Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Love-hate 🍏 relationship

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Sep 19, 2021
3,056
3,235
Really hoping this gets fixed. Even if I never actually use it, the new MBPs certainly have the power to run 120Hz 4K or even more. Whether it's TB4 to DP 1.4 with DSC, or preferably TB4 to DP 2.0 and/or HDMI 2.1, monitors and TV screens at 4K 120Hz or 8K 60Hz are becoming more common, and are at actually attainable prices already.
actually dp works,only hdmi doesnt
 
  • Like
Reactions: kevcube and jdb8167

Love-hate 🍏 relationship

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Sep 19, 2021
3,056
3,235
If they can do it under Windows then there’s no hardware or electrical limitation preventing them from it, I really don’t get why TB4 Macs without any type of HDMI port or license or certification cannot have an HDMI 2.1 adapter.

You have TB4, therefore an adapter can be made that does TB4 -> DP -> HDMI 2.1 if the software allows for it, doesn’t it?
exactly my question ,either i dont get people's obvious answer on that point ,or they dont get my(our) question...
 
  • Like
Reactions: cyanite

jdb8167

macrumors 601
Nov 17, 2008
4,858
4,598
After reading too many specification pages it becomes clear that USB4 requires Alt Mode DP which is at least DisplayPort 1.4a which is enough bandwidth to do 4K@120Hz 10bpc. From others posting here, it sounds like there is a bug in MacOS preventing the correct mode. Since all M1 SoCs are USB4 then logically all M1 Macs should be able to do 4K@120Hz unless Apple is breaking the spec which it seems like would prevent certification.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EmotionalSnow

Love-hate 🍏 relationship

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Sep 19, 2021
3,056
3,235
After reading too many specification pages it becomes clear that USB4 requires Alt Mode DP which is at least DisplayPort 1.4a which is enough bandwidth to do 4K@120Hz 10bpc. From others posting here, it sounds like there is a bug in MacOS preventing the correct mode. Since the all M1 SoCs are USB4 then logically all M1 Macs should be able to do 4K@120Hz unless Apple is breaking the spec which it seems like would prevent certification.
ok maybe im talking **** but the point isnt that tb4 doesnt have enough bandwith

the point is,whether or not,tb4 has to come with hdmi2.1 support

and yes to conccur to what youve said you can indeed run 4k120 via tb-to-dp adapter(dunno about 8k)

only tb to hdmi seems problematic,hence my question,whats preventing it to work ,what exactly is it that refuses to work
 

Love-hate 🍏 relationship

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Sep 19, 2021
3,056
3,235
Really hoping this gets fixed. Even if I never actually use it, the new MBPs certainly have the power to run 120Hz 4K or even more. Whether it's TB4 to DP 1.4 with DSC, or preferably TB4 to DP 2.0 and/or HDMI 2.1, monitors and TV screens at 4K 120Hz or 8K 60Hz are becoming more common, and are at actually attainable prices already.
dont be so sure you wont use it lol,the day youll be willing to use a gorgeous TV as a monitor you'll regret today's sayings :)
 

Love-hate 🍏 relationship

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Sep 19, 2021
3,056
3,235
If a computer is equipped with a 2.1 port, a thunderbolt 4 cable/hub/adapter will take full advantage of available bandwidth and provide over 60hz ability while so driving a higher display resolution.

Your second point of 2.0 being automatically being 2.1 is incorrect. Each port is hard coded to meet the industry standard of that port.

HDMI 2.1 supports 48GB bandwidth with a Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable. It can drive 8K60 and 4K120, and resolutions up to 10K.

HDMI 2.0 only supports 18GB of bandwidth.

Once Apple releases their ProDisplay XDR with 120hz, Apple will release Macs with HDMI 2.1 ports which will fully support all 2.1 standards.
but what i dont get again,in spite of what the other dude already said (that apple didnt license it ,which i havent found any sources on ) is

i get that the hdmi 2.0 port wont work.but because the providen hdmi -which ,needless to say,wasnt present in previous iterations of the mbp- is 2.0,it means that the whol IO of the PC is effectively locked at 2.0 ?? that doesnt make any sense does it ?

i mean how does a port using one TB lane affects what other TB lanes can provide ,given tb4 does have enough bandwidth to support 2.1
 

jdb8167

macrumors 601
Nov 17, 2008
4,858
4,598
ok maybe im talking **** but the point isnt that tb4 doesnt have enough bandwith

the point is,whether or not,tb4 has to come with hdmi2.1 support

and yes to conccur to what youve said you can indeed run 4k120 via tb-to-dp adapter(dunno about 8k)

only tb to hdmi seems problematic,hence my question,whats preventing it to work ,what exactly is it that refuses to work
Probably not HDMI 2.1 48 Gbps support. But USB4 certification requires DP1.4a tunneling which is enough for a protocol converter to support 4K@120Hz 10bpc. Does a compatible DP to HDMI protocol converter exist? I have no idea and if macOS is buggy then the software needs to fixed as well. But if the hardware has to support DP1.4a then it seems that it should be possible to display 4K@120Hz.

