Nvidia new driver enables 4k@60HZ via hdmi

[alcoholbob]

Color compression is the only possibility here since its unlikely nvidia cards have 600 mhz pixelclocks.

 

[n0x1ous]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8191/nvidia-kepler-cards-get-hdmi-4k60hz-support-kind-of

Ryan confirms

 

[BrightCandle]

Its not really worth the trade off, that colour quality reduction is pretty bad. So yeah we were not wrong, HDMI 1.4 does not have sufficient bandwidth to do this, not without reducing the colour information to 1/4 of what it should be.

 

[TerryMathews]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8191/nvidia-kepler-cards-get-hdmi-4k60hz-support-kind-of

Ryan confirms

I disagree with Ryan about this being video-only. it is also a good solution for games, where you want 60hz.

This is a well done and elegant solution on the part of Nvidia. I tip my virtual hat to them.

 

[SPBHM]

30Hz is fine for videos, but for PC usage I would also go with 60Hz + lower quality colors.

 

[KaRLiToS]

Quoted from the conclusion of the article.

But for anyone who is seeing the news of NVIDIA supporting 4K@60Hz over HDMI and hoping to use a TV as a desktop monitor, this will still come up short. Until the next generation of video cards and TVs hit the market with full HDMI 2.0 support (4:4:4 and/or RGB), DisplayPort 1.2 will remain the only way to transmit a full resolution 4K image.

Looks like another marketing strategy.

 

[x3sphere]

Its not really worth the trade off, that colour quality reduction is pretty bad. So yeah we were not wrong, HDMI 1.4 does not have sufficient bandwidth to do this, not without reducing the colour information to 1/4 of what it should be.

It really doesn't look terrible to me. Some photos here

http://cdn.overclock.net/4/4a/900x900px-LL-4a037243_DSC_0133.jpeg
http://cdn.overclock.net/a/a6/a61aa71c_DSC_0086.jpeg

You can see some color fringing going on with fonts, but aside from that... looks usable. I would say it is worth the tradeoff over 30 Hz, but that's just me

 

[psolord]

I wonder if this technique could be used to increase the resolution of stereoscopic 3D gaming (1920*1080@60hz per eye over hdmi).

 

[BrightCandle]

Personally I think people are better off paying $5 for a DisplayPort cable than putting up with the colour compression system that degrades colour quality significantly more than the difference between IPS and TN screens (something people pay a lot of money for). Why spend all that money on a 4k monitor capable of 60hz and then cripple it with a HDMI cable when its got a display port connector? The cost of a decent GPU is almost nothing in compared to the cost of the monitor itself as well.

Its "neat" they did it, but no one thinking clearly should be doing this really, its just a bad plan all around.

 

[x3sphere]

Personally I think people are better off paying $5 for a DisplayPort cable than putting up with the colour compression system that degrades colour quality significantly more than the difference between IPS and TN screens (something people pay a lot of money for). Why spend all that money on a 4k monitor capable of 60hz and then cripple it with a HDMI cable when its got a display port connector? The cost of a decent GPU is almost nothing in compared to the cost of the monitor itself as well.

Its "neat" they did it, but no one thinking clearly should be doing this really, its just a bad plan all around.

If your monitor or TV has a DP connector then of course it doesn't make sense to use this. Thing is, none of the 4K TVs out there have a DisplayPort connector expect for the Panasonic sets.

 

[KaRLiToS]

If your monitor or TV has a DP connector then of course it doesn't make sense to use this. Thing is, none of the 4K TVs out there have a DisplayPort connector expect for the Panasonic sets.

True, that's the bad part. I don't know why they didn't use DisplayPorts on TVs. They still put components on 4k TVs

 

[Flapdrol1337]

This is identical to what the fraps codec does right?

For games I'd rather have 60 Hz than perfect colors. Should be welcome for people without a displayport on their tv.

 

[KaRLiToS]

This is identical to what the fraps codec does right?

For games I'd rather have 60 Hz than perfect colors. Should be welcome for people without a displayport on their tv.

For games,I rather have perfect colors and perfect 60hz.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Id be interested to see some indepth comparisons. The tradeoffs might be good enough given the lack of support for these things..

 

[TerryMathews]

For games,I rather have perfect colors and perfect 60hz.

sure. who wouldn't?

that said, if your TV doesn't have a display port input Nvidia just gave you a workable solution.

there isn't often much innovation in this area of drivers. i still tip my hat to Nvidia, I wouldn't have thought of compressing the source->sink stream.

 

[3DVagabond]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8191/nvidia-kepler-cards-get-hdmi-4k60hz-support-kind-of

Ryan confirms

So, they're cheating instead of actually meeting the spec.

 

[TerryMathews]

So, they're cheating instead of actually meeting the spec.

Hard to meet the spec on an already shipped card isn't it? Do you want Nvidia to recall all the supported cards and install new pixel clocks?

also 420 sampling is part of the 2.0 spec, so one could argue they implemented as much of the 2.0 spec as the cards could support.

 

[KaRLiToS]

Most of the people will think nVidia are awsome to do this but ignoring that they are screwing with the colors to reach 60hz.

That's why I think it's pure marketing strategy. I wouldn't even consider HDMI with 4k even if my R9 290x would support it like nVidia does.

Anyway, my 4k monitor has a DisplayPort which I can easily run 3840x2160 at 60hz .

 

[TerryMathews]

Most of the people will think nVidia are awsome to do this but ignoring that they are screwing with the colors to reach 60hz.

That's why I think it's pure marketing strategy. I wouldn't even consider HDMI with 4k even if my R9 290x would support it like nVidia does.

Anyway, my 4k monitor has a DisplayPort which I can easily run 3840x2160 at 60hz .

Let's be accurate, this is a tech forum.

they are compressing the color space, just like your blu ray player. where do you think this feature originated?

 

[KaRLiToS]

Let's be accurate, this is a tech forum.

they are compressing the color space, just like your blu ray player. where do you think this feature originated?

I don't understand the point of your post but ok, cool .

 

[96Firebird]

Nice workaround.

I don't see how people think this is a bad idea... It is an option. Don't like it, don't use it!

 

[TerryMathews]

I don't understand the point of your post but ok, cool .

No offense intended but if that post is over your head you don't really understand what Nvidia is doing here calling it messing with the colors is inaccurate.

 

[TerryMathews]

Nice workaround.

I don't see how people think this is a bad idea... It is an option. Don't like it, don't use it!

exactly! plus it should show up in your resolution list like anything else, so if your game polls the list correctly you should be able to have your desktop at 30 hertz if you choose and your games at 60 Hertz using the 420 compression.

 

[KaRLiToS]

No offense intended but if that post is over your head you don't really understand what Nvidia is doing here calling it messing with the colors is inaccurate.

You must be right, I don't know a crap about what nVidia or AMD are doing. I'm ignorant when it comes to GPU. Sorry.

 

[Attic]

Looks interesting,...

BUT,

why compromise at 4kHD?

Looks clear you still need HDMI 2.0 to not compromise on quality at 4kHD60hz from a computer.