Are there any receivers out with HDMI 2.1b or is that still way into the future?

[Tao1]

Greetings,

I have been using an AV receiver to power speakers for a PC for years now. However, I recently made the mistake of buying a video card with only 1 HDMI port. The receiver only has HDMI 1.4 so I need to pass video directly to my TV, but I have issues with ARC.

Since I would be in the market to look for a new receiver, I may as well look for something with HDMI 2.1b to be sure I won't be replacing it well into the future. Are there any receivers with this spec yet? Even looking on Yamaha's site, it doesn't go into details of what spec the HDMI ports are on their products.

Thanks!

 

[ban25]

HDMI 2.1b doesn't bring much to the table relative to HDMI 2.1a. Just QMS, I think?

FWIW, the current line of Yamaha AVRs are a bit old (2021 vintage) and it may be worth holding out for a refresh if you're keen on having the latest and greatest.

 

[Tao1]

Thanks!

Taking a second look, the confusion seems to be that the HDMI Forums' 'new features' for 2.1b was just regurgitating all of the standard 2.1 features. One of many reasons why I can't stand marketing...

 

[ban25]

Thanks!

Taking a second look, the confusion seems to be that the HDMI Forums' 'new features' for 2.1b was just regurgitating all of the standard 2.1 features. One of many reasons why I can't stand marketing...

Yeah, current 40 Gbps HDMI 2.1 implementations like you'll find on Yamaha, Onkyo, Denon, etc. will get you 8K60, 4K120, VRR, Dolby Vision, HDR10+, etc. *Some* niche implementations like in the McIntosh AVPs and potentially the Storm and Trinnov boxes (still researching), lack VRR support, which is unfortunate. Definitely stay far away from anything that's HDMI 2.0 only, as that does not support any high-frame-rate modes.

 

[kahun]

Greetings,

I have been using an AV receiver to power speakers for a PC for years now. However, I recently made the mistake of buying a video card with only 1 HDMI port. The receiver only has HDMI 1.4 so I need to pass video directly to my TV, but I have issues with ARC.

Since I would be in the market to look for a new receiver, I may as well look for something with HDMI 2.1b to be sure I won't be replacing it well into the future. Are there any receivers with this spec yet? Even looking on Yamaha's site, it doesn't go into details of what spec the HDMI ports are on their products. applebees

Thanks!

Hi! For HDMI 2.1b-capable AV receivers, options are currently limited, but some newer models from Denon, Yamaha, and Marantz offer HDMI 2.1 support. Check each brand’s product specs for exact HDMI version details, as it can vary by model.

 

[-Jim-]

Greetings,

I have been using an AV receiver to power speakers for a PC for years now. However, I recently made the mistake of buying a video card with only 1 HDMI port. The receiver only has HDMI 1.4 so I need to pass video directly to my TV, but I have issues with ARC.

Since I would be in the market to look for a new receiver, I may as well look for something with HDMI 2.1b to be sure I won't be replacing it well into the future. Are there any receivers with this spec yet? Even looking on Yamaha's site, it doesn't go into details of what spec the HDMI ports are on their products.

Thanks!

Does your existing receiver have more than one HDMI out? If so use one for the PC monitor and another for the TV.

Just trying to be helpful.

 

[Tao1]

Does your existing receiver have more than one HDMI out? If so use one for the PC monitor and another for the TV.

Just trying to be helpful.

It only has one, but that isn't the problem. If I want to use my TV (which is also the gaming monitor) at 4k 120Hz RGB 4:4:4 Full, I need HDMI 2.1, so I can't go through the receiver. I used to have one HDMI connection to the monitor and one HDMI connection to the receiver mainly for audio.

Now that I have only 1 HDMI out port, I was using ARC, but I didn't realize that it didn't transmit the full audio signal that HDMI normally does, and had a degraded experience in Dolby Digital +.

I did get a Pioneer VSX-935 since. The audio is much better, but I am having issues with eARC. When I alt-tab out of a game, the audio cuts out. It doesn't do this with the computer plugged in directly to the receiver). Seems to be the case that my LG C2 has a bad HDMI controller.

It is becoming quite the adventure!

 

[Tao1]

Hi! For HDMI 2.1b-capable AV receivers, options are currently limited, but some newer models from Denon, Yamaha, and Marantz offer HDMI 2.1 support. Check each brand’s product specs for exact HDMI version details, as it can vary by model.

Thanks! I was looking at the Yamaha V6A, but it seems it will only do 24 Gbs which is half the HDMI 2.1 spec. I will take a closer look at Denon and Marantz, but I have to troubleshoot a few issues as I mentioned in the above post first. If the Pioneer works, I will keep it, but I think it has an issue with slight signal changes which causes it to cut out momentarily (audio switching from PCM to Atmos, etc)

 

[Trebdp83]

It only has one, but that isn't the problem. If I want to use my TV (which is also the gaming monitor) at 4k 120Hz RGB 4:4:4 Full, I need HDMI 2.1, so I can't go through the receiver. I used to have one HDMI connection to the monitor and one HDMI connection to the receiver mainly for audio.

