How many HDMI ports do you need for your TV? And what kind?

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There are so many details to proceed track of when shopping for a TV that it'due south easy to get lost in the minutia of specific features and technologies, losing sight of the woods for the private trees. One of the most basic questions: How many HDMI ports practise yous need? And which kind?

Now, a lot of you reading that stopped and thought to yourself "Which kind? How many types of HDMI are at that place?" Thankfully, we're hither to clear up the defoliation and make your Television set shopping feel a piddling simpler. We'll not only help you know what kind of HDMI ports there are, but which are amend for dissimilar uses.

(And if you're wondering about the other connections on your Television set, check out Tv ports explained: What are all those HDMI, USB and other connections for? And get our full cheatsheet of TV shopping advice in Everything you need to know about buying a TV.)

Let's start with the basics.

Amazon Basics HDMI cable — (Image credit: Amazon)

What is HDMI?

The familiar HDMI port is fully known as a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) connection. Dissimilar the older analog composite video and coaxial connections that you might be familiar with from older TVs, HDMI uses a digital signal for video and audio information. Information technology uses a distinctive 19-pin connector that looks a bit like a large USB plug, merely offers a complete solution for transmitting moving-picture show and sound, eliminating the need for multiple cables to connect your several dwelling house theater devices.

HDMI has been the standard video connection for TVs and media equipment since 2009, and though older connections yet take a place on modernistic TVs – they let you lot use older equipment, like VCRs and retro game consoles without needing an extra converter box.

TV ports, including HDMI — (Image credit: Tom'due south Guide)

How many HDMI ports exercise y'all need?

This chip of advice is thankfully simple: More than ports are better. Nosotros recommend getting a Television receiver with at least three HDMI ports, but four is preferred, since information technology gives you more than flexibility.

You lot'll be thankful for those actress ports every bit before long as yous set upwardly the TV. The average home is likely to accept multiple HDMI-continued devices, like a Blu-ray thespian, a game panel, and a cable or satellite box. Soundbars too employ HDMI (more on that in a moment), and if yous have annihilation actress, like a streaming stick or a 2d game panel, and you'll find yourself grateful for an extra port. Otherwise, yous'll have to either swap out device connections manually or invest in one of the best inexpensive HDMI switchers to get actress connections.

What kind of HDMI ports should you expect for?

The more complicated question is what HDMI formats are all-time. There are three primary HDMI formats you're probable to find on TVs from the last few years.

HDMI 1.4 - Supports 1080p video and sound, likewise as 4K video, but only at 24 frames per second. With a maximum video bandwidth of 8.16 Gbps, it'due south the most basic version of HDMI in popular employ, and is most mutual on 4K sets that are more than 5 years former.

HDMI 2.0 - With increased bandwidth (14.four Gbps), this newer HDMI standard tin can handle 4K video at 60Hz, which matches most current 4K TVs and game consoles.

Ii updated versions of the ii.0 standard, HDMI 2.0a and 2.0b, also add support for loftier dynamic range (HDR) content, including HDR10 and Dolby Vision (the 2.0b standard adds support for the largely unused HLG format). The majority of 4K TVs on the market in the last five years use these updated 2.0a and 2.0b versions.

HDMI ii.i - The nearly recent revision to HDMI, with profoundly expanded bandwidth (upward to 48 Gbps), and back up for higher frame rates and resolutions, including 4K at 120Hz and upward to 8K resolution at 30Hz.

The college bandwidth likewise allows for some new features, like enhanced audio return channel (eARC), variable refresh rates (VRR) and automatic depression-latency manner (ALLM). You can larn all well-nigh it in our guide What is HDMI 2.1?

Thankfully, even the latest HDMI connections are backwards compatible, so the basic functions of transmitting video and sound will piece of work every fourth dimension. Nosotros recommend about people stick to the HDMI 2.0a connections that are on current TVs. For higher bandwidth and advanced features, still, you will need to brand sure that your HDMI cables match the format of the ports and devices you're using.

And if you're invested in current game consoles, or desire avant-garde features, like high frame rates, automatic manner switching or 8K resolution, then you'll definitely need to be choosy about getting the right HDMI standard that supports them. For that, you'll need one of the best TVs with HDMI 2.i, and the cables to match.

Advanced features: ARC vs eARC

Role of the HDMI standard is an sound feature called Audio Return Aqueduct (ARC). Whatsoever current 4K smart TV will accept one HDMI port labeled ARC (or sometimes eARC, more on that in a moment).

A soundbar with HDMI ARC — (Image credit: Sony)

ARC lets you lot employ a single HDMI cable to connect a Tv set and soundbar, offer two-way communication between devices over a single HDMI connection. Essentially, the HDMI ARC port lets you lot apply HDMI as both an input to the TV and an sound output to the soundbar. And since it all happens over a single cable, it helps reduce the tangle of cables that often lurk behind any Tv.

A newer version of ARC, called Enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC), is too available on HDMI 2.0 and 2.i connections. The biggest improvement eARC offers is support for full-resolution sound signal, meaning that it supports Dolby Atmos and other uncompressed sound formats.

Read our guide What is HDMI ARC? to learn more.

Advanced features: ALLM and VRR

HDMI ii.1 introduced a number of new capabilities to HDMI, and goes beyond simply sending video and audio signal from a media source to the Idiot box. 1 of these features is eARC, which is discussed above. But other features are especially cool for gaming, and are found on the best gaming TVs.

Variable refresh rate (VRR) is one such game-friendly characteristic. Much like Nvidia G-Sync or AMD FreeSync, VRR allows a game console to output at different frame rates – letting the console dynamically adapt for ameliorate performance – and matches the TV'southward screen to the frame-by-frame output coming from the console, synchronizing the 2 for judder-gratuitous gaming.

The other HDMI 2.ane feature yous'll want is Auto-Low Latency Mode (ALLM), which switches your TV to game mode automatically. Thanks to the bidirectional data flow that mod HDMI allows, your signal can receive a indicate from your game console that triggers the Goggle box's mode switching role. The result? Your Telly knows to switch to game mode when y'all fire up a game – if you're using your game console to stream videos or lookout Blu-ray discs, you can exercise it in any game mode you desire – and you never have to touch the remote.

Interestingly enough, you don't necessarily need HDMI 2.1 to enable these features. Or, more accurately, TV makers have been known to offer these features without the total bandwidth of HDMI 2.1, making it a partial implementation of the 2.one spec, or basically a not-standard version of HDMI that falls in between ii.0a and 2.i.

Nosotros call out these features and the details of HDMI standards in our reviews wherever information technology's relevant, and so be sure to bank check out the best TVs and individual reviews.

Brian Westover is an Editor at Tom'due south Guide, covering everything from TVs to the latest PCs. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he wrote for TopTenReviews and PCMag.