HDMI 2.1 has a ton of cool features, some of which are so important that they're heavily
influencing the buying decisions of both gamers and general users alike, but as excited as you
may be to run out and buy a bunch of new HDMI 2.1 gadgets, there's a major caveat that the
manufacturers may not even be telling you about. It's similar to how each time there's been a
new version of USB lately, they've been labeling every new USB product as USB 3.1, and later as
USB 3.2, even if it doesn't support the max speeds of the new version. Pretty dumb, but unfortunately
HDMI looks like it's falling into the same trap. The problem first came to light when a report
uncovered a seemingly misleading list of features on a 240Hz monitor from Xiaomi. Although the
spec sheet clearly stated it was HDMI 2.1 capable, it also clearly stated that the maximum resolution
of the display was a mere 1080p, and the older HDMI 2.0 was already capable of 1080p at 240 frames
per second. Of course, just because the device supports HDMI 2.1 obviously doesn't mean it's
automatically 10k resolution, that's the highest resolution that HDMI 2.1 supports, otherwise we'd
all be stuck paying thousands of dollars for any display we want to buy, that's not the case. But
the kicker here was that this display that was 1080p didn't support any, any of the new HDMI 2.1
features at all. So why was it still labeled as HDMI 2.1? Is it just some kind of mistake? Or
Xiaomi trying to mess with this? Actually, that spec sheet was completely in order according to the
new stupid rules. Okay, it turns out the actual issue here is that HDMI 2.1 licensing requirements
now consider all of the old HDMI 2.0 features to be a subset of HDMI 2.1. In other words, the name
HDMI 2.1 is replacing the name HDMI 2.0, and manufacturers, at least for now,
have carte blanche to slap HDMI 2.1 on their devices, even if they're not offering anything new.
What was the point of the two? But don't worry, poor buyer, that just wants a nice TV to pair
with the Xbox you paid scalper level prices for, because there's also a requirement that if a product
supports any of the new HDMI 2.1 features, the manufacturer has to list exactly which one
to reduce uncertainty. And I guess that's better than nothing. But again, this is the same scheme
that USB is using now. And nearly every tech observer on the planet has pointed out that this
is a dumb way to indicate your product's capabilities. And it just muddies the waters instead of making
them clearer. And even worse, if a company wants to actually look out for its customers and just stick
with HDMI 2.0 on their spec sheet, well guess what? Manufacturers can't even get their product
certified for HDMI 2.0 anymore. It has to be under the HDMI 2.1 banner now. Of course, while this might
be a surprising bit of news, it shouldn't be positively jaw dropping. The folks behind the
HDMI standard include a lot of hardware manufacturers who obviously want their products to sell well,
and HDMI 2.1 sounds sexier than HDMI 2.0. Especially to those who know about the new features,
but may not know about the shenanigans going on with the new naming scheme. Maybe one day,
the industry will relent on this terrible, anti-consumer idea. But in the meantime,
read that spec sheet carefully before plucking down tons of money on a shiny new TV or monitor,
especially if it says HDMI 2.1 on the box you just found next to the Black Friday bargain bin.
So if you liked this video guys, hit like, hit subscribe, and hit us up in the comment section
with your ideas for topics that we should cover in the future. Man, this one gets my blood boiling.