What is DisplayPort?
DP or DisplayPort is a digital display or video interface developed and standardized by Video Electronics Standard Association, popularly called VESA, to connect a video source to a display device. DP is designed to deliver video and audio simultaneously over a single cable. In addition, it is backward compatible. This interface is interoperable with other legacy systems such as HDMI DVI with the help of active or passive adapters. DP is a part of open hardware community. Moreover, it allows wide adoption of open hardware standards without any royalty charges.
DisplayPort Explained:
DisplayPort is an adopted standard. We already discussed DP is another video interface between the video source and the display device like monitor or TV. It is a new generation audio-visual interface standard developed by the GPU display industry. Besides, it enables high display performance, robustness, adaptability, higher system integration with the best interoperability among various types of gadgets.
It can work in coordination with other technology standards like USB, Thunderbolt. This updated signal protocol technology is designed to implement low power consumption. DP delivers the best performance even in space-constrained gadgets.
Therefore it is widely used in many gadgets that need high-quality displays where the connector space is constrained. This high-speed digital video interface is designed to replace most other interfaces like VGA, DVI, Flat Panel Display Link, etc. It is hot-swappable too.
DP Data Transmission:
It is the first one that employs packetized data transmission in the display interface. Packetized data transmission is a form of digital communication employed in Ethernet, USB, Peripheral Component Interconnect Express, and more. In addition, it allows the user to use both internal and external display connections.
Packetized data transmission is nothing but Network Packets containing the formatted data transmitted through a packet-switched network. Each and every pocket contains user data and control data. In-circuit switching, the circuits are prefixed for a single secession, and the data is typically sent as a continuous bitstream. Whereas in packetized data transmission, the transmission medium’s bandwidth is shared between multiple sessions.
The legacy standards transmit clock signals with each output sent. The DP protocol is of network packets transmission.
It embeds the clock signal within the data stream. With this, the user will get the higher resolution display signals using a lesser number of pins. The packet-switched technology makes the DP more extensible. Therefore it can add or modify more features over a period of time without significant changes to the physical interface.
DP can be used to transmit both audio and video signals altogether. Optionally you can transmit audio or video without the other. The transmission of audio signals has eight channels of 24 bits, 192 kHz PCM uncompressed audio. The video signals can be sent as six to sixteen bits per color channel. Another; two-way, half-duplex auxiliary channel carries device management protocol and device control data packets for the Main Link. Besides it, DP accomplished transmitting bi-directional USB data signals.
DisplayPort Features:
Dual-Mode DisplayPort:
The DP interface uses Low-voltage differential signaling protocol, which is not compatible with HDMI and DVI. DP++ is a standard that allows DP sources to use simple passive adapters to connect to DVI and HDMI displays. The source devices which implement dual-mode will detect which adapter is attached and send signals accordingly instead of DP signals.
Dual-mode DisplayPort’s Port is designed to broadcast Single-Link DVI or HDMI within the interface with an external passive adapter. It enables the compatible mode. Besides, it converts the signals around 3.3 to 5 Volts. An active adapter is needed for analog color space and Dual-Link DVI; however, it does not rely on dual-mode.
The Active VGA adapters can be powered directly with a DP connector. Whereas; the Active Dual-Link DVI depends on external power sources like USB. The dual-mode standard was released in 2013. It was refined as the standard. Further, it improved interoperability and enabled a higher data transfer rate for HDMI cable adaptors.
The Dual Mode standard defines the requirement for source devices and cable adaptors. Originally the DP was developed to provide a single video interface between connected devices. It offers advanced features with interoperability with already existing display protocols such as VGA, DVI, and HDMI.
In Dual-Mode, the source device such as your computer can send output signal either in DisplayPort protocol or as Transitional-Minimized Differential Signaling (TMDS). Thus the output connects to enable the support of all types of Monitors. Besides, a special kind of cable adaptor is required to convert the mechanical connector so that the output signal is compatible with DVI or HDMI display.
DP++ standard:
The Dual-Mode DP Source automatically detects the plugged-in cable adaptor and provides the DVI or HDMI signal that the monitor supports. With the latest specification, it can enable up to the clock rate of up to 300MHz.
With the latest VESA specifications, the old and existing adaptors are referred to as Type 1 and the new adaptors as Type 2.
