HDMI 2.2 is almost here, and we’ve now learned that anything supporting the spec will need to be labelled as ‘Ultra96’ to denote its bandwidth speed of 96GBps.
These new cables will make it possible to game at 8K and 12K with high frame rates, so we won’t really need them any time soon, but it’s nice to know that when they start coming out, they’ll at least be identifiable. I would have loved to see the label on the ends of the cable so you can see what it is when plugged in.
These cables will also play uncompressed 8K footage, supporting high-end audio and full 12-bit colour. There’s even a new feature called Latency Indication Protocol that works to help keep audio and video files sync’d as they travel down the cable.
Currently, modern HDMI 2.1 cables can support a throughput of 48GBps, which should be more than enough for most modern tasks. However, they are unlabelled, so it’s hard to tell them apart from older HDMI cables. The new 2.2 spec will have the label written on the cable. Usually, you see this kind of label on Ethernet cables.
Now that the full spec is live, it’s only a matter of time before devices and cables that support it hit the market. That said, I wouldn’t hold your breath; we likely won’t see anything that needs or uses the cable until at least CES 2026. Even then, I think this type of cable will likely be used industrially and not in people’s homes.
As much as 8K seems like the logical future, I think we’ll need to start having 90-inch or larger TVs in our homes before it’s something our eyes can pick up. That said, I was running a 4K projector at home all last year, and it was pretty sharp at 100 inches. Places like stadiums and movie theatres will likely take advantage of these cables before the average consumer.
Source: HDMI.org
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