The gathered forces of China’s best players in the digital video industry has introduced a new standard called the General Purpose Media Interface (GPMI).
Unveiled by the Shenzhen 8K UHD Video Industry Cooperation Alliance, comprising over 50 Chinese companies, GPMI will be the revolutionary standard to help 8K transition into the mainstream market through simplifying connectivity a.k.a cutting down the number of required cables for both data and power, which can be counterintuitive in common sense but I guess as long as physics allowed, this is possible in the eyes of engineers.
The physical connectors for GPMI involve USB Type-B but not the one that used to pop up in the market as it died rather early; thus, it is proprietary, as well as the conventional USB Type-C, which is the same one surrounding you and daily life. The Type-C variant can do upwards of 96Gbps and 240W of power delivery, while the Type-B takes it up a notch, achieving 192Gbps and 480W for double the performance.
GPMI will also come with a universal control feature similar to HDMI-CEC, allowing users to control multiple connected devices with a single remote. All in all, this tech directly challenges the likes of Thunderbolt and associated DP over USB / HDMI Alt Mode as the most widely adopted “power+data” transmission protocol. What’s more – Consumers actually pay for stuff that revolves around HDMI and Thunderbolt as the license to integrate them within devices may or may not be directly passed on to buyers so yeah, if GPMI’s free for all like USB, it can really shake the market once it is commercially available.