Edit: It seems like it should be possible to test this if a DP connection on a 4K@120Hz display is available. That wouldn't need a protocol converter. This is HBR3 mode.
 

Love-hate 🍏 relationship

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Sep 19, 2021
3,056
3,235
Probably not HDMI 2.1 48 Gbps support. But USB4 certification requires DP1.4a tunneling which is enough for a protocol converter to support 4K@120Hz 10bpc. Does a compatible DP to HDMI protocol converter exist? I have no idea and if macOS is buggy then the software needs to fixed as well. But if the hardware has to support DP1.4a then it seems that it should be possible to display 4K@120Hz.
afaik dp is able to go this high in res because it has DSC ,display stream compression.


which is something that im not sure hdmi has as well
 

simX

macrumors 6502a
May 28, 2002
765
4
Bay Area, CA
just checked again,tb4 has 40gb/s ,while hdmi 2.1 requires 48 ..

Yeah, this is probably the reason these adapters don't exist right now.

Just FYI, though, the earlier replies to your original post are incorrect, and you're right to be asking this question. Just because M1 Macs ship with *physical ports* that are HDMI 2.0 spec, that has absolutely *no bearing* on adapters connected to higher bandwidth ports. There's nothing in macOS that would prevent a TB4 -> HDMI 2.1 adapter if that were possible; it would just require the correct adapter, and plugin/firmware to enable that adapter on macOS. All the hooplah about this not being "electrically" possible are complete and utter nonsense.

But, as you noted, it appears that standard TB4 doesn't actually have the bandwidth needed to match HDMI 2.1.
 

Love-hate 🍏 relationship

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Sep 19, 2021
3,056
3,235
Yeah, this is probably the reason these adapters don't exist right now.

Just FYI, though, the earlier replies to your original post are incorrect, and you're right to be asking this question. Just because M1 Macs ship with *physical ports* that are HDMI 2.0 spec, that has absolutely *no bearing* on adapters connected to higher bandwidth ports. There's nothing in macOS that would prevent a TB4 -> HDMI 2.1 adapter if that were possible; it would just require the correct adapter, and plugin/firmware to enable that adapter on macOS. All the hooplah about this not being "electrically" possible are complete and utter nonsense.

But, as you noted, it appears that standard TB4 doesn't actually have the bandwidth needed to match HDMI 2.1.
thank you buddy .I'm not an expert but it also didn't make sense to me lol

you do trust that's the reason such adapters don't exist yet uh? what's weird is that I have found usb-c/tb3 to HDMI 2.1 adapters (albeit not tested )

tb3 !! so ofc it would work with tb4 . interestingly enough tho,the manufacturer says that 4k120/8k60 works ,BUT the res is limited to 4k60 on macs...which has me thinking it's a mac problem

still I don't see.how HDMI 2.1 would be possible ...unless maybe you can give HDMI 2.1 without full bandwidth?(hdmi2.1 is 48gb,4k120 and 8k60 both are 40gb I think...which is within tb4 abilities)
 

omvs

macrumors 6502
May 15, 2011
495
20
….

you do trust that's the reason such adapters don't exist yet uh? what's weird is that I have found usb-c/tb3 to HDMI 2.1 adapters (albeit not tested )

…
I bought and tested one of these - can’t even do 8k@30hz. Seems to be a macOS issue, hoping it gets fixed eventually. They actually clarified in the item description that macos won’t do 8k, but not until after I bought it. oops!

fortunatrly my work machine is a pc laptop so I can do 8k@60 hz with it. Hoping someday macOS will be updated and unlock the port for at least active adapters. Passive adapters might never be supported on current hardware.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dabotsonline

Love-hate 🍏 relationship

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Sep 19, 2021
3,056
3,235
I bought and tested one of these - can’t even do 8k@30hz. Seems to be a macOS issue, hoping it gets fixed eventually. They actually clarified in the item description that macos won’t do 8k, but not until after I bought it. oops!

fortunatrly my work machine is a pc laptop so I can do 8k@60 hz with it. Hoping someday macOS will be updated and unlock the port for at least active adapters. Passive adapters might never be supported on current hardware.
its a tv you have isn't it ?

yep I was bashing on windows but it actually does so many things right lol
 

Zdigital2015

macrumors 601
Jul 14, 2015
4,139
5,620
East Coast, United States
If a computer is equipped with a 2.1 port, a thunderbolt 4 cable/hub/adapter will take full advantage of available bandwidth and provide over 60hz ability while so driving a higher display resolution.

Your second point of 2.0 being automatically being 2.1 is incorrect. Each port is hard coded to meet the industry standard of that port.

