GNOME's Mutter Working On Variable Refresh Rate Support (VRR / Adaptive-Sync / FreeSync)

[Hibbelharry]

If the RDNA2 GPUs don't come with HDMI 2.1, they will be a total failure for anyone want to use their GPU for entertainment like watching movies or plying games.

I don't think so. I would think most gpus are connected to computer monitors, these being cheap crap using VGA, DVI or HDMI, or better ones using Displayport. I don't think there are many highly featured computer monitors using HDMI nowadays. In terms of TV connectivity you're right, but I think we're early in the game. There is just no content right now. It would be nice if AMD does offer HDMI 2.1, but their GPUs would still sell well when they don't.

As far as I know both MS and Sony will offer HDMI 2.1 on their nextgen consoles, using AMD silicon...

And I hope that TVs start including DP. I swear I don't understand the reasons for not including DP.

Me too!

[Syfer]

And I hope that TVs start including DP. I swear I don't understand the reasons for not including DP.

I suppose the problem is that consoles don't include DP...

[s_j_newbury]

I don't think so. I would think most gpus are connected to computer monitors, these being cheap crap using VGA, DVI or HDMI, or better ones using Displayport. I don't think there are many highly featured computer monitors using HDMI nowadays. In terms of TV connectivity you're right, but I think we're early in the game. There is just no content right now. It would be nice if AMD does offer HDMI 2.1, but their GPUs would still sell well when they don't.

Are you sure about this? Consumer Desktop PCs aren't the market they once were, sitting at your desk with your keyboard, mouse and monitor is almost an anachronism outside of office environments. I suspect there is a far higher proportion of "desktop class" computers hooked up to TVs as an "entertainment hub" than you think.

Samsung make a number of large inexpensive low latency 4K TVs all with VRR (-60Hz) with only HDMI 2.1 connectivity, got one myself. They're much cheaper than an equivalent computer monitor. I use one myself, but there's no VRR over HDMI with amdgpu. Is it a hardware limitation?

The 60Hz upper limit on these TVs is unfortunate, but having VRR would be great for retroarch, which is what I mostly use it for with the computer.

[Black_Fox]

there's no VRR over HDMI with amdgpu. Is it a hardware limitation?

Not really; it's not yet implemented on Linux, while it is in Windows (see https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/gpu-754 and https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/free-sync-faq, respectively)

[slavikgenes]

I hope the KDE developers will be working soon on this too.
Even though I haven't seen many 4k@120 or 144Hz monitor, I think this year will bring many 4K TVs capable of 120 Hz or 144 Hz and VRR.
Besides KDE adding support for it I think we will need also AMD to stop using such an old version of HDMI (2.0b) and upgrade to the last version (2.1).
If the RDNA2 GPUs don't come with HDMI 2.1, they will be a total failure for anyone want to use their GPU for entertainment like watching movies or plying games.
For me that's 90% of what I want a GPU to be good at.

I found out that VRR already can be activated.... through sway! Start Plasma Wayland session, switch to different tty start sway session which will activate VRR. Return to Plasma and enjoy!)

[FPScholten]

And I hope that TVs start including DP. I swear I don't understand the reasons for not including DP.

Simple explanation:
HDMI was designed as an interface between consumer electronics (DVD players, television sets, laserdisc players etc.) as a physical cable with a proprietary connector that is pin compatible with DVI and an underlying protocol that offers copy protected signal transmission from one device to one other device (one to one). It was meant to replace the SCART connector. It is a consumer electronics standard.

DP is a Physical cable, designed to connect multiple devices to computers (one to many). DP offers possibilities for video, audio, networking and other data transmission to multiple devices without a dedicated protocol, but making use of multiple protocols depending on the type of data that is being transmitted. It does not offer copy protection as a standard. It is a computer technology standard

It also has to do with legal matters, copy protection is very much a thing in consumer electronics. HDMI is also relatively old (introduced in the eighties) and was never conceived as a computer interface. Only very recently has it begun to offer high resolution with relatively high frequencies. DP is much newer, but already succeeded by Thunderbolt.

[CuriousTommy]

I want to say I'm impressed by gnome-boxes in Fedora 32. Not only it supports file drag&drop, but also 3D acceleration. All of this on Wayland. Oh, there's also possibility to set number of CPU's for guest.

That cool. I am assuming those features are only for Linux guests, right?

[Volta]

That cool. I am assuming those features are only for Linux guests, right?

I'm not sure. I'll check with Win 7 later.

[Hibbelharry]

Are you sure about this? Consumer Desktop PCs aren't the market they once were, sitting at your desk with your keyboard, mouse and monitor is almost an anachronism outside of office environments.

I am. Notebooks are by a far outselling desktop PCs, so thats where currently most efforts of the industry are centered. When we're looking at the desktop pc market, huge margins of those do get into offices, paired with "classic" monitors. At home people do use their consoles and settop boxes for entertainment usecases, being far more convenient than any classic PC, so they don't put their desktop class hardware in their living rooms. So I expect the amount of people using a TV as a cheap big display for their desktop is by far smaller than you think: fractions of home users in the smaller piece of the ecosystem, wanting to save money instead of buying the real stuff.

[smotad]

Simple explanation:
HDMI was designed as an interface between consumer electronics (DVD players, television sets, laserdisc players etc.) as a physical cable with a proprietary connector that is pin compatible with DVI and an underlying protocol that offers copy protected signal transmission from one device to one other device (one to one). It was meant to replace the SCART connector. It is a consumer electronics standard.

DP is a Physical cable, designed to connect multiple devices to computers (one to many). DP offers possibilities for video, audio, networking and other data transmission to multiple devices without a dedicated protocol, but making use of multiple protocols depending on the type of data that is being transmitted. It does not offer copy protection as a standard. It is a computer technology standard

It also has to do with legal matters, copy protection is very much a thing in consumer electronics. HDMI is also relatively old (introduced in the eighties) and was never conceived as a computer interface. Only very recently has it begun to offer high resolution with relatively high frequencies. DP is much newer, but already succeeded by Thunderbolt.

So basically it's a Digital Copy Protection reason. My 400€ Dell Monitor has 1 DP, 1 miniDP, and 2 HDMI ports. But a high-end TV in the 2000€ range only offers 4 HDMI ports.
BTW, I only use 1 HDMI port on my TV because I pass everything through an A/V Amplifier / Home Theater system.