When Valve revealed its approaching Steam Machine hardware last month, some eagle-eyed players might have been amazed to see that the main specification sheet lists support for HDMI 2.0 output, instead of the upgraded, higher-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 basic presented in 2017. Now, Valve informs Ars that, while the hardware itself in fact supports HDMI 2.1, the business is having a hard time to provide complete assistance for that requirement due to Linux chauffeurs that are “still a work-in-progress on the software application side.”

As we kept in mind in 2015, the HDMI Forum (which handles the main requirements for HDMI requirements) has actually formally obstructed any open source application of HDMI 2.1. That indicates the open source AMD motorists utilized by SteamOS can’t completely execute particular functions that specify to the upgraded output requirement.

“At this time an open source HDMI 2.1 application is not possible without contravening of the HDMI Forum requirements,” AMD engineer Alex Deucher stated at the time.

Doing what they can

This circumstance has actually triggered considerable headaches for Valve, which informs Ars it has actually needed to verify the Steam Machine’s HDMI 2.1 hardware through Windows throughout screening. And when it pertains to HDMI efficiency by means of SteamOS, a Valve agent informs Ars that “we’ve been dealing with attempting to unclog things there.”

That consists of uncloging HDMI 2.0’s resolution and frame-rate limitations, which max out at 60 Hz for a 4K output, according to the main requirement. Valve informs Ars it has actually had the ability to increase that limitation to the “4K @ 120Hz” noted on the Steam Machine specification sheet, however, thanks to a strategy called chroma sub-sampling.