The Type 2 adaptor is backward compatible with a Dual Mode DP source device. It will only support up to 165MHz if a Dual-Mode DP source device does not support it.
DP++ standard version 1.0 only supports a TMDS clock speed of 4.95 Gbit per second of bandwidth. It is equivalent to HDMI 1.2 standard version.
Further, DP++ standard 1.1 versions only support TMDS clock speed of 9.00 Gbit per second of bandwidth. It is slightly lesser than the HDMI standard of 1.4 versions.
DP++ standard 1.3 versions only support TMDS clock speed of 18.00 Gbit per second of bandwidth. It is slightly lesser than the HDMI standard of 2.0 versions.
Dual-Port Limitations:
Adapter Speed Constraint:
- The pin-out and digital signal values transmitted by the DP port are almost identical to a native DVI or HDMI source. The native voltage of DVI and HDMI is 5 Volts, whereas the DP port’s native voltage is 3.3 Volts. Therefore the Dual-Mode adapters need to have a level shifter circuit to modify the voltage. The induction of the level shifter circuit places a limit on how quickly the adapters can function. Therefore, whenever a new standard with higher speed is introduced, it needs more unique adapters to match with.
Uni-Directional:
- The Dual-Mode standard specifies a method for DP sources to output DVI and HDMI signals using a passive adapter. However, there is no counterpart standard to give DP displays HDMI or DVI signal input through a passive adapter. Therefore the DP Displays can only receive native DP signals, and other signal must be converted to DP format with an active conversion device. As a result, the DVI and HDMI sources cannot connect with DP displays using a passive adapter.
Single-Link DVI Standard:
- The DP has only 20 pins. Using its 19 pins, it can only produce a Single Link DVI signal.
- The DP Dual-Mode is relay on the pins of the display port connector to send DVI or HDMI signals. The Dual-Link DVI signals need 25 pins for signal transmission. Therefore it is highly impossible to transmit Dual-Link DVI signals from a DP connector through a passive adapter. Moreover, the Dual-Link DVI signals can only be transmitted after converting DP output signals with an active conversion device.
Dual-Link DVI signals Unavailable in USB C:
- The DP alternate mode standard does not specify sending DP signals over a USB C cable. And it does not support the dual-mode protocol. Therefore DP-to-DVI and DP-to-HDMI adapters (Passive) do not support when connected from a USB-C to DP adapter.
MST- Multi-Stream Transport:
MST- Multi-Stream Transport is a feature additionally introduced in 1.2V of DP. It allows the multiple displays to connect and be driven through the single DP by multiplexing multiple streams into a single. And it sends them to a branching device, and the branching device demultiplexes the signals into multiple original signals again.
The branching MST devices are in the MST Hub, and they can be plugged into the DP input port. It needs to be implemented on display internally to provide daisy-chaining. The maximum of the daisy-chaining Link is 7. Hypothetically, 63 displays can be supported, but the combined data rate is below the limit of a single port.
HDR- High Dynamic Range:
DP 1.4v implemented support for HDR video. It introduced the standard CTA861.3 for HDR Metadata transmission in EDID.
Companion Standards:
Mini DisplayPort:
The popularly know mDP is a standard announced by Apple. Besides, it is a passive technology. It further notified there would be no fee for this connecting technology. VESA included this technology in the v 1.2 specifications. In later years Intel and Apple together announced a successor of mDP named Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt added support to the PCI Express data connection.
Besides, it is backward compatible with mDP based devices. mDP has 20 pins in smaller housing, of size 7.4 mm x 4.5mm. mDP is the miniature interface of DP. Thunderbolt combines DP and PCI specifications; therefore, it can transmit both audio and video signals. But mDP can support the only video.
mDP can drive displays with resolutions up to 2560X1600 with the DP v 1.1a implementation. Further, it enhanced to 4K in its v 1.2- implementation. mDP can work with display devices of VGA, HDMI, and DVI interfaces with proper adapter. Both Thunderbolt and mDP use the same type of connector. But it doesn’t mean both are the same.
Micro DisplayPort:
The Micro DisplayPort standard focused mainly on the gadgets that need ultra-compact connectors. Since Smartphones and Ultraportable notebook computers do not have enough space, they need ultra-compact connectors and ports. It is physically smaller and compact than the mDP. In addition, it can support the passive cable of length up to 1.5 m without any repeater or any other passive components.
