The silly reason Valve’s Steam Machine lacks HDMI 2.1

The HDMI Forum is holding back Valve’s Steam Deck and other Linux PCs

Valve’s Steam Machine specifications are a little odd. Most modern gaming devices support HDMI 2.1, but Valve’s Steam Machine only supports HDMI 2.0. Why? It’s not because Valve doesn’t want to support HDMI 2.1, but because the HDMI Forum won’t let them.

In January 2024, the HDMI Forum denied AMD’s request to add HDMI 2.1 support to its Open-Source drivers for Linux. The HDMI Forum has blocked open source implementations of HDMI 2.1. That’s a big problem for Valve’s Steam Machine, as it uses AMD’s Open-Source GPU drivers.

Valve claims that it has been “trying to unblock things” when asked about HDMI 2.1 support on its Steam Machine. Technically, the device has an HDMI 2.1 port. However, this port only works through Windows using proprietary drivers.

4K 120Hz support with HDR despite only featuring HDMI 2.0

Valve has worked around some of HDMI 2.0’s limitations on its Steam Machines. With HDMI 2.0, it can support 4K at 12oHz with HDR using chroma subsampling. This can impact image quality, though the impact is minor. The only exception to this is games that make heavy use of text, as Chroma Subsampling can make text much blurrier.

Alternatively, Steam Machine users can use DisplayPort 1.4 and convert the signal to HDMI using a dongle. That can enable higher levels of display bandwidth without any issues.

(Valve Steam Machine Specifications – Valve)

The HDMI Forum are holding back Linux gaming

The HDMI Forums’ refusal to allow Open-Source HDMI 2.1 implementations is needlessly harming Linux users. This is a problem for Valve’s Steam Machines and any future Linux-powered gaming systems. Hardware is getting let down by software and bureaucracy. Does the HDMI Forum really need to work this hard to protect HDMI 2.1?

You can join the discussion about Valve’s Steam Machine lacking HDMI 2.1 support on the OC3D Forums.