New Video Interface Approved

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) has approved the DisplayPort interface standard which lets high-definition digital audio be available to the display device over the same cable as the digital video signal.

Designed as an open, extensible standard, DisplayPort enables for the first time a common interface for both external and internal display connections within a PC notebook or desktop display. This allows for standardized connections between source devices and display devices, such as LCD panels, without the need for signal translation. This direct drive capability simplifies display product design and reduces cost. DisplayPort may be applied within notebook PCs, and for external display connections, including interfaces between a PC and monitor or projector, between a PC and TV or between devices such as DVD players and TV displays.

The external connector is small and optimized for use on thin profile notebooks in addition to allowing multiple connectors on a graphics card. DisplayPort incorporates a Main Link, a high-bandwidth, low-latency, unidirectional connection supporting isochronous stream transport. One uncompressed video stream with associated audio is included in Version 1.0. DisplayPort is seamlessly extensible, enabling support of multiple video and/or audio streams. Version 1.0 also includes an Auxiliary Channel to provide consistent-bandwidth, low-latency, bi-directional connectivity with Main Link management, and device control based on VESA's EDID and MCCS standards. The Main Link bandwidth of up to 10.8Gbit/s, equivalent to a data transfer rate of 1080 Mbytes/second, uses four lanes; the auxiliary channel features minimal delay, with maximum transaction periods less than 500 microseconds.

Data is transmitted across the DisplayPort interface using a micro-packetized format which provides both high performance and the flexibility to handle the evolving requirements of a high performance display interface.

Posted by Jon Erickson at 07:55 AM  Permalink