Direct Drive Monitor Standard:
Direct Drive Monitor DDM allows the control-less monitors to receive the DP directly. The color depth is limited. Besides, available resolutions are limited to the two-lane signal reception. DDM eliminates unnecessary duplication of complex electronics. DDM does not have a complex internal display controller. It is directly connected to the graphic subsystem and corrects the configuration.
Display Stream Compression:
Display Stream Compression is a low latency compression protocol to send high-resolution video over physical media of significantly lesser bandwidth. VESA developed it. Besides, it is a visually lossless low-latency algorithm developed. Further, it is based on Delta PCM coding with indexed color history (ICH). Delta PCM coding is an analog to digital and digital to analog signal transmission technique.
Moreover, it needs a single line of pixel storage and a rate buffer. It is another form of pulse code modulation. It reduces power consumption. Furthermore, it increases the resolution and color depth. The DSC is a standardized way to send more pixel data over display links. In addition, it saves memory size in embedded frame buffers in the display driver.
The objective of the DSC standard is to provide visually lossless performance with a low compression ratio, high data transmission, and low latency. DSC standards allow enhancing the display standard without compromising quality. Further, it makes the devices smaller and lighter.
eDP or Embedded DisplayPort:
eDP is a display standard for portable embedded devices. It defines the signaling protocol between the graphic card and the integrated display unit. Various revisions of eDP are based on the DP version’s specifications, and they are not interchangeable. Now a day’s Low-voltage differential signaling replaced the eDP protocol in the latest model Laptops.
It is a scalable and extendable video interface for both embedded and external applications. However, it is not limited to notebook computers alone; it is further extended to a wide range of applications. It has system integrators with a lot of design options. Moreover, it enables them to decide the suitable eDP feature set for their particular requirement. It has a Panel Self Refresh Rate feature to save the system power.
The PSR mode allows the GPU to go in power saving mode between the frame updates by adding frame buffer memory within the panel controller. Further, it reduces the power consumption through partial frame updates in PSR mode. It has the features such as regional backlight control, lower interface voltage utilization, additional link rates, and Auxiliary Channel support for touch panel data.
iDP or Internal DisplayPort:
iDP standard was introduced in 2010. This protocol defines the internal Link between the digital TV system chip controller and the display panel timing controller. Its primary objective is to replace the internal FPD-Link lanes with a DP connection. Further, it has unique physical system interface protocols.
Moreover, they enable very high resolution and refresh rates with simplicity and extensibility. It has a non-variable clock rate of 3.24 Gigabites per second per lane with a maximum of 16 lanes. Besides, it is a scalable standard and royalty-free standard. It is a standard for high bandwidth interface. In addition, it enables high bandwidth video and audio signal transmission protocol.
Portable Digital Media Interface- PDMI:
PDMI is an interconnection standard protocol for portable media players. It is intended to function as a common interconnection between the docking device and display units with media playback function. Besides, its primary objective is to replace the iPod cradle connector. Its component provides a data rate of 4.32 gigabits per second.
It supports up to 1080p of 60 FPs and eight-channel audio playback. It has an extended display identification data protocol and displays control commands. The DP signals can be converted into HDMI format with the help of an external signal conversion adapter or with the active converter circuit in the dock.
The power supply is possible with both docking station and display unit for charging the portable device. It supports USB 3.0 for file transfer and device control.
wDP- Wireless DisplayPort:
wDP enables the bandwidth and feature set for the cable-free application usage in the 60GHz radio band. It provides packet architecture with bi-directional capabilities.
SlimPort:
SlimPort is an alternative to MHL technology. It obeys Mobility DisplayPort (MyDP) protocol. In addition, it provides connectivity to external displays from mobile devices. MyDP is the industrial standard for mobile audio-video interface. It can transmit ultra HD video up to 4K and eight-channel audio over micro-USB.
DisplayID:
It is designed to replace the E-EDID standard and protocol. Besides, It includes the variable-length structure’s features of E-EDID.
Moreover, it supports tiled display topologies. DisplayID includes several blocks that describe video interfaces.
The data blocks can be identified with a unique data tag. The length of each block can be fixed or variable. It allows an 8K display with stereo 3D with multiple video streams.
