Vivify has announced its first HDMI 2.1 cables that support a 48 Gbps bandwidth and may be used to connect 8K Ultra-HD televisions to PCs and next-generation consoles. Vivify is not a truly well-known brand for cables as it is mostly focused on cables for gamers, but this might make the announcement somewhat more noteworthy as the product launch emphasizes that HDMI 2.1 and 8K are indeed coming to the gaming industry.
When HDMI Forum announced the HDMI 2.1 specification three years ago, it essentially decoupled features from transport and allowed makers of consumer electronics to use the new brand with any cables that support certain HDMI 2.1 capabilities, but not all of them. For example, HDMI 2.1 supports such new features as Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), Quick Media Switching (QMS), Quick Frame Transport (QFT), and eARC that do not need 48G cables for content with up to 4Kp60 resolution and 4:4:4 chroma subsampling. As a result, there are now HDMI 2.1 and Ultra High Speed HDMI 2.1 48G cables that offer different levels of HDMI support. But there are more nuances.
The first HDMI 2.1 48G cables were unveiled back in late 2018, but at the time HDMI Forum did not have any certification program or at least compliance tests which could ensure that interconnections work fine at high data rates and support all the features properly. HDMI Forum planned to make its UHS HDMI cable certification program available last year and introduced it this January. Therefore, cable makers are now rolling out their certified UHS HDMI products. One of such companies is indeed Vivify.
Being a premium brand, Vivify introduced two UHS HDMI cables: the copper Xenos W31 with a two-meter (6.5 feet) length as well as a premium Arquus W75 fiber optical cable that is 4.5 meters (15 feet) long. The Xenos W31 is priced at $19.99 and is available at Amazon. The longer UHS HDMI cable will be naturally considerably more expensive when it hits the market at a later date.
