous generations of the interface.
HDMI version supported by each generation
Finally, we leave you this table, so that you can know what resolutions and refresh rate are supported by the different generations of the HDMI interface. With this, you will be able to observe its evolution during its two decades of life in figures and know what resolutions a monitor supports according to the version of this video interface that has been implemented both to the graphic card of your PC and to the monitor to which it is connected. .
