It can appear daunting with all the different specifications there are, and a lot of customers do tend to ask what is right for them.
Generally we would say that HDMI 2.0 is quite suitable for many setups and we sell more of these now than any other cable. They are 4k/60fps compatible and run at higher supported bandwidths , up to 18Gbps, whereas even though HDMI 1.4b can support 2160p, 4K/30fps and HDR mode - to cut on a few extra pounds it is prudent to invest in a slightly more capable cable in case of any near future upgrades.
Also, the higher up the spectrum you go in HDMI Standards, the cables need to be capable of much higher streams of data, up to 48Gbps in HDMI 2.1, so the cables can only be made shorter than their predecessors.
All HDMI cables are backward compliant - so set a budget, and check what formats you are watching things at. If this is Ultra HD look no further than HDMI 2.0.
If it is only HD Format, then you may start at 1.4 and work up, depending on your budget or size of the cables required which may influence your purchasing options.
For more technical information, please refer to the charts below:
[Chart A] HDMI Specifications Summary:
| HDMI version | |||||
| 1.0–1.2a | 1.3–1.3a | 1.4–1.4b | 2.0–2.0b | 2.1 | |
| Release date | Dec 2002 (1.0) | Jun 2006 (1.3) | Jun 2009 (1.4) | Sep 2013 (2.0) | Nov-17 |
| May 2004 (1.1) | Nov 2006 (1.3a) | Mar 2010 (1.4a) | Apr 2015 (2.0a) | ||
| Aug 2005 (1.2) | Oct 2011 (1.4b) | Mar 2016 (2.0b) | |||
| Dec 2005 (1.2a) | |||||
| Signal specifications | |||||
| Max. transmission bit rate (Gbit/s) | 4.95 | 10.2 | 10.2 | 18 | 48 |
| Max. data rate (Gbit/s) | 3.96 | 8.16 | 8.16 | 14.4 | 42.6 |
| Max. TMDS character rate (MHz) | 165 | 340 | 340 | 600 | N/A |
| Data channels | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Encoding scheme | TMDS | TMDS | TMDS | TMDS | 16b/18b |
| Encoding efficiency | 80% | 80% | 80% | 80% | 88.90% |
| Compression | – | – | – | – | DSC 1.2 (optional) |
| Color format support | |||||
| RGB | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Y′CBCR 4:4:4 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Y′CBCR 4:2:2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Y′CBCR 4:2:0 | No | No | No (*a) | Yes | Yes |
| Color depth support | |||||
| 8 bpc (24 bit/px) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 10 bpc (30 bit/px) | Yes (*b) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 12 bpc (36 bit/px) | Yes (*b) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 16 bpc (48 bit/px) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Color space support | |||||
| SMPTE 170M | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ITU-R BT.601 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ITU-R BT.709 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| sRGB | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| xvYCC | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| sYCC | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Adobe | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Adobe RGB (1998) | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ITU-R BT.2020 | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Audio specifications | |||||
| Max. sample rate per channel (kHz) | 192 | 192 | 192 | 192 | 192 |
| Max. aggregate sample rate (kHz) | ? | ? | 768 | 1536 | 1536 |
| Sample size (bits) | 16-24 | 16–24 | 16–24 | 16–24 | 16–24 |
| Maximum audio channels | 8 | 8 | 8 | 32 | 32 |
| 1.0–1.2a | 1.3–1.3a | 1.4–1.4b | 2.0–2.0b | 2.1 | |
| HDMI version | |||||
| a) Although HDMI 1.4 does not officially allow 4:2:0 chroma subsampling, NVIDIA and AMD have added 4:2:0 support to their HDMI 1.4 graphics cards via driver updates | |||||
| b) HDMI 1.0–1.2a permit 10 bpc and 12 bpc color depth only when Y′CBCR 4:2:2 color format is used. When using RGB or Y′CBCR 4:4:4, only 8 bpc color is permitted | |||||
[Chart B] Refresh Rate Frequency Limits & Video Formats:
| Video format | HDMI version / maximum data rate | |||||||
| Short Des. | Resolution | Refresh rate (Hz/Fps) | Data rate required (*a) | 1.0–1.1 | 1.2–1.2a | 1.3–1.4b | 2.0–2.0b | 2.1 |
| 3.96 Gbit/s | 3.96 Gbit/s | 8.16 Gbit/s | 14.4 Gbit/s | 42.6 Gbit/s | ||||
| 720p | 1280x×720 | 30 | 720 Mbit/s | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 60 | 1.45 Gbit/s | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 120 | 2.99 Gbit/s | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 1080p | 1920x1080 | 30 | 1.58 Gbit/s | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 60 | 3.20 Gbit/s | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 120 | 6.59 Gbit/s | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 144 | 8.00 Gbit/s | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 240 | 14.00 Gbit/s | No | No | 4:2:0 (*b) | Yes | Yes | ||
