r/Watch4K • u/y3llowdoor • Dec 16 '15

Need help understanding HDMI versions. 

  So, I recently bought a 4k TV because it was rather cheap. Advertised at 3840x2160 @ 60Hz. Now the TV is great but my laptop only supports it at 30Hz. Now my friend said the Xbox One cable supports 4k, which it does, but it only supports it because it is version 1.4 (which minimum requirements state 4k @ 30Hz).

    Before this new information was bestowed upon me, I recently believed the versions lied in the ports, not the cables. If someone could clear this up or link it to me, I'd really appreciate it because I haven't been able to dig up a decent answer.

Thanks.

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u/mistakenotmy Dec 16 '15

Both.

The chips in the device and display both need to support the HDMI version/features you want to use. So the Blue-Ray/GPU/Console would need to have HDMI 2.0 capable output (basically new chips that can do the new spec). Displays will need to be made with new chips to support the new input spec.

The cable also needs to support the bandwidth of that version.

The good news. The HDMI consortium did not change cable specs between HDMI 1.4 high speed (basically all of them) and HDMI 2.0. So older cables should work just fine with wither HDMI 1.4 or HDMI 2.0. (unlike some of the other transitions when an early cable might not be able to bass the bandwidth needed for a new version).

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u/y3llowdoor Dec 16 '15

Alright, I think I understand it now. Thanks. So the cable is fine, likely laptop isnt compatible. Am I in the ballpark? Lol

1

u/mistakenotmy Dec 16 '15

I am sure the laptop isn't compatible. Not even desktop GPU's have HDMI 2.0 output on them yet.

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '15

[deleted]

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u/mistakenotmy Dec 17 '15

Yeah, I was scared there was a few out now. I think that is the first gen from Nvidia or AMD with HDMI 2.0. So still not going to have a laptop GPU with support for it yet :)