Without that number how would you know if it’s 48gbps? eARC? Those other Premium high speed cables only do 18gbps ,ARC
when are the official certified premium HDMI 2.1 cables releasing? I see a lot more TVs that use product’s using HDMI 2.1. Where are these premium cables are they ever going to get released for this new format? Why do these TV companies release something and then you can’t use it because there’s no cable that works with it.
I remember this happened at the beginning of 4K 2.0 on everyone looking for cables and they weren’t real.
déjà vu all over again
Premium High Speed HDMI cables are certified for the HDMI 2.0 option sets at 18Gbps. Only cables labeled as Premium High Speed HDMI (exact wording) meet those requirements and can be passive only.
Ultra High Speed HDMI cables (exact wording) will meet the requirements for the HDMI 2.1 option sets at 48Gbps. However, certification, once available, will be for passive cables only at probably at lengths no longer than 3m (as specified by HDMI.org).
Premium High Speed HDMI and Ultra High Speed HDMI will be and are the only HDMI.org recognized naming conventions for the HDMI 2.0 (18Gbps) and the HDMI 2.1 (48Gbps) option sets.
eARC is possible with Premium High Speed HDMI cables if the cables specify "with ethernet" and your source and sink devices have HDMI 2.0 chipsets that have been firmware upgraded to support that option. It's the HDMI chipsets at the source and sink end that determine what is possible, not the cable.
HDMI.org asked cable mfrs' to stop using the protocol versions in their cable descriptions years ago. Most have complied but quite a few still use carefully worded descriptions to market and sell their cables. Only those two cable names above are recognized by HDMI.org.
Some cable mfrs have had their connectors pass CTS testing and state that in their product descriptions but they are few and far between. That's about as close as you can currently get to a "certified" cable for HDMI 2.1 but I don't know if having just the connectors pass CTS means that the cable in-between is ok or not. It's a little vague.
And, as mentioned above, HDMI.org requires the device and cable mfr to list which of the HDMI 2.1 options sets are available before the device or cable can state HDMI 2.1. That gets dicey because eARC is part of the HDMI 2.1 options, but eARC can be implemented on the HDMI 2.0 chipset should the mfr choose to do so. And if they do, then they could technically use HDMI 2.1 in their product description. A lot of folks don't bother to read the fine print or read just what they want to read without understanding what it means. And that's exactly what the device and cable mfrs are hoping for. They did the same thing with HDMI 1.4 when HDMI 2.0 was first introduced. IMO, it's false and misleading and that's why I really dislike HDMI.