Clocking - 1.2 English

The HDMI 2.1 TX Subsystem uses six clock domains. This section describes all the clocks required for the HDMI 2.1 TX Subsystem to function in your application.

s_axi_cpu_aclk

This is the processor domain. It has been tested to run at 100 MHz.

frl_clk

A free-running clock input running at a fixed rate. The frl_clk is used by the internal processing. It can come from the MMCM or the clock pin. See the following table for more information.

s_axis_video_aclk

A free-running input clock for the AXI4-Stream video is supported. The AXI4-Stream to Video Out bridge will convert the input AXI4-Stream video into native video clock stream running in the video_clk domain. See the following table for more information.

video_clk

The tx_video_clk from the HDMI PHY Controller/HDMI GT Subsystem is connected to the HDMI 2.1 TX Subsystem video_clk, which supports both TMDS mode and FRL mode.

In TMDS mode, the HDMI PHY Controller /HDMI GT Subsystem is configured to generate the actual TX video clock with respect to the actual selected video format.
In FRL mode, the HDMI PHY Controller /HDMI GT Subsystem is configured to output a fixed rate clock. See the following table for more information.
In FRL mode, the optional video_cke_in can be enabled to control the actual video clock rate to be running at video_clk and video_cke_in.

m_hdr_axi_aclk

Free-running input clock running at the fixed rate. Used by the HDR Data Engine to process the HDR AUX packets and to read from the memory. See the following table for more information.

Table 1. HDMI Clocks
Device Family	Speed Grade	GT PLL	frl_clk	video_clk	s_axis_video_aclk	m_hdr_axi_aclk
Zynq UltraScale+ Virtex UltraScale+ Kintex UltraScale+ AMD Artix™ UltraScale+	-1LV, -2LV	CPLL, QPLL	325 MHz	300 MHz	300 MHz	300 MHz
	-1, -1L⁶	CPLL	325 MHz	300 MHz	375 MHz	300 MHz
	-1, -1L⁶	QPLL	380 MHz	375 MHz	375 MHz	300 MHz
	-2, -2L, -3	CPLL, QPLL	450 MHz	400 MHz	375 MHz	300 MHz
AMD Versal™ Adaptive SoCs	-1LP,-1LHP,-2LP	LCPLL,RPLL	325 MHz	300 MHz	300 MHz	300 MHz
	-1MP,-2HP		380 MHz	375 MHz	375 MHz	300 MHz
	-2MP,-3HP		450 MHz	400 MHz	375 MHz	300 MHz
frl_clk is a fixed-rate, free running clock generated by MMCM or external clock pin. The frequency must be fixed to the required rate in this table. video_clk frequencies in this table are applicable only for FRL Mode. video_clk is automatically generated by the HDMI PHY Controller/HDMI GT Subsystem depending on incoming data (TMDS or FRL). s_axis_video_clk frequencies in this table are the maximum frequencies supported by the IP; however, you can configure to lower frequencies depending on the maximum resolution supported by the following equation: s_axis_video_clk >= HActiveVactiveFrame Rate/PPC For details on FRL line rates supported, see Table 1. m_hdr_axi_clk frequencies in this table are maximum frequencies support by the IP; however, you can configure to lower frequencies depending on the maximum resolution and Dynamic HDR metadata size. For GTHE4, -1,-1 M, -1L, -1LV, -2LV, and -2LVI parts, and for GTYE4, -1,-1M,-1L, and -1LV parts, the maximum supported FRL line rate is 8.0 Gb/s due to the limitation on CPLL and USRCLKs.

link_clk

The txoutclk from the HDMI PHY Controller/HDMI GT Subsystem is connected to the HDMI 2.1 TX Subsystem link_clk, which supports both TMDS mode and FRL mode.

In TMDS mode, the HDMI PHY Controller/HDMI GT Subsystem is configured to generate the actual TMDS clocks with respect to the actual selected video format.
In FRL mode, the HDMI PHY Controller/HDMI GT Subsystem is configured to support 3, 6, 8, 10, and 12 Gb/s of line rates based on a single MGT reference clock frequency (400 MHz). The link_clk = line rate/40 as the GT data width is set to 40 bits parallel bus.

Table 2. Link Clock for FRL Line Rates
Line Rate (Gb/s)	link_clk (MHz)
3	75
6	150
8	200
10	250
12	300

Refer to the HDMI PHY Controller LogiCORE IP Product Guide (PG333) / HDMI GT Controller LogiCORE IP Product Guide (PG334) for more details.

s_axis_audio_aclk: This clock is used by the source audio streaming interface. This clock should be greater than or equal to 128 times the audio sample rate.

The HDMI clock structure is illustrated in the following figure and table.