Now that I have only 1 HDMI out port, I was using ARC, but I didn't realize that it didn't transmit the full audio signal that HDMI normally does, and had a degraded experience in Dolby Digital +.

I did get a Pioneer VSX-935 since. The audio is much better, but I am having issues with eARC. When I alt-tab out of a game, the audio cuts out. It doesn't do this with the computer plugged in directly to the receiver). Seems to be the case that my LG C2 has a bad HDMI controller.

It is becoming quite the adventure!

Check the Advanced Sound settings in the TV and see if eARC support is turned ON and Digital Sound Output is set to Passthrough, not Auto.

 

[Tao1]

Check the Advanced Sound settings in the TV and see if eARC support is turned ON and Digital Sound Output is set to Passthrough, not Auto.

Yeah both are enabled. Oddly enough if I set Passthrough to PCM, the sound no longer cuts out. I think it is an issue with the HDMI controller because when I set it back to passthrough the video signals from both HDMI devices cut out (but the TVs home screen and menus worked fine). The only troubleshooting that worked to restore video signals was a factory reset of the TV. I just hope that the Pioneer doesn't also have issues from being 'built cheaper' than most other receivers.

 

[Trebdp83]

I should have been a bit more specific and accurate. The "Select HDMI Audio Input Format" setting should be set to Bitstream, not PCM. Scroll down the list of the Sound settings from there and the "Digital Audio Output" setting should be set to Pass Through, not Auto. Below it, "eARC Support" should be switched ON or the signal will be limited to the ARC spec.

 

[Tao1]

I should have been a bit more specific and accurate. The "Select HDMI Audio Input Format" setting should be set to Bitstream, not PCM. Scroll down the list of the Sound settings from there and the "Digital Audio Output" setting should be set to Pass Through, not Auto. Below it, "eARC Support" should be switched ON or the signal will be limited to the ARC spec.

Thanks, but yeah it is set to those, and still has the issue. Only setting the output to PCM gets rid of it, but of course that gets rid of the Dolby Atmos signal as well. Curiously setting the input the PCM, and the output to passthrough has the audio cut out when alt-tabbing from a game. Same with setting the output in Windows sound settings to PCM.

 

[Trebdp83]

Things can get wacky using eARC with certain TVs and devices. I've had as much frustration as I've had fun with an LG C1 and various devices connected directly to it and/or connected through a receiver. Currently, I have all of my devices going through my Onkyo receiver which is very similar to the Pioneer. The HDMI ports and Simplink functions are finicky on my LG C1. I've reset it , my receiver and various devices more often than I can count. Firmware updates on all of them only add to the frustration and fun.

 

[Tao1]

Things can get wacky using eARC with certain TVs and devices. I've had as much frustration as I've had fun with an LG C1 and various devices connected directly to it and/or connected through a receiver. Currently, I have all of my devices going through my Onkyo receiver which is very similar to the Pioneer. The HDMI ports and Simplink functions are finicky on my LG C1. I've reset it , my receiver and various devices more often than I can count. Firmware updates on all of them only add to the frustration and fun.

Did you ever get anything to work 100% correctly?

 

[Trebdp83]

Currently, things are working properly. Things seem to go wrong whenever I connect some devices directly to the TV and some to the receiver and use HDMI-CEC. I recently bought a Cable Matters USB-C to HDMI adapter and ran a special firmware update on it for use with my Mac mini M1 so that it could output 4K RGB 10 bit @120Hz from its thunderbolt 3 port to the adapter and connect to the receiver or TV using their HDMI ports. The Mac thinks it's connected to a Display Port monitor and its HDMI 60Hz limitation is bypassed. I connected it directly to the TV to start and then to the receiver and that's when things got ugly. Then, I ran a firmware update on the Onkyo and things got uglier still. After disconnecting everything for a bit, I ran a few factory resets and things were good.

I also recently got into the service menu of the C1 and disabled TCP and GSR. The TV is better and brighter than ever with no more auto dimming going on anymore. If I leave things as they are, there should be no more big issues. But, I rarely let well enough alone and HDMI-CEC has a mind of its own so we'll see what happens next.

 

[Tao1]

Well not to ruin your fun, but be weary of the USB-C adapters. I had one initially but the more signal went through it, the hotter it got, and the more it shifted colours. I attached a screen shot of the colour calibration where pure red turned to orange at 60hz. At 120 hz it shifted more to a brown colour. Note the Delta Error of 13.8 which is astronomically huge.

 

[Trebdp83]

I’ll keep an eye out but so far, so good.