Why TV manufacturers they cannot communicate the HDMI 2.1 effectively? A question that we have asked ourselves several times and that has prompted us to doubt any official announcement made since the birth of this standard onwards.
Too many times we have attended incorrect or summary official communications on the subject by the world's leading TV manufacturers. There are those who go too slow, such as Samsung, which does not report the presence of the HDMI 2.1 in the new QLED 2020 range on the official website, although they are available, and there are those who, like LG, first confirmed them, for then specify that this is not full-band HDMI 2.1.
Clarity is needed
In the case of LG, the problem is more communicative than practical as we will see, but it remains: the TV manufacturers have not yet understood how to handle the HDMI 2.1 issue. We ourselves contacted the LG Italia press office a few weeks ago for clarifications: in fact, the company portal indicated "HDMI 2.1 at 48 Gbps"for the 2020 OLED TVs, while in the 2019 ones this feature was not mentioned. We have received reassurances regarding the presence of 48 Gbps HDMI 2.1 on all OLEDs of this and last year. Thanks Forbes but today we know that it is not so. An article published in the American edition of the well-known portal confirms that all the HDMI 2.1 used in the 2019 range are capable of carrying 48 Gbps of data, those of the 2020 models are not. Looking at the LG site today, there is no mention of this specific feature, previously present.
Fortunately, nothing changes for future buyers, given that the only difference is the color depth, according to Forbes. OLED 2019 can carry a 4K signal at 120 Hz with 12-bit color depth on HDMI, without color compression, while the 2020 models stop at a 10-bit depth due to the lower band available. The good news is that there is no 12-bit content to watch and there aren't even televisions that can play it. No restrictions on use therefore, even with new generation consoles.
The Forbes article also specifies that not all HDMI on 2020 2020 televisions can handle 4K at 120 Hz. The OLED BX and NanoCell 91/90/86 models, which use the Alpha 7 Gen 3 image processor instead of the more modern Alpha 9 Gen 3, in fact they have only two HDMIs that can transmit 4K at 120 Hz, the others instead stop at 4K at 60 Hz with an 8-bit color depth. An important information to communicate, we think of the case of an enthusiast who invests in a high quality TV, such as those of LG, to which to connect a PS5, an Xbox X Series and an external decoder, such as that of Sky, which supports HDR. How to do it if only two ports can handle 10-bit video signals, such as HDR?
The risk is to buy a product without having full awareness of its technical specifications, which is why companies need more clarity on the HDMI 2.1 issue. In response to Forbes, LG has sent a statement which we also translate translated in this article (the original version is available at this link).
"LG has used most of the specifications of the HDMI 2.1 in the 2019 models, also including full bandwidth support on all ports in the 4K and 8K models. The evolution of the market however indicates that there are no contents that require a 48 Gbps band available. Based on the market situation, LG has decided to reallocate the hardware resources of the 2020 chipsets to the optimization of AI-related functions, supporting full bandwidth only on two ports in the 2020 8K models (ZX series, NANO99, NANO97 , NANO95). The remaining ports of the 8K models and those of the 4K models have a lower bandwidth of 48 Gbps but still support 4K 120P 4: 4: 4 / RGB 10bit. We apologize for not reporting this earlier."
Who is looking for a TV with specific features of the HDMI 2.1 is better then that pay close attention before buying, because this is yet another confirmation of the confusion generated by the arrival of the new standard, which we hope will end as soon as possible.
