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More bandwidth
When you increase the resolution of a video signal, the amount of data in that signal increases. A 3,820x2,160 4K UltraHD signal sent over HDMI has approximately four times the data volume of an HD 1,920x1,080 signal. If you think of the cable as a pipe, a larger pipe than 1080p is required to transmit a 4K signal. This is also the case if you increase the frame rate. Instead of a 24fps image at the same resolution, you need a larger pipe to transmit 60 frames per second. More images per second, more data.
Higher resolutions and refresh rates
The increased bandwidth of HDMI 2.1 will support video signals up to 10k (10420x4320). The table below covers most of the new resolutions, chroma samples, bit depths and refresh rates allowed for HDMI 2.1 single pair connections.
Dynamic HDR
Since the 4K era, HDR (High Dynamic Range) has been our favourite picture quality improvement, a guarantee of higher contrast and richer colours in video content. The most common HDR format currently available is HDR10, which uses metadata (metadata recording the actual brightness levels of video content) to tell the TV how to reproduce the colour and contrast of the image. In the current version of HDR10, there is only one set of this metadata per video content, and the actual brightness of the video content will certainly vary from scene to scene, so there are bound to be deviations in contrast reproduction from scene to scene.
The metadata (true brightness levels) can vary for each frame of each scene in Dynamic HDR content to better suit the particular scene (or frame). This way the reproduction used for different scene TVs will be different depending on the metadata.
Enhanced Audio Return Channel eARC
Audio Return Channel (ARC) has been part of the HDMI standard since version 1.4. ARC allows you to connect all source devices (Blu-ray, game consoles, etc.) directly to the TV and then use a single HDMI cable to transmit the sound information to an echo wall, receiver or other audio, or to connect to the echo wall first and then transmit the video signal to the TV via a single HDMI cable, which greatly simplifies cabling. At the same time, you can control the wall or other audio equipment remotely from the TV, instead of using a dedicated remote control for audio equipment.
However, ARC's currently have a number of limitations. The limited bandwidth (~1 Mbps) limits the quality of audio that can be sent over the audio return channel, making it impossible to send high quality uncompressed audio to the receiver.
The eARC addresses these issues and really ensures that the display and receiver are forward looking. It significantly increases the amount of bandwidth available to the ARC channel to 37 Mbps, which is enough to send lossless 5.1 and 7.1 audio such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA, the carrier signals for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X format audio.
VEAS DSC 1.2a Video Stream Compression Technology
As the popularity of modern high bit rate video increases and the bandwidth requirements of the video signal become increasingly demanding, it is clear that new methods of compression are required. The most common method of compressing video streams is a technique known as "video stream compression (DSC)", which was originally developed for computer platforms and was unable to effectively encode most television signals as it was only compatible with RGB encoded video. The VESA group responsible for maintaining DSC released an updated version of DSC, called DSC 1.2a, which supports a maximum colour bit depth of 16 bits and enables native YCbCr 4:2:0 and YCbCr 4:2:2 encoding support without the need to first convert to RGB encoding before compression.
HDMI 2.1 supports this technology, but not all devices that will support HDMI 2.1 will support this technology, which exponentially increases the maximum bandwidth that can be transmitted over HDMI 2.1 cables to 120Gbps without compromising image quality. only very high resolution, high refresh rate devices will require DSC.
Variable Refresh Rate VVR
Variable Refresh Rate (VVR) is a feature of most interest to gamers. It synchronises the refresh rate of the screen and the source (the game graphics output from the video card) for a smoother gaming experience, reducing or eliminating lag, stuttering and frame tearing. In other words, there will be less buffer for frames when the video card creates the image, so you don't have to choose between image artefacts and input lag, ideally reducing both at the same time.
Quick Frame Transfer QFT
Fast Frame Transfer changes the way images are transferred from the signal source to the monitor; QFT transfers each frame at a higher rate to reduce latency. Total input latency is the result of the combined effect of many factors, including the time it takes for the monitor to process the image and display it on the screen; QFT will not completely eliminate input latency, but will reduce the latency caused by the transmission time between the source and the monitor.
Input latency is an important indicator of a TV's use for gaming purposes, which is a gaming-friendly feature.
Automatic Low Latency Mode ALLM
Automatic Low Latency Mode (ALLM), also known as Auto Game Mode, is another great feature designed for gamers, where a compatible TV automatically turns on the TV's low latency (game) mode when it detects that a game is being played. This eliminates the hassle of having to turn it on manually every time you start a game. It even knows the difference between playing a game, watching someone else play a game on Y-Doo and watching a movie, and automatically switches between them as needed. Samsung leads the industry in this feature, with some 2018 models already compatible.
Quick Media Switching QMS
In the past display devices (e.g. TVs and monitors) would go black for a few seconds before the screen would start displaying the new video when any parameter of the source video changed. This was particularly noticeable when playing console games where the output refresh rate or even resolution would change depending on the content.
Fast media switching can solve this problem. If the source and display device are both compatible, a black screen will no longer be displayed when the source switches video formats, but will immediately switch to the new source