DockPort:
The DockPort is an optional extension of DP. In addition, DockPort or Lighting Bolt is an extension to the DP to include USB 3.0 data transmission and DC power for the USB Charging port from the external displays. In addition, it is fully backward compatible. Moreover, it further reduces the mobile form factor.
DockPort is the first technology standard that combines three essential interface functions into a single connector. It is a royalty-free standard. DP is a flexible audio-visual transport protocol that can easily combine with other protocols such as USB. Further, its electromechanical properties help to accommodate date transmission and power over a passive copper wire.
DisplayPort Alternate Mode on USB-C:
USB-C in 2014 VESA released the USB Type C connector standard. It is a specification of how DP signals need to send over the USB-C connector. This standard can use one or all the four differential pairs of USB Super-Speed Bus as DisplayPort lanes. Besides, reversible plug orientation and cable direction are possible.
The two sideband signals support the DisplayPort AUX channel over the same connection. It also supports the USB power delivery at the same time. Using the protocol, the USB C connector can send full DP audio and video.
Besides, it can drive 4k display resolution and beyond. It can power SuperSpeed USB data and up to 100 watts of power over the same cable. The gadgets that support DP Alt Mode can also connect to the DP supporting devices using a reversible USB-C to DP converter cable.
Both DP and USB employ packetized data structure and differential AC- coupled signal lanes that send high-speed data with the embedded clock signal.
The DP Alt Mode V 2.0 enables all the functions of DP. It supports 8K resolutions and higher refresh rates along with USB data delivery.
The 128b/132b channel coding delivers a payload of 77.37 Gb per second across all four lanes. It supports 7680×4320 Ultra high displays of 8K with 60 FPS.
Virtual Link:
Virtual Link is an alternate mode of USB-C drive that sends power, data, and video to the VR Headsets over a single USB C drive cable. It has six high-speed lanes, out of which four lanes transmit DP HBR 3 video streams for the headsets, and another two lanes implement bidirectional channels between the computer and the headset.
Advantages of DisplayPort:
- It has several advantages over DVI, VGA, and FPD-Links
- In addition, it has fewer lanes with the embedded self clock that reduces electromagnetic interference.
- The micro packet protocol allows easy expansion of standards with multiple data types.
- Further, it provides flexible bandwidth allocation of audio-video data transmission. Besides, it enables to send of multiple video streams over a single cable.
- Long-distance data transmission with optical fiber as a physical medium is possible.
- High-resolution multiple displays (using Muti-Stream Transport) with a single connection are possible via hub or daisy-chaining.
- It has the capacity to with internal chip-to-chip coordination. Further, its objective is to replace the internal FPB-Links with a unified link interface. Besides, it is compatible with low voltage signaling. Moreover, it can directly drive display panels so that to eliminate the use of scaling and control circuits.
- Its adjustable amplitude and pre-emphasis adapt to varying cable lengths and signal quality. Further, it reduces the bandwidth transmission to 15 meters or so. Besides, it can employ a high-speed auxiliary channel for DDC, EDID, MCCS, DPMS, HDCP, and adapter identification besides the data transmission.
- The connector is using self-latching technology.
- It supports cables of 15 meters long.
- Further, it has ultra-low latency for the ultra-quick response.
- It has interoperability with VGA, DVI, and HDMI.
- Besides, it has a 30- bit color capability.
- It supports G-SYNC and FreeSync.
- The DP connector is small and does not need any thump screws to fix it.
- It can drive a maximum of four daisy-chained 4K ultra HD displays.
- In addition, it enables direct drive monitors with LVDS standards.
- Besides, it has higher refresh rates and HDR support at higher resolutions.
- It supports WQXGA at 10-bit color and Full High Definition 3D stereo support at 120Hz.
DisplayPort Versions:
The DP standard was developed by the VESA Task Group consist of leading companies. It is a license-free, royalty-free video standard. In addition, it permits s high definition digital audio and video to be available to the display devices over a single cable. Further, it reduces the platform cost and drives a common digital interface across the different platforms and different devices. In addition, it delivers real plug-and-play with interoperability with existing digital display interconnects.
