Technically, the Steam Machine supports HDMI 2.1. However, Valve and AMD are not allowed to offer an open-source driver for it.

The HDMI Forum, responsible for the HDMI specification, continues to stonewall open source. Valve’s Steam Machine theoretically supports HDMI 2.1, but the mini-PC is software-limited to HDMI 2.0. As a result, more than 60 frames per second at 4K resolution are only possible with limitations.

  • halloween_spookster@lemmy.worldEnglish
    111·
    2 days ago

    I agree with the sentiment but we’re dealing with a chicken and egg problem. If no TVs have DisplayPort, who would buy a console that can’t be used with their TV?

    • rubdos@lemmy.zipEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      Not really. Both could start shipping both connectors, except if I’m unaware of some licensing issue over that?

      • halloween_spookster@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        2 days ago

        If I’m a TV manufacturer, I have less incentive to have both connector types because it increases cost and complexity while only appealing to a very small subset of users. It will take leadership at those companies to take a bit of a leap of faith that the effort is valuable as a long term plan because it will take other manufacturers to make the ecosystem. Couple that with the fact that leadership at companies tend to not be enthusiasts or technically inclined and it makes it difficult, but not impossible. I really hope we can move electronics towards DisplayPort just so it’s an open standard instead of the HDMI for-profit model.