HDMI 2.1 supports 48GB bandwidth with a Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable. It can drive 8K60 and 4K120, and resolutions up to 10K.

HDMI 2.0 only supports 18GB of bandwidth.

Once Apple releases their ProDisplay XDR with 120hz, Apple will release Macs with HDMI 2.1 ports which will fully support all 2.1 standards.
I would assume the LSPCON that Apple is using for the HDMI port only supports HDMI 2.0. Haven’t read a teardown yet that describes the actual chip, looking for that next.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dabotsonline

Zdigital2015

macrumors 601
Jul 14, 2015
4,139
5,620
East Coast, United States
Really hoping this gets fixed. Even if I never actually use it, the new MBPs certainly have the power to run 120Hz 4K or even more. Whether it's TB4 to DP 1.4 with DSC, or preferably TB4 to DP 2.0 and/or HDMI 2.1, monitors and TV screens at 4K 120Hz or 8K 60Hz are becoming more common, and are at actually attainable prices already.
The LSPCON that Apple used only support HDMI 2.0b, so the HDMI port is NEVER going to support HDMI 2.1 features.

Source: ifixit teardown and IRL for the DP to HDMI converter Apple uses - https://www.kinet-ic.com/mcdp2900/

4K 120Hz screens and 8K screens are not common at all, where are you coming up with that?
 

Erasmus

macrumors 68030
Jun 22, 2006
2,756
299
Australia
The LSPCON that Apple used only support HDMI 2.0b, so the HDMI port is NEVER going to support HDMI 2.1 features.

Source: ifixit teardown and IRL for the DP to HDMI converter Apple uses - https://www.kinet-ic.com/mcdp2900/

4K 120Hz screens and 8K screens are not common at all, where are you coming up with that?
I never said the HDMI port might support HDMI 2.1, I said I hoped for HDMI 2.1 to be supported via the Thunderbolt 4 ports, which should be capable of doing this.

LG make a bunch of 4K 120Hz and 8K TV screens, that can be used as high performance monitors. Yes, they are expensive, but manageable.
 

Love-hate 🍏 relationship

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Sep 19, 2021
3,056
3,235
I never said the HDMI port might support HDMI 2.1, I said I hoped for HDMI 2.1 to be supported via the Thunderbolt 4 ports, which should be capable of doing this.

LG make a bunch of 4K 120Hz and 8K TV screens, that can be used as high performance monitors. Yes, they are expensive, but manageable.
exactly

also these TVs they are far cheaper than their monitor counterparts
 

Zdigital2015

macrumors 601
Jul 14, 2015
4,139
5,620
East Coast, United States
If someone implements it, it will be available on a Thunderbolt 4 dock in the future, it won’t simply be a cable. Parade is working on a DP 2.0 to HDMI 2.1 converter chip as of August 2021, which means it won’t be ready for shipping for a while. How many third party GPUs are supporting HDMI 2.1 at this point? Probably less than anyone wants to admit. In other words, don’t hold your breath.

Source: https://www.guru3d.com/news-story/new-converter-chip-can-convert-displayport-2-to-hdmi-2-1.html
 
  • Like
Reactions: dabotsonline

joevt

macrumors 604
Jun 21, 2012
6,940
4,241
Any DisplayPort 1.4 to HDMI 2.1 adapter will be limited to 25.92 Gbps but that's ok since DSC @ 8bpp can allow displays with pixel clocks up to 3240 MHz. 8K60 only requires pixel clock up to 2376MHz (HDMI timing).

Apple uses DSC @ 12 bpp which results in a max pixel clock of 2160MHz but that can do 8K60 if a CVT-RB timing is used instead of a HDMI timing. The 12bpp compression target can be overridden but I haven't tested that yet.

Anyway, since Macs supports DisplayPort 1.4 and DSC, the only reason things don't work is software (well maybe some GPUs can have pixel clock limits lower than what I stated). For example, there's no easy way to create custom display timings on M1 Macs. Macs in general don't allow the user to manually choose modes that reduce bpp to allow higher pixel clocks (such as DSC bpp target, chroma sub sampling modes 4:2:2 and 4:2:0, lower bpc such as 6 or 8 bpp) - you have to depend on macOS to choose the modes - and this is where it fails.
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-2-0-displays-on-mac-pro-yes-you-can.2309750/
 

throAU

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2012
9,170
7,314
Perth, Western Australia
Correct, all of the additional functionality in HDMI 2.1 relative to 2.0 is optional. A port, adapter, or cable labeled 2.1 may or may not support anything that isn't present in 2.0.
Yup.

The USB standards marketing department (err... naming committee) appear to have infiltrated the HDMI spec committee.... it's a disgrace. Apple could call all the new machines HDMI 2.1 compliant and be correct. Happily they have not done that, but other PC vendors can/will.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.