Besides, it is an open and extensible standard. For the first time, it enabled the common interface for both internal and external display connections. Therefore this approach allows standardized connection between the source and display devices. It reduced the need for signal translation. Moreover, it provides performance scalability for future technology adaptation. Its external connector is tiny and optimized for use on thin notebooks.
Version 1.0:
DP implements the Main Link with high bandwidth, low-latency one-way connection that supports isochronous stream transport.
It uses four lanes. Further, it allows auxiliary channels to feature minimal delay. Its transaction period is less than 500 microseconds.
Version 1.1:
1.1v was ratified on 2nd April 2007. It uses one to four pairs of data links that working at 1.62 to 2.7 Gbps. This version of the standard allows the use of optical fibers and 128bit encryption for security. Moreover, it employs a constant 1Mbps up and downlinking service, a bi-directional auxiliary channel. These auxiliary channels drive device settings and modes via Extended Display Identification Data of VESA standard. The standard provides enough bit depth per pixel to display truly stunning colors at higher resolutions with higher frame rates.
The maximum possible digital display data is 6.7Gbps. 1.1 versions allow a low 6bits per color channel pixel.
The maximum cable length of 3 meters is allowed to through its full capacity. If the resolution is reduced to 1080p, then it can transmit effectively up to fifteen meters.
This standard can be paired or grouped. If it is grouped, it can work on a higher resolution by dual-sync or multi-sync cards and displays. Its DPCP encryption mechanism is 128 bits AES encryption using modern cryptography ciphers. Besides, it is not backward compatible with HDMI, DVI, and UDI. But this standard allows those signals to pass through the cable.
DP 1.2:
Version 1.2 was introduced on 7th January 2010. It doubled the bandwidth of the 1.1a standard. The effective data rate is 17.28Gbits per second in HBR2 mode after 8b/10b encoding overhead. . It increased higher resolutions, higher refresh rates, increased color depths.
Multiple monitor support from a desktop computer or notebook computer using only one DisplayPort connector made possible. It includes multiple independent video streams using daisy chain connections with multiple monitors using Multi-Stream Transport technology. In addition, it can transport USB data between the source and the display, with the added support of Display USB functions such as webcam and USB hub.
It supports stereoscopic 3D. Further, it increased AUX channel bandwidth to 720Mbits per second from I Mbit per second. Global Time Code (GTC) for sub 1 μs audio/video synchronization is applied. DPt v1.2 is backward compatible with existing v1.1a specifications.
In addition, it has the ability to transport multiple independent uncompressed display data and audio streams and high-performance applications such as 3D games over a single cable. Moreover, it supported protected content.
In the 1.2 version, transportation of standard Ethernet data can be possible with DisplayPort cable. It also includes enhanced support for Full HD 3D Stereoscopic displays, with up to 240 frames-per-second in full HD. It supports High definition audio formats such as Dolby MAT, DTS HD, Blu-Ray formats, and the China DRA standard. Besides, it includes Audio Copy Protection and category codes.
Version 1.3:
This 1.3v was implemented on 15th September. 2014. The bandwidth for transmission increased to 32.4 Gbits per second from 25.92 Gbits per second with new HBR3 mode (8.1 Gbits per lane). HBR3 is a hardware-level introduction. It is entirely at the controller level. The new HBR3 controllers utilize HBR3 signaling over the existing hardware. There is no change in DP, mDP connectors which imply HBR3 is backward compatible with the existing cable.
It is a 50 percent increase from the previous version. This bandwidth is more than enough for a 4k Ultra High Definition Display at the refresh rate of 120 HZ with 24 bits/px RGB color. This version adds support to 4:2:0 pixel structures, a commonly used consumer digital television interface video format.
The bandwidth can accommodate a 5K display at a refresh rate of 60Hz with 30 bits/px RGB color. With the support of MST technology, it can drive two 4K UHD displays and 60Hz or four WQXGA displays at a refresh rate of 60HZ with 24 bits RGB Color. It included Dual mode for DVI and HDMI adapters. The Adaptive-Sync feature is an optional part of the DP 1.3 version.
Further, it is implementing HDMI 2.0 standard with HDCP content protection. The Thunderbolt 3 standard was planned to implement DP 1.3v, but sadly it was only updated to 1.2v.
DisplayPort 1.4:
Version 1.4 was implemented on 1st March 2006. No new transmission modes are defined in the 1.4 Version. Therefore HBR3 remains the highest available mode.
