HDMI 2.0 and 2.0b

[Skorpovita]

hi everyone.
i hope it's the right section to post this.

i've bought an HDMI cable from an amazon reseller who calimed it was 2.1 version.
i know 2.1 doesn't exist yet but the amazon advertisement said it was 2.0a 18 Gbit/s fully compatible.

when the cable arrived it turned to be a 2.0 High Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet.
i asked the reseller for explanations and he told me that there is no difference between 2.0 and 2.0a or 2.0b cables.
he said the cable itself did not change but the ports did. like a firmware update or something.
so he's saying that because of this the 2.0 high speed with ethernet cable would support all the features like 4K HDR etc.

i wanted to know if it's true or not..because as far as i understood from the official hdmi website there is a difference in cables too. because the cables supporting 4K HDR etc. are called premium high speed with ethernet.
does anyone of you know more about it?

thanks for the help.


edit

as written..i know 2.0b is just different from 2.0 cause of hdr a few more things.
my question is if there are different cables or it's just a firmware update difference between them

 

[Mr Kagouris]

HDMI cables are practically all the same. Some just have support for ethernet and more "premium" cables could theoretically allow longer-than-spec lengths without a repeater. None of this affects what resolution or refresh rate you can use with them.

 

[boju]

Its the same with DisplayPort cables. Some manufacturers like to version their cables, maybe it makes it easier on the consumer to match their device version? I don't know. DisplayPort follows a simple standard in cabling as do HDMI.

You'll see HDMI cables with version numbers but it comes down to two category's

Category 1 (standard) and Category 2. Cat 2 or better known as High speed (Which you have - long as it says High speed) is claimed to be equipped to supply HDMI2b of 18Gbps bandwidth.

http://www.hdmi.org/manufacturer/hdmi_2_0/

 

[spdragoo]

http://www.twice.com/news/trade-groups/hdmi-20a-spec-released-hdr-capability-added/56694

The only difference between HDMI 2.0 & 2.0a is the "high-dynamic-range video" capability. From what I can tell, 2.1 is only going to add the capability for "dynamic metadata", whatever that might be...

 

[Skorpovita]

http://www.twice.com/news/trade-groups/hdmi-20a-spec-released-hdr-capability-added/56694

The only difference between HDMI 2.0 & 2.0a is the "high-dynamic-range video" capability. From what I can tell, 2.1 is only going to add the capability for "dynamic metadata", whatever that might be...

as said..i know it.
i wanted to know if it's just a firmware update or if there are two different cables.

 

[Mr Kagouris]

HDMI revisions always happen on the connector side.

 

[Saga Lout]

bojo, calling folks "ignorant" is not acceptable here so keep it clean, please.

Skoropvita - when you draw the Moderation Team's attention to an insult, please make sure you don't return the favour before we can get here. Your post is deleted as well.

 

[Michael_615]

The HDMI Forum says:

- ”NOTICE: Previously, HDMI Specification Version 2.0b (HDMI 2.0b) only supported HDR (High Dynamic Range) video transport in the SMPTE ST 2084 EOTF (as applied in the media profile commonly known as HDR10), by referencing the CTA861.3 specification. The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has recently notified the HDMI Forum of the adoption of a new version of the CTA-861 Specification, CTA-861-G. This new version provides additional support for HDR Video transport by including (among others) an extension to the static metadata signaling to include the HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) EOTF. The HDMI Forum has assessed the applicability of the CTA-861-G Specification to HDMI 2.0b. The HDMI Forum has confirmed that the extension of the static metadata signaling to include HLG can be utilized under the existing HDMI 2.0b Specification. This means that HLG Video Transport functionality may be implemented on HDMI 2.0b compliant devices.

HDMI 2.0b is the latest HDMI standard and follows up on HDMI 2.0a that added support for the HDR10 format (and static metadata) in April 2015. HDMI 2.0b is backwards compatible and does not require new cables or connectors. The next version, unofficially called HDMI 2.1, is expected to support dynamic metadata.