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Brad Bramy, VP of marketing and operation tells us why we should be excited about HDMI 2.2.
"Hi, my name is Brad Bramey. I'm the Vice President of Marketing and Operations with HDMI Licensing.
And we're here at CES 2026, and we're standing in front of our gaming pavilion here, our mini pavilion.
Our gaming features for HDMI technology have been out since like 2017."
"They're adopted by pretty much all major television manufacturers.
So they've been incorporating the gaming features, which means that HDTVs can be used for gaming.
It's not just about the gaming monitors, but our technology is also on the gaming monitors.
So one thing we're always emphasizing is that the big three gaming features are variable refresh rate, auto low latency mode, and quick frame transport."
"So that's incorporated into PlayStation 5 and Xbox X, the gaming PCs.
And we're just doing a couple quick demos.
Since portables are so popular, especially like the Switch 2 and the Rogue, Ally, Steam Deck, you can hook those up with either the device itself or going through a dock to an HDTV."
"So it's not just about your portable experience, but bringing it to the living room.
It's immersive.
And then you can actually have HDMI enhanced audio channel or EARC out of a TV to like a sound bar.
And even from a portable device, you get this really great sound."
"And over here, I'm so sorry.
No, no, no, I'll be right back.
We have like one of our manufacturer's gaming PCs.
This, although it's kind of paused right now, sorry, but we're showing Samsung's 500 hertz gaming monitor."
"They've actually announced at the show, I think they have a thousand hertz.
And this is all being powered by HDMI 2.1.
This came out with 2.1.
And then what was announced in June of 2025 is the new spec, and that's HDMI 2.2."
"And HDMI 2.2 builds on the previous specifications.
So it's this what we call next gen HDMI technology, and it supports up to 96 gigabit per second bandwidth.
There's a new Ultra 96 name that people can use on the products, like for resellers and say, Oh, I've got an Ultra 96 enabled product."
"Of course, there's the new Ultra 96 HDMI cable.
And that's probably going to be available on the market in Q1 of this year, 2026.
And then there's this great new improvement for audio video synchronization.
Now that systems are more complex, what are called multi hop systems."
"You got streamers, AVRs, cable boxes.
Sometimes it's a challenge for lip sync.
So they have this latency indication protocol that kind of fixes all that.
And that's where we are with HDMI right now."
"Well, right now, the spec supports up to 48 gigs.
But I think there's maybe only a couple graphic cards that really support that.
So this is for future forward planning.
So beyond 48 gigs, what does that support?
So more immersive gaming, faster cards."
"The chip manufacturers are already working on bringing the higher speeds to market.
And it's not just 96.
It's anything above the current 48.
One thing that they have in the HDMI 2.2 specification, if you want to say you're an HDMI 2.2 product and you're supporting the higher bandwidth, it's not just 96, but you have to support like 64 or 80 or the 96."
"So just more capabilities, more immersion.
I think it's going to drive more of the VR gaming.
So now like on both sides, you can get 8K on both sides.
And although 8K, the content really isn't there and maybe the displays aren't really moving out there as fast as people want, the upscaling of games to 8K is really incredible."
"And now especially with the new TVs, the micro LEDs are getting more lower in price and the new RGB TVs, incredible, incredible pictures.
So HDMI 2.2 will help drive all that because you need the more bandwidth.
It's about higher bit rate color, right?
So from 8 to 10, go up to 12 bit color, it's just beautiful."
"And one thing that this does, and this is very important, there's a lot more resolutions and refresh rates available with the higher bandwidth and with the new next-gen.
But this is with compression and chroma subsampling."
"But HDMI also supports uncompressed.
So it's an uncompressed signal and you get full chroma.
So for example, 8K60, 444 chroma, or 4K240 at 444, that's the full chroma.
And both at 10 and 12 bit color."
"That's beautiful.
So I think that's what to look forward to."