The 1.4 Version adds support to Display Stream Compression, forwarded error corrections. Further, it extends inline audio channels to a maximum of 32. The audio sample rate of 1,536kHzis increased from 768 kHz.
Display Stream Compression is a compression algorithm that reduces the size of the data stream by up to one-third of its original size. DP 1.4 can support 8K UHD at 60HZ. It supports the Dual mode of DVI and HDMI adapters.
DisplayPort 2.0:
DP 2.0 was a major update in March 2016. It provided a whooping three times improvement on data transmission (from 25.92 to 77.37 Gbits per second). New enhanced capabilities were implemented to refresh rated, HDR support at higher resolutions, and improved support for multiple display configurations.
Further, it improved the user experience in augmented and virtual reality displays, including support for 4K-and-beyond VR resolutions. The new standard comes with a display stream data mapping protocol for both single and multi-stream transport.
The advantage of DP 2.0, both the native DP connector and the USB Type-C connector, is it can carry audio and video signals through DP Alt Mode. Further, it supports visually lossless Display Stream Compression (DSC) with Forward Error Correction (FEC), HDR metadata transport, and a few more advanced features.
In addition, it increases the maximum link rate to up to 20 Gbps per lane and features more efficient 128b/132b channel coding. Besides, it further supports the new Panel Replay capability.
DisplayPort Cables and Connectors:
DP Cables:
DP cables are compatible with all DP devices regardless of the version or cable certification. The DP cables will carry the overall features of the DP. It has a simple basic universal design in basic layout and wiring. Besides, it can support all or any of the features, including DSC, daisy chaining, etc., the DP cables only differ in their transmission speed support. DP specifies different transmission modes such as RBR, HBR, HBR2, HBR3, UHBR 10, UHBR 13.5, and UHBR 20 (they are progressively arranged for higher bandwidth support).
All DisplayPort cables are not capable of all seven transmission modes. These cables are certified by VESA. Cables with lesser transmission speed are compatible with all DP devices, but there will be a limitation on refresh rate and resolutions depending on the certification of the cable. The DP cables are categorized based on their bandwidth certification level. And it is not on its version number.
Cable Length:
DP cable certification is entirely governed by the DisplayPort PHY Compliance Test Standard (CTS) and not by the DP standard. DP standard specification does not mention any maximum length of cables. But all cables are up to 2 meters in length that supports an HBR2 speed of 21.6Gbits per second. Further, all cables of any length must support 6.48Gbits per second RBR speed.
Therefore cables of two meters may or may not support HBR/ HBR2 speed. Besides, cable of any length may or may not support HBR3 speed. VESA has an optional certification program for various bandwidth levels.
It has three standard levels of the certification program. They are RBR, Standard, and DP8K.
The certification is based on their operation levels. They do not have separate specifications for the HBR and HBR2 bandwidths.
A Standard cable can transmit 21.6Gbits per second of data bandwidth of HBR2.
Connector and Pin Configuration:
The DisplayPort ports and connectors are of two types the full-size port and connectors or the mini-size port and connectors. These are differing in physical size only.
But their capabilities are regardless of size. The full-size standard connector was introduced in version 1.0.
It is a single orientation connector with 20 pins.
It comes with a friction lock and an optional mechanical latch. The receptacle has a dimension of 16.10 mm x 4.76 mm.
The Pin Allocation:
For the Main Link, 12 pins are allocated. The main Link consists of four pairs of shielded twisted wires. Each pair requires three pins, one pin each for the shielded twisted wire and the third pin for the shield- Pins 1 to 12 allotted for it.
Pins 13 and 14 are used as additional grounding.
The auxiliary channel consists of a single pair. Therefore it needs another three pins, including one for the shield- Pins 15 to 17 used for it.
Another one pin for hotplug detection – Pin number 18
Power pins- two pins allocated for 3.3V 500 mA power and return line- Pin 19 and Pin 20.
The Pin number 20 on the DP is named DP_PWR. It provides 3.3 V Direct Current power of 500mA with a minimum power delivery of 1.5 W. the receptacles fed the power to the pin on both source and the sink. The DP_ PWR provides power to the adapters, amplified cables, and similar other devices.
