HDMI 2.1 gaming features finally arrive for Yamaha AV receivers

Yamaha Aventage
(Image credit: Yamaha)

Yamaha has revealed a new software update for several of its AV receivers, including its flagship Aventage range, which adds functionality for some long-awaited gaming features.

Support for VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) is now available to download as a firmware upgrade for the RX-V4A, RX-V6A, RX-A2A, RX-A4A, RX-A6A, and the top of the range RX-A8A home cinema amplifiers.

Currently, the new software is only available through the MusicCast app, but it will also be added to the downloads section of the Yamaha website in due course.

These features come just a few months after Yamaha enabled its premium Aventage receivers to passthrough 4K@120Hz and 8K@60Hz signals from compatible devices such as PCs, PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles, as well as adding support for HDR10+ video.

Further gaming functionality additions to Yamaha's AVRs for Quick Media Switching (QMS) and Quick Frame Transport (QFT) are still in the pipeline. Unfortunately, there's no release date as yet – Yamaha is still awaiting test specifications from HDMI.org.

The latest upgrades to Yamaha's home theatre receivers have been a long time coming for some users. When Yamaha launched the Aventage models late last summer, their impressive, gamer-friendly spec sheets were accompanied by a number of asterisks. Despite offering wide-ranging HDMI 2.1 support, full compatibility wasn't available out of the box and instead, as is becoming increasingly common, promised via a series of future firmware updates.

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Mary is a staff writer at What Hi-Fi? and has over a decade of experience working as a sound engineer mixing live events, music and theatre. Her mixing credits include productions at The National Theatre and in the West End, as well as original musicals composed by Mark Knopfler, Tori Amos, Guy Chambers, Howard Goodall and Dan Gillespie Sells.