Ahead of CEDIA Expo 2026, CE Pro spoke with Brad Bramy, chief marketing and operations officer for HDMI Licensing Administrator (HDMI LA), about what integrators should be watching on the show floor and what’s ahead for HDMI technology. Bramy discusses the timeline for HDMI 2.2 products, the benefits of increased bandwidth and higher color bit depth, and what integrators should know as Ultra96 HDMI Cables begin coming to market.
CE Pro: From HDMI LA’s perspective, what should integrators be looking for at the show?
Brad Bramy: Overall, I think the industry is healthier than the consumer segment and it is always interesting to see the products that represent new solutions addressing the evolving landscape of hybrid AI solutions, the way connectivity is getting smarter and future-ready, and how video and sound experiences are being created, designed and installed. In terms of HDMI technology on the floor, I am always amazed at the ways the manufacturers learn from their customers and provide the next best applications and solutions; and sometimes in ways in which I would never have thought.
CE Pro: What is the status of HDMI 2.2-enabled products coming to market, particularly silicon and the first products supporting FRL 2 at 64, 80 or 96Gbps?
Brad Bramy: In the next few months we should see the first certified Ultra96 HDMI® Cables hit the markets starting with passive wired and then some will be moving ahead with the active opticals. I know a few products have been certified for Latency Indication Protocol, or LIP, which is great for the multiple-hop systems integrators work with. For the silicon for the next gen Fixed Rate Link or FRL 2 it looks like next year there will be a handful of companies making that available for manufacturers to start their product development.
CE Pro: If the HDMI 2.2 products aren’t hitting the markets yet what should installers be looking for at the show that would help them now?
Brad Bramy: The current generation of available HDMI products are still enabling many of the important HDMI features such as 48Gbps bandwidth, eARC, enhanced gaming features like ALLM, VRR, QFT and support for dynamic HDR and uncompressed 4K120. These are still being incorporated into switchers, extenders, converters and many more AV distribution categories. Many of the newer products continue to add support and find new ways to utilize the capabilities.
CE Pro: The HDMI 2.2 specification supports up to 96Gbps of bandwidth. Why is that increase important beyond enabling higher resolutions and refresh rates?
Brad Bramy: That is a great question. I try to make the point that while we publicize the 4K@240Hz and 8K@60Hz, which are easy specs for people to understand, another important aspect is those are supported at uncompressed, full chroma/no subsampling, and at 10-bit and 12-bit color depth. Taken as an entire ecosystem of capabilities – that gives content creators and manufacturers so many more options for creating and distributing really noticeable improvements in picture quality and very immersive experiences. They don’t have to make compromises after picking the resolution and decide on which are the most important features to support – they can support higher refresh rates and higher color bit depth with full chroma.
CE Pro: Color bit depth often gets less attention than resolution or refresh rate. Why can higher bit depth have a more immediate impact on image quality?
Brad Bramy: Color depth determines how many shades of red, green, and blue can be displayed for every pixel on the screen.
OK here is some math – An 8-bit image provides 256 shades for each primary color, producing approximately 16.7 million colors. This has long been the standard for traditional video. A 10-bit image increases that to 1,024 shades per color channel, producing more than one billion colors, while 12-bit color delivers 4,096 shades per channel for an incredible 68 billion possible colors.
The additional color precision produces smoother gradients and more natural-looking images by reducing visible color banding – which I see frequently on TVs. This is especially important for HDR video, where greater brightness, contrast, and wider color gamuts need more precise color reproduction. In fact, the ITU-R BT.2020 standard specifies 10-bit color as the minimum requirement for UHD HDR content.
Higher color quality also requires more bandwidth. Because 10-bit color carries approximately 25% more data per pixel than 8-bit color, the HDMI signal must transport significantly more information.
CE Pro: How does HDMI 2.2 spec’s additional bandwidth help eliminate compromises between resolution, refresh rate, HDR, full 4:4:4 chroma and 10- or 12-bit color?
Brad Bramy: When high resolutions, fast refresh rates, HDR, and full 4:4:4 chroma and the high color bit depths are combined, bandwidth demands increase dramatically; and systems may automatically reduce refresh rates or lower color detail to fit within the available data rate. The expanded 96Gbps bandwidth helps eliminate these compromises, allowing compatible products to deliver higher resolutions, faster refresh rates, richer color, full chroma sampling, and more accurate HDR performance simultaneously.
CE Pro: What should integrators know about Ultra96 HDMI® Cables as they begin designing and installing HDMI 2.2 systems?
Brad Bramy: To support these higher bandwidths, the HDMI Forum introduced the Ultra96 HDMI® Cable. Designed for up to 96Gbps, the cables support all HDMI 2.2 features, including official certification through the Ultra HDMI® Cable Certification Program and that means each length is tested and products are required to display the scannable certification label that integrators and verify. Existing Ultra High Speed HDMI® Cables continue to support systems requiring up to 48Gbps.
For more information, visit www.hdmi.org.