Therefore these devices do not need a separate cable for power. The standard DP cables do use the DP_PWR pin. Connecting the DP_PWR pins of two devices directly may short circuit the devices connected since they may not have the same voltage.
Therefore DP version 1.1 and further standards specified that the passive cables must leave pin 20 unconnected. Thus 1.0 standard was never implemented in commercial products.
The Mini DP Connector Plug:
Apple developed Mini DP Connector in 2008 for their computer products. In 2009 VESA adopted it as their official standard specification. However, mDP merged with the main DP standard in the 1.2 version only. It is a free license specification. The mDP connector has 20 pins orientations with a friction lock. Besides, it does not have a mechanical latch. mDP receptacle is of the size 7.50mm x 4.60 mm. Moreover, the pin assignments are the same as that of the full-size connector.
DisplayPort Specifications:
| Versions | |||||
| Release Date | 1.0- 1.1a | 1.2–1.2a | 1.3 | 1.4–1.4a | 2.0 |
| Main Link Transmission modes: | |||||
| 1.62 Gbit/s per lane- RBG | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| 2.70 Gbit/s per lane- HBR | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| 5.40 Gbit/s per lane- HBR2 | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| 8.10 Gbit/s per lane- HBR3 | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| 10.0 Gbit/s per lane- UHBR 10
|
✘
|
✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ |
| 13.5 Gbit/s per lane-UHBR 13.5 | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ |
| 20.0 Gbit/s per lane-UHBR 20 | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Number Of Lanes | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Maximum Bandwidth | 10.80 Gbit/s | 21.60 Gbit/s | 32.40 Gbit/s | 32.40 Gbit/s | 80.00 Gbit/s |
| Maximum Data Rate | 8.64 Gbit/s | 17.28 Gbit/s | 25.92 Gbit/s | 25.92 Gbit/s | 77.37 Gbit/s |
| Encoding | 8b/10b | 8b/10b | 8b/10b | 8b/10b | 128b/132b |
| Compression | – | – | – | DSC | DSC |
| Auxiliary Channel | |||||
| Max. Bandwidth | 2 Mbit/s | 720 Mbit/s | 720 Mbit/s | 720 Mbit/s | |
| Maximum Data Rate | 1 Mbit/s | 576 Mbit/s | 576 Mbit/s | 576 Mbit/s | |
| Encoding | Manchester II | 8b/10b | 8b/10b | 8b/10b | |
| Color Format | |||||
| RGB | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Y′CBCR 4:4:4 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Y′CBCR 4:2:2 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Y′CBCR 4:2:0 | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Y-only (monochrome) | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Color depth support | |||||
| 6 bpc (18 bit/px) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| 8 bpc (24 bit/px) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| 10 bpc (30 bit/px) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| 12 bpc (36 bit/px) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| 16 bpc (48 bit/px) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Color space support | |||||
| ITU-R BT.601 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| ITU-R BT.709 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| sRGB | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| scRGB | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| xvYCC | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Adobe RGB | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| DCI-P3 | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Simplified Color Profile | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| ITU-R BT.2020 | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Audio Specifications | |||||
| Max. Sample Rate | 192 kHz | 768 kHz | 768 kHz | 1536 kHz | |
| Max. Sample Size | 24 Bits | 24 Bits | 24 Bits | 24 Bits | |
| Max. Audio Channels | 8 | 8 | 8 | 32 |
What is the VESA VDC-M and Display Stream Compression (DSC) Standard?
VESA introduced the new standard Display Stream Compression in 2014 that implements the visually lossless, low-latency image compression technique to increase the amount of data carried by the display interface.
DSC saves the power too. The DSC is based on an algorithm; that relay on the YCoCg color space technology. It highly reduces the bandwidth demands in higher resolution displays and refreshes the rates of the data.
DSC can handle more ultra-high-resolution displays, and it simplifies the display setups in higher resolutions.
It reduces electromagnetic interference. There are many advantages for the manufacturers too. Moreover, it can lower the cost.
Since DSC technology is employed, it reduces the demand for power usage and the need to interconnect wires. The current DSC standard is the 1.2a version.
VESA has published another display interface compression standard called VDC-M.
It is exclusively designed for embedded mobile device display applications. VDC-M provides a much more compression ratio around 5:1. At the same time, the DSC compression standard offers only up to a 3:1 compression ratio.
