HDMI 2.1a standard adds a new feature: HDMI Cable Power

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About half a year ago, HDMI LA, the governing body of the HDMI standard, released the HDMI 2.1a standard specification. The new HDMI 2.1a standard specification will add a feature called SBTM (Source-Based Tone Mapping), which allows different windows to display SDR and HDR content at the same time to optimize the HDR display effect, let users have a better experience, and at the same time, many existing devices can be updated to support the SBTM function through firmware.

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“HDMI” by Sam-Cat is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

HDMI LA officially announced that it has upgraded the HDMI 2.1a standard again and introduced a very practical function. In the future, the new cable will support HDMI Cable Power technology to obtain power supply capability. This means that active HDMI cables can draw power from the source device, and cables that are several meters long no longer require additional power cables, and can be done with a single cable.

The longer the cable, the harder it is to guarantee signal stability when connecting, and the HDMI 2.1 standard’s data transfer speed of 48 Gbps makes this problem even more pronounced. The addition of “HDMI Cable Power” technology not only enables HDMI data cables to have power supply capabilities but also improves the stability of long-distance data transmission. The premise is that both the source device and the sink device support this function. In addition, the new cable can only be connected in one direction, one end will be marked for the source device, and the other end must be the receiving device.

HDMI cables with HDMI Cable Power technology include a separate power connector for source devices that do not support the technology, usually, these connectors are USB Micro or USB Type-C. As more and more source devices add support for HDMI Cable Power technology, making it easier for users to build a convenient and reliable home theater.

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