The HDMI app will be used much less frequently in future, as the HDMI Licensing Administrator (HDMI LA) is switching to a new system. However, as Club3D notes, there will be a transition phase during which old certification certificates will still be visible.
The new certifications for HDMI cables are now slowly coming onto the market. Known as Gen 2, these certifications will provide verification for the authenticity of a given cable and gradually replace the first generation certifications.
This formally began in May 2023, but the HDMI Licensing Administrator (HDMI LA) has allowed the old labels to continue to be used until stocks of the corresponding cables have all been sold. In its February newsletter, cable manufacturer Club3D drew attention to this change and stated that it is currently changing its label fulfillment provider, so packs with both the old and the new certifications will soon appear in stores.
The new certification has the advantage that it can be checked more easily. According to the HDMI LA, a simple scan of the QR code on the pack is enough to verify its authenticity. The old verification, on the other hand, required the proprietary HDMI app.
Is every QR code individually serialized? What's the mechanism to verify authenticity?
I know Der8auer uses individually printed one time use codes that can be used to verify thermal grizzly paste authenticity
A simple QR code w/hologram ain't gonna do shit alone. Fuck I didn't even know HDMI had their own app and I've been building computers for 20+ years at this point
The whole point of HDMI is HDCP which is necessarily very much proprietary. HDMI is a product of the film & TV industries to protect their “intellectual property”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI
The HDMI founders were Hitachi, Panasonic, Philips, Silicon Image, Sony, Thomson, and Toshiba. Digital Content Protection, LLC provides HDCP (which was developed by Intel) for HDMI. HDMI has the support of motion picture producers Fox, Universal, Warner Bros. and Disney, along with system operators DirecTV, EchoStar (Dish Network) and CableLabs.
HDMI isn't necessary for HDCP though. HDCP also works over DisplayPort and even DVI.
Edit: The HDMI article on Wikipedia that you linked even says:
The HDMI founders began development on HDMI 1.0 on April 16, 2002, with the goal of creating an AV connector that was backward-compatible with DVI. At the time, DVI-HDCP (DVI with HDCP) and DVI-HDTV (DVI-HDCP using the CEA-861-B video standard) were being used on HDTVs. HDMI 1.0 was designed to improve on DVI-HDTV by using a smaller connector and adding audio capability and enhanced Y′CBCR capability and consumer electronics control functions.