| 1440p | 2560x1440 | 30 | 2.78 Gbit/s | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 60 | 5.63 Gbit/s | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 75 | 7.09 Gbit/s | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 120 | 11.59 Gbit/s | No | No | 4:2:0 (*b) | Yes | Yes | ||
| 144 | 14.08 Gbit/s | No | No | 4:2:0 (*b) | Yes | Yes | ||
| 240 | 24.62 Gbit/s | No | No | No | 4:2:0 (*b) | Yes | ||
| 2160p or 4K |
3840x2160 | 30 | 6.18 Gbit/s | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 60 | 12.54 Gbit/s | No | No | 4:2:0 (*b) | Yes | Yes | ||
| 75 | 15.79 Gbit/s | No | No | 4:2:0 (*b) | 4:2:0 (*b) | Yes | ||
| 120 | 25.82 Gbit/s | No | No | No | 4:2:0 (*b) | Yes | ||
| 144 | 31.35 Gbit/s | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| 240 | 54.84 Gbit/s | No | No | No | No | DSC (*c) | ||
| 5K | 5120x2880 | 30 | 10.94 Gbit/s | No | No | 4:2:0 (*b) | Yes | Yes |
| 60 | 22.18 Gbit/s | No | No | No | 4:2:0 (*b) | Yes | ||
| 120 | 45.66 Gbit/s | No | No | No | No | DSC (*c) | ||
| 8K | 7680x4320 | 30 | 24.48 Gbit/s | No | No | No | 4:2:0 (*b) | Yes |
| 60 | 49.65 Gbit/s | No | No | No | No | DSC (*c) | ||
| 120 | 102.2 Gbit/s | No | No | No | No | DSC (*c) | ||
| 1.0–1.1 | 1.2–1.2a | 1.3–1.4b | 2.0–2.0b | 2.1 | ||||
| HDMI version | ||||||||
| a) Uncompressed 8 bpc (24 bit/px) color depth with RGB or Y′CBCR 4:4:4 color format and CVT-R2 timing are used to calculate these data rates. Uncompressed data rate for RGB images in bits per second is calculated as bits per pixel × pixels per frame × frames per second. Pixels per frame includes blanking intervals as defined by CVT-R2. | ||||||||
| b) Possible by using Y′CBCR with 4:2:0 subsampling (as noted). | ||||||||
| c) Possible by using Display Stream Compression (DSC). | ||||||||
[Chart C] Advanced Supported Features:
| HDMI version | |||||||
| 1 | 1.1 | 1.2–1.2a | 1.3–1.3a | 1.4–1.4b | 2.0–2.0b | 2.1 | |
| Full HD Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD video (*a) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Consumer Electronic Control (CEC) (*b) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| DVD-Audio | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Super Audio CD (DSD) (*c) | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Auto lip-sync | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD Master Audio bitstream capable | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Updated list of CEC commands (*d) | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 3D video | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ethernet channel (100 Mbit/s) | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Audio return channel (ARC) | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 4 audio streams | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| 2 video streams (Dual View) | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Perceptual quantizer (PQ) HDR OETF (SMPTE ST 2084) | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid log–gamma (HLG) HDR OETF | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Static HDR metadata (SMPTE ST 2086) | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Dynamic HDR metadata (SMPTE ST 2094) | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Enhanced audio return channel (eARC) | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Quick Media Switching (QMS) | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Quick Frame Transport (QFT) | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Display Stream Compression (DSC) | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| 1 | 1.1 | 1.2–1.2a | 1.3–1.3a | 1.4–1.4b | 2.0–2.0b | 2.1 | |
| HDMI version | |||||||
|
a) Even for a compressed audio codec that a given HDMI version cannot transport, the source device may be able to decode the audio codec and transmit the audio as uncompressed LPCM.
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| b) CEC has been in the HDMI specification since version 1.0, but only began appear in consumer electronics products with HDMI version 1.3a. | |||||||
| c) Playback of SACD may be possible for older HDMI versions if the source device (such as the Oppo 970) converts to LPCM. | |||||||
| d) Large number of additions and clarifications for CEC commands. One addition is CEC command, allowing for volume control of an AV receiver. | |||||||
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