Five years ago this week… The HDMI 2.1 cable standard was unleashed, upgrading data rates from 18 Gbps to 48 Gbps, with 8K support and scene-by-scene HDR. With a roll-out expected from Q2 2017, it was thought that most devices would not support the standard until 2018 at the earliest. Version 2.1 set a significant benchmark for how premium video and gaming would look. Although the 18 Gbps bandwidth promised by HDMI 2.0 was more than enough for most HDMI users at the time, it was felt that demand for 240 Hz 8K would grow as the nascent VR industry came into the mainstream – a phenomenon we are still waiting on today. — Synamedia has jumped in on the…