HDMI Forum Rejects Open-Source HDMI 2.1 Driver Support Sought By AMD

[schmolch]

There is a workaround.
Since recently there are a few dp to hdmi adapters that you can use to get full hdmi-2.1 capability with a amd-card, including VRR.
I'm expecting one myself tomorrow for my 8k tv that so far runs at only 30Hz and ugly color compression.

[shmerl]

HDMI is trash and HDMI forum is a greedy cartel of parasites who simply want to perpetually profit on patents. There should be more push to get rid of this garbage and use DisplayPort / USB everywhere.

[chithanh]

The correct response is to stop buying gear that uses (only) HDMI.

Would be nice if DP was available on TVs, receivers, consoles, etc. But that ship has sailed.

DP for computers, HDMI for home AV.

Since 2023 model year, some Samsung and HiSense TVs have USB-C with DisplayPort inputs (e.g. A5KQ).
In 2024 model year, more manufacturers joined.
These are mostly intended for connecting smartphones, but will work fine with notebooks and those high-end GPUs which come with USB-C.

PS5 has USB-C with DP output, but it is only used for PSVR2 at this time.

[shmerl]

Let's hope USB-C will eventually resolve this problem and hdmi will be gone. Good first step.

Yes, that's one way to break it, but TV manufactures are often part of the very HDMI cartel which opposes this.

A good way to fix this is to force them to have DP / USB-C everywhere, like Europe managed to force Apple. They don't understand other logic.

[shmerl]

Would be nice if DP was available on TVs, receivers, consoles, etc. But that ship has sailed.

Not really. See above. Apple were forced to support USB-C. So can be TV makers.

[Panix]

You can get that already. It is distributed via the installer technology known as Windows. Simply install and enjoy!

So, you're saying Windows has more choice??!?!?

[shmerl]

The correct response is to stop buying gear that uses (only) HDMI.

Since 2023 model year, some Samsung and HiSense TVs have USB-C with DisplayPort inputs (e.g. A5KQ).
In 2024 model year, more manufacturers joined.
These are mostly intended for connecting smartphones, but will work fine with notebooks and those high-end GPUs which come with USB-C.

PS5 has USB-C with DP output, but it is only used for PSVR2 at this time.

You can use an adapter from DP to USB-C with DP tunneling. Something like this:

https://estore.wacom.com/en-au/wacom-link-plus.html

This way USB-C only (with DP tunneling) display can be connected to DP only GPU. There might be better ones for higher versions of DP / more resolutions, but that's basically the idea. Connecting USB-C display to DP on the GPU directly just with a cable won't work due to something needing to wrap that tunneling on the GPU side.

Funny thing is that USB-C tunneling can support HDMI too, so solution for displays / TVs to have USB-C in one go undermines the hold of HDMI cartel on things allowing you to use DP and doesn't break things for those who do use HDMI.

[skeevy420]

This is the first I've heard of a "Wayland dilemma" with proprietary code, can you please elaborate?

With graphics, some things are done by the kernel (AMDGPU), user space drivers (Mesa, RADV, AMDVLK, etc), and user space components (Gamescope, MPV, KWin, Mutter, etc).

There are things on Windows but not Linux that we don't have because it has to be done at the compositor level. Things like scaling, color management, frame rates, image sharpening, super resolution, etc. AMD would have to create Wayland protocols for that stuff then and hope everyone else adopts them or implement them into every Wayland compositor.

Not all of that can be open so they can't write Wayland protocols for everything (open source ones, at least). Some of those things, like frame rates and videos running at a native 24hz or 30hz full screen, are able to be open with DisplayPort but would have to be closed with HDMI. In cases like that, even if AMD did make the protocol and everyone else adopted it, it'd be like VRR with DisplayPort and HDMI is now which just isn't a very ideal situation.

Basically, a compositor needs a way to load plugins; Wayland needs a plugin protocol. I'm using AMD as an example, but it applies to Intel, NVIDIA, and every other hardware manufacturer.

[Vaporeon]

I am very sad to see people so quick to ask for closed binary blobs as a solution. It would be much better to have a 3rd party patch not made by AMD that enables it anyway, this is Linux, this is meant to be the whole point of having an open OS.

[Mitch]

I am very sad to see people so quick to ask for closed binary blobs as a solution. It would be much better to have a 3rd party patch not made by AMD that enables it anyway, this is Linux, this is meant to be the whole point of having an open OS.

If there is no other solution, I'm open to an optional, single-purpose blob to implement HDMI. I'd prefer the forum just let the open source method commence, but if a little blob is somehow the only path to HDMI 2.1+ on Linux, then I'm down.