2023 is going to be a spectacular year on televisions. Of that there is no doubt. During the last edition of CES, which was held in Las Vegas (United States) at the beginning of January, Samsung and LG presented their portfolio of screens for this year, and both offer us very juicy innovations. Among all of them, the MLA technology stands out, which promises to catapult the performance of LG’s OLED panels, and also the improvements that Samsung has introduced in its second-generation QD-OLED matrices.
Panasonic, Hisense, TCL and Philips have also already presented some of the televisions that they will place in stores in 2023, and Sony will most likely release its catalog shortly (almost certainly before the end of the first quarter). In any case, the important thing is that consumers are going to have more and better televisions within our reach than ever before. In fact, most of the media specialized in technology have been taken by surprise by the magnitude of the innovations that will hit television this year.
And, as a tip, 2023 was postulated as the year in which we would definitely leave behind one of the limitations of many high-end televisions that restrict the options of the players: they only incorporate two HDMI 2.1 inputs. The other two implement the 2.0 standard. This restriction does not affect the best Samsung and LG televisions, but other brands, such as Sony, Philips, Panasonic, Hisense or TCL, are affected. And in the middle of 2023, in our opinion, all premium and high-end televisions should give us four HDMI 2.1 ports.
Some brands will continue in 2023 with only two HDMI 2.1 connectors
The SoC that initially promised us to settle this limitation with a stroke of the pen is the Pentonic 1000, the new flagship model from MediaTek, but it seems that it is preferable that we moderate our expectations. Many of the high-end TVs that have hit stores in the last couple of years, such as Sony’s fabulous A95K, feature MediaTek’s MT5895 chip. It is a good SoC, there is no doubt about that, but it has a limitation that may be important for many gamers: it can only live with two HDMI inputs that implement the full 2.1 standard.
Having HDMI 2.1 on all connectors should be the norm, not the exception
For those users who use their television to enjoy series and movies, and do not play or play only occasionally, it does not have to be a problem. And for players who only connect a state-of-the-art console or PC to their TV, neither. However, for enthusiasts who need to simultaneously connect, for example, a PC, a PS5 and an Xbox Series X or S, it is a luxury that all four ports are HDMI 2.1. In addition, as I have defended above, it seems very reasonable to me that at this point all high-end televisions take maximum care of your connectivity. Having HDMI 2.1 on all connectors should be the norm, not the exception.
At the end of January, the renowned calibrator Vincent Teoh published a video in which he assures that the SoC Pentonic 1000 will only finally give us two HDMI 2.1 inputs. Apparently during CES a person from MediaTek confirmed that only two ports will be capable of transporting 4K signals at 120 Hz with HDR, VRR and FRL signaling. It’s a shame. We’ll see if it’s finally like that, but if it’s confirmed, and we take it for granted that it will, at least we’ll have high-end TVs from Samsung and LG, which will most certainly continue to offer us four HDMI 2.1 inputs.
At #CES2023a Mediatek spokesperson informed me (upon my repeated asking) that the new Pentonic 1000 chipset will only have two HDMI 2.1 ports with FRL (Fixed Rate Link) signalling capable of 4K 120Hz HDR VRR, not four as previously reported. https://t.co/rYHjFeptBD
— Vincent Teoh (@Vincent_Teoh) January 23, 2023
More information: MediaTek