Figure 1. HDMI Clocking Structure (TMDS)

Table 3. HDMI Clocking (TMDS)
Clock	Function	Freq/Rate	Example¹
TMDS	Source synchronous clock to HDMI interface (This is the actual clock on the HDMI cable).	= 1/10 data rate (for data rates < 3.4 Gb/s)	Data rate = 2.97 Gb/s TMDS clock = 2.97/10 = 297 MHz
TMDS		= 1/40 data rate (for data rates > 3.4 Gb/s)	Data rate = 5.94 Gb/s TMDS clock = 5.94/40 = 148.5 MHz
Data	This is the actual data rate clock. This clock is not used in the system. It is only listed to illustrate the clock relations.	= TMDS clock (for data rates < 3.4 Gb/s)	Data rate = 2.97 Gb/s Data clock = TMDS clock * 1 = 297 MHz
Data		= TMDS clock * 4 (for data rates > 3.4 Gb/s)	Data rate = 5.94 Gb/s Data clock = TMDS clock * 4 = 594 MHz TMDS clock = 148.5 MHz
Link	Clock used for data interface between the HDMI PHY layer module and subsystem	clock=data clock/4	TMDS clock = 297 MHz Data clock = 297 MHz Link clock = 297 MHz/4 = 74.25 MHz Data clock = 594 MHz Link clock = 594 MHz/4 = 148.5 MHz
Pixel	This is the internal pixel clock. This clock is not used in the system. It is only listed to illustrate the clock relations.	For 8 bpc pixel clock = data clock For 10 bpc pixel clock = data clock/1.25 For 12 bpc pixel clock = data clock/1.5 For 16 bpc pixel clock = data clock/2	Data clock = 297 MHz For 8 bpc pixel clock = 297 MHz For 10 bpc pixel clock = 297/1.25 = 237.6 MHz For 12 bpc pixel clock = 297/1.5 = 198 MHz For 16 bpc pixel clock = 297/1.5 = 148.5 MHz
Video	Clock used for video interface	clock = pixel clock/4	297 MHz/4 = 74.25 MHz for quad pixel wide interface
The examples in the Example column are only for reference and do not cover all the possible resolutions. Each GT has its own hardware requirements and limitations. Therefore, to use the HDMI 2.1 TX Subsystem with different GT devices, calculate the clock frequencies and make sure the targeted device can support it. When using the HDMI 2.1 TX Subsystem with the AMD HDMI PHY Controller IP core, more information can be found in the HDMI PHY Controller LogiCORE IP Product Guide (PG333). When using the HDMI 2.1 TX Subsystem with the AMD HDMI GT Subsystem IP core (Versal devices), more information can be found in the HDMI GT Controller LogiCORE IP Product Guide (PG334).

However, in FRL mode, the link is running at a fixed rate according to the line rate established between source and sink. Therefore, instead of calculating the actual clocks, it is more useful to find out the minimum required link rate to support certain video format.

For example, 8kp30, 8 BPC, 4 PPC are used to show how all the clocks are derived.

Table 4. Example Settings
Video Resolution	Horizontal Total	Horizontal Active	Vertical Total	Vertical Active	Frame Rate (Hz)
8kp30	9000	7680	4400	4320	30

The pixel clock represents the total number of pixels that need to be sent every second.

Therefore, for TMDS mode, the following calculation is used.

Pixel clock = Htotal × Vtotal × Frame Rate = 9000 x 4400 x 30 = 1,188,000,000 = 1188 MHz
Video clock = (Pixel clock)/PPC = 1188/4 = 297 MHz
Data clock = (Pixel clock) x BPC/8 = 1188 x 8/8 = 1188 MHz
Link clock = (Data clock)/PPC = 1188/4 = 297 MHz

In this example, the data clock is 1188 MHz, which is equivalent to 11.88 Gb/s. That exceeds the TMDS bandwidth. Therefore, FRL mode is used to carry this video.

The total bandwidth needed = (Pixel clock) x BPC (bits per component) x 3 (3 components for RGB video) x 18/16 (HDMI 2.1 uses 16/18 encoding scheme) = 1188 x 8 x 3 x 18 / 16 = 32.076 Gb/s.

On the other hand, AXI4-Stream video only carries active video, for example, TPG only generates active video. Therefore, when calculating the "active pixel clock", only hactive and vactive are used.

Active Pixel clock = HActive × Vactive × Frame Rate = 7680 x 4320 x 30 = 995,328,000 = 995.328 MHz
s_axis_video_clk = (Active Pixel clock)/PPC = 995.328/4 = 248.832 MHz

The total bandwidth needed for active video = (Active Pixel clock) x BPC (bits per component) x 3 (3 components for RGB video) x 18 / 16 (HDMI 2.1 uses 16/18 encoding scheme) = 995.328 x 8 x 3 x 18 / 16 = 26.874 Gb/s.

When the HDMI 2.1 TX Subsystem is running in FRL mode, one of the following modes can be selected.

Table 5. FRL Line Rates
Line Rate	Max Total Bandwidth (Gb/s)
3 Gb/s @ 3 lanes	9
6 Gb/s @ 3 lanes	18
6 Gb/s @ 4 lanes	24
8 Gb/s @ 4 lanes	32
10 Gb/s @ 4 lanes	40
12 Gb/s @ 4 lanes	48

The HDMI 2.1 specification (https://www.hdmi.org/spec/index) (section 6.5) also defines the concept of repeat count, which is to compress the blanking period when it does not carry any AUX metadata. Therefore, in this example, 8 Gb/s @ 4 lanes is sufficient to support 8kp30 video.