Version 2.0 of HDMI was formally announced by HDMI Licensing on Wednesday, ready to carry us further into the new era of “Ultra HD” TVs. The new spec can carry 60 FPS video at resolutions up to 3840×2160 resolution, with a bandwidth capacity of up to 18Gbps.
It’s been just over four years since the last major version, HDMI 1.4, was released with the capability for 3840×2160 resolution at 30 FPS. The last minor release was HDMI 1.4b, which added support for 3D 1080p video at 120 FPS, in October 2011.
The new HDMI 2.0 specification will support up to 32 audio channels as well as “dynamic auto lip-sync.” The spec will be able to accommodate the 4K strain of Ultra HDTVs, but it would not be able to handle full-fledged 8K (7680×4320) TV at 60 FPS.
The HDMI ports themselves will not change physically, which means they should be backward-compatible with your old cables. HDMI Licensing is set to announce more details on 2.0 at IFA Berlin during a press conference on September 6.
