{"id":1569,"date":"2022-01-21T17:51:30","date_gmt":"2022-01-22T01:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.steigerdynamics.com\/blog\/?p=1569"},"modified":"2022-01-21T17:51:32","modified_gmt":"2022-01-22T01:51:32","slug":"best-4k-120-and-8k-60-gaming-avr-with-40-gbps-hdmi-2-1-hdr10-and-vrr-passthrough-for-geforce-30-series-graphics-cards-and-xbox-series-x","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.steigerdynamics.com\/blog\/best-4k-120-and-8k-60-gaming-avr-with-40-gbps-hdmi-2-1-hdr10-and-vrr-passthrough-for-geforce-30-series-graphics-cards-and-xbox-series-x\/","title":{"rendered":"Best 4K\/120 and 8K\/60 Gaming AVR with 40 Gbps HDMI 2.1 HDR10 and VRR passthrough for GeForce 30-series graphics cards and Xbox Series X"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We founded\u00a0STEIGER DYNAMICS\u00a0to make Gaming\u00a0(HT)PCs that are the perfect fit for our most beloved, and undoubtedly the most immersive form of gaming at home: Sitting\u00a0comfortably\u00a0on the sofa,\u00a0a low-latency OLED 4K\/120 TV in front of us,\u00a0mouse and keyboard placed on the Couchmaster lapdesk\u00a0with perfect ergonomics, getting shaken\u00a0by\u00a0the\u00a0deep bass of the woofer of our surround sound system while being able to identify\u00a0with\u00a0absolute precision where that\u00a0gunfire\u00a0is coming from.\u00a0
Integral part of that vision is an Audio\/Video\u00a0Receiver sitting in between the\u00a0HDMI\u00a0connection\u00a0that goes from\u00a0your gaming machine to the TV.\u00a0The AVRs job is to\u00a0grab the audio signal\u00a0and output it to your speakers,\u00a0while passing through the video signal in full quality and with no measurable latency added.\u00a0To achieve this for the before mentioned 4K resolution at 120 Hz\/fps with HDR and VRR (variable refresh rate to reduce screen tearing aka \u2018G-Sync compatible\u2019), the latest HDMI 2.1 standard at 40\u00a0Gbps\u00a0bandwidth is required. This is where things get tricky\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The HDMI 2.1 standard\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HDMI 2.1 took long to conceptualize, longer to implement and even longer to get to work properly.\u00a0There are currently two\u00a0HDMI 2.1\u00a0chipset\u00a0standards\u00a0in\u00a0newer\u00a0AVRs\u00a0\u2013\u00a0such chips that can handle the reduced\u00a024 Gbps and\u00a0then the good ones that can handle\u00a040 Gbps.\u00a0HDMI chips\u00a0capable of the\u00a0maximum defined bandwidth of 48 Gbps are not available in the consumer space at this point in time.\u00a0
While\u00a0pushing an error-free signal at 40 Gigabit per second through a copper wire is a feat by itself (40 Gbps Ethernet, the fastest current networking standard, needed to switch from copper to fiber to achieve this, albeit over much longer distances),\u00a0additional requirements and\u00a0manufacturer\u00a0requests\u00a0\u00a0like HDCP 2.3,\u00a0HDR10+, Dolby Vision, VRR,\u00a0Chroma 4:4:4, etc.\u00a0complicated things even further.\u00a0The table below, courtesy of\u00a0flatpanelshd.com,\u00a0showcases all current resolutions and bandwidth-consuming features to give you a good idea what the HDMI 2.1 chipset in your AVR needs to be capable of to achieve what you need.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

First generation\u00a0(2019\/2020)\u00a0HDMI 2.1 AVR issues\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because AVRs are typically seen as long-time investments with a lifespan much longer than PCs or consoles, it\u2019s even more important that those receivers are ahead of\u00a0their\u00a0time when it comes to connectivity. Unfortunately, when the\u00a0first\u00a04K\/120 and 8K\/60 TVs\u00a0were\u00a0announced in 2019,\u00a0the HDMI 2.1 standard wasn\u2019t\u00a0finalized by the HDMI\u00a0licensing\u00a0organization\u00a0but\u00a0AVR manufacturers needed to\u00a0push to\u00a0move\u00a0from the HDMI 2.0\u00a0standard\u00a0(18-24 Gbps)\u00a0to the much more complex HDMI 2.1 standard\u00a0to be able to have compatible products available in 2020.\u00a0Needless to say, most\u00a0of these implementations were half-baked and\u00a0the majority\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0work as intended\u00a0(or not at all in the case of Yamaha)\u00a0once consumers hooked up their latest HDMI 2.1 devices capable of using 40 Gbps\u00a0of\u00a0bandwidth with all bells and whistles.\u00a0AVR manufacturers reacted slow and first promised fixes with the next generation of AVRs. Once pressure from customers started to build up, manufacturers tried to find solutions that can be retrofitted to first gen HDMI 2.1 receivers. Yamaha promised an HDMI board exchange when sending in your AVR (which at least\u00a0made it\u00a0functional\u00a0but\u00a0they missed their chance to make it right and upgrade to\u00a040 Gbps), while Sound United (Denon, Marantz,\u00a0Class\u00e9\u00a0et al.) offered an external adapter box that at least fixed some reliability issues for\u00a0the\u00a0Xbox, however not for\u00a030-series GPUs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state of second generation (2021) HDMI 2.1 AVRs\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2nd<\/sup> gen models released between Q1 2021 and today, typically have 2nd<\/sup> gen HDMI chips with 40 Gbps capability. While our customers still report some bugs, many of these AVRs now work as they should.  Unfortunately and most notably, Yamaha is trailing behind again and many of their AVRs require a later firmware update to enable full bandwidth and features. Others, in particular Sound United AVRs got the job done right this time around which is why we decided to go with a Denon AVR for our Redwood City, CA headquarter demo room (more about that in another article). We replaced our Yamaha TSR-700 7.2 receiver with the 7.2 Denon AVR-S760H ($449.99 at Costco) and it was smooth sailing ever since. 4K\/120 RGB with HDR and VRR (G-Sync compatible) is now fully working and we can\u2019t feel or measure any added latency. Gameplay is incredibly smooth and competitive, and our Battlefield 2042 sessions are as immersive as they could possibly be. Our considered alternatives were the Onkyo TX-RZ50 and the Pioneer VSX-LX105 but we didn\u2019t want to wait for their release. Also, they can\u2019t beat the Denon AVR-S760H at price. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to find out more about how your receiver performs, if there are any available upgrades or what your next safe purchase is, please take a look at this AVS Forum article: https:\/\/www.avsforum.com\/threads\/hdmi-2-1-avrs-and-av-processors-issues-with-chips-video-signal-gaming-features-transition-to-40-48-gbps.3199232\/<\/a>   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We founded\u00a0STEIGER DYNAMICS\u00a0to make Gaming\u00a0(HT)PCs that are the perfect fit for our most beloved, and undoubtedly the most immersive form of gaming at home: Sitting\u00a0comfortably\u00a0on … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,102],"tags":[13,119,120,121,123,49,53,122,79],"class_list":["post-1569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaming","category-home-theater","tag-4k","tag-avr","tag-best-avr","tag-gaming-avr","tag-home-theater","tag-htpc","tag-leet","tag-steiger-avr","tag-steiger-dynamics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steigerdynamics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steigerdynamics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steigerdynamics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steigerdynamics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steigerdynamics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1569"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.steigerdynamics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1578,"href":"https:\/\/www.steigerdynamics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1569\/revisions\/1578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steigerdynamics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steigerdynamics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steigerdynamics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steigerdynamics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}