Yamaha HDMI 2.1 Fix Announced and You’re Not Going to Like It

Yamaha today finally announced a fix for the HDMI 2.1 problems that have been plaguing their 2020 receiver offerings. As a reminder, the problem is with the new XBox Series X and NVidia RTX30 graphics cards. This caused problems with 4k 120Hz HDR passthrough. The fix? Send in your receiver and they’ll replace the HDMI board.

Ugh.

So, if you bought a Yamaha receiver in 2020 and you want to have a fully functioning HDMI 2.1 chipset, you are probably going to be without a receiver. We’re betting for at least a couple of weeks. Yamaha has promised more details on how the HDMI 2.1 fix will work this summer, but we’ve seen this before. Still no word on who pays for shipping (Yamaha does say that the program is free, but that doesn’t always mean totally free) or how long it will take.

Sound United, of course, recently announced their fix for the same problem. They’ll send you a free box that has the new HDMI chip in it. That way, you don’t have to unhook all your gear and wait for your receiver to come back to you. Just unhook the cable from the back of your receiver and reconnect it to the new box. Sure, easier for you. But we’re betting that Yamaha is banking the inconvenience to many users of their “update program” will save them money. Even if they end up paying shipping both ways.

Yamaha, of course, is quick to remind customers that if they aren’t going to connect one of the two incompatible devices, they don’t need the fix (surely, they aren’t trying to save money by dissuading people from sending in their receivers?!?). This offer is open to owners of their RX-V4A, RX-V6A, RX-A2A, TSR-400, and TSR-700 receivers for 24 months after the program starts. Just make sure to register your receiver to be eligible.

Check out the full press release from Yamaha here.