HDMI 2.1 4K/120Hz Bug Fix?
At the beginning of November, From Vinyl To Plastic reported the discovery of a potential chipset bug in the latest HDMI 2.1 chipsets sourced by Panasonic and used in the new Denon, Marantz, and Yamaha HDMI 2.1 8K AV Receivers. As reported on the German web site Heis Online, the bug appeared to inhibit pass through of 4K/120Hz HDR and 8K/60Hz HDR for some devices to include NVIDIA’s newest graphics cards and the latest XBOX Series X gaming console. Using these high resolution devices connected directly to an HDMI 2.1 capable receiver that utilized the Panasonic HDMI 2.1 chipset resulted in a blank screen.
Sound United has been working diligently on this issue and has provided YouTube videos based upon their AVR 8K series receivers, in particular the X2700, that will enable the owners of the Sony Playstation PS5 and Nvidia RTX3090 graphics card to setup their receivers and hardware to enable correct 4K/120Hz operation. Their engineers have confirmed 4K/120Hz passthrough success with all the following graphics formats: RGB 8-bit, RGB 10-bit, YCbCr420 8-bit, YCbCr420 10-bit, and YCbCr420 12-bit. RGB 12 bit does not pass as this exceeds the 40Gb/s limit for the HDMI 2.1 port. They are continuing to work on the XBOX Series X 4K/120Hz issue and I would assume that once the issue is resolved another video will be posted to YouTube to assist with the appropriate setup. So keep your eyes peeled.
Sound United Training:
Configuring For PlayStation 5 With A Denon/Marantz Receiver for 4K@120fps Gaming
Configuring For Nvidia RTX3090 Graphics Card Users With A Denon/Marantz Receiver for 4K@120fps Gaming
UPDATE 1:
On the face of it, it would appear that this is good news for all 2020 Denon or Marantz 8K HDMI 2.1 receiver owners. However, it has just been brought to my attention below, by one of my readers, Mark, that their fix may not be all that it is made out to be from their press release. So user beware! See my response below.
See my earlier post on this issue here.
UPDATE 2 – 04/27/2021: See the final bug fix here.
The main problem with Nvidia RTX demo is that only static image of 4K120 RGB 10-bit link is shown. This alone cannot lead you to conclude in your article that “This is good news for all 2020 Denon or Marantz 8K HDMI 2.1 receiver owners and Sound United is highly commended for their rapid and ongoing support for their loyal customers.” Unfortunately, user experience has been far away from that conclusion.
If you go on user fora and read reported experiences, you will quickly find out that RTX 3000 GPU – AVR Denon/Marantz link does not, in fact, work properly. In this RTX 3000 demo, there are no moving, dynamic images from any games engaged, including varying settings, such as HDR, VRR, etc. The info screen in 6 min 35 sec simply shows a “bare bone”, static signal, which is not an evidence of properly functioning connection when dynamic content is displayed.
Could you, please, edit the conclusion in your article and ask Sound United, to release another demo with content, so that we could clearly see how the pass-through features, such as HDR, ALLM and VRR work both separately and together when games are on? This needs to be released with info screens.
Thank you.
Mark
Thank you Mark for your enlightening comments. I am neither a gamer nor have access to any AV receivers that have this HDMI 2.1 bug. I took what Sound United said and believed that they would not release those comments and videos unless they had tested the HDMI link and confirmed its correct operation with all features. Particularly after they admitted publicly to the problems. Clearly, based upon your gaming information, the HDMI link still doesn’t work correctly with the RTX 3000.
Unfortunately I am no longer in a position that will allow me to obtain the appropriate hardware to test this for myself and all my management contacts at Denon have either left, retired or been let go during the companies reorganization. So like many others I rely on company press releases for my information.
If users of these AV receivers are still having technical difficulties with this HDMI link they have the right to return their products for a full refund as the product is “not suitable for the purpose for which it was intended”. I have personally returned DVD players to both Sony and Denon under those user terms for a full refund.
Should I get a significant number of responses upholding your concerns I will create another post and forward a copy to Sound United. However, I have to assume that if these problems are prevalent then all the AVR gaming owners will have already complained to Sound United.
Once again thank you for your helpful comments forewarning my readers.
Paul
Yes I can confirm that the bug is still present and 4K/120 will not pass through the receiver properly. You lose anything like HDR or other settings when it tries to pass through. I have the denon 6700 and have tried every cable and switch possible and no problem connecting direct to lg oled cx but when running through receiver in Xbox series x or ps5 it does not pass the 4K/120 with hdr
Mike,
Thank you for your update, I am sure others will be keen to read it.
Clearly there has been no firmware or hardware upgrades issued from Denon so unless it was nothing more than a setup issue on your behalf, the technical problem still exists. Denon is legally liable for advertising a feature that you purchased the AVR for and that does not function. The AVR is “NOT suitable for the purpose for which it is intended”. You and they have two choices:
1. For Denon to fix the problem free of charge. Contact them and demand it.
2. To refund your money in full including all shipping charges. Contact your supplier/Sound United for a full refund.
As I said above, if I get enough responses indicating that this problem is ongoing I will forward them all to Denon/Sound United. There is of course the option of a class action lawsuit if Denon will not/cannot fix the issue. Several years ago I threatened Sony regarding a feature that did not work correctly on their top of the line DVD player and they refunded my money very fast.
Paul