Gizmodo
As if we needed another display standard, along comes DisplayPort, approved last year and just about to sally forth on graphics cards and monitors everywhere. WTF do we need another standard for, anyway? Bandwidth, that's why. DisplayPort (plug pictured above at left, next to a dual-link DVI connector) can handle a maximum 10.8Gb per second, carries 8 channels of digital audio as well as all that video, and has a bidirectional auxiliary channel that can also handle 1Mb per second. That's a lot of data. It could turn out to be a reliable, fast and easy-to-use bridge between computers and home theater displays. But DisplayPort is not all sweetness and light.
A touted aspect of DisplayPort is its "security," comforting to those who create content but an unwelcome guest for those who can't stand even the thought of DRM (digital rights management). Carrying HDCP along with it, the standard is designed to protect content from those free-copying, eyepatch-wearing pirates. In addition to that, it also carries an additional DRM can of worms, DPCP (DisplayPort Content Protection).
That gives the standard an advantage over DVI in the eyes of content creators, who have sometimes been known to arm-twist various hardware manufacturers. Speaking of which, the standard has gotten rousing support from many of the usual suspects, including Dell, HP, Philips, Samsung, Intel and Lenovo, and also graphics cards manufacturers AMD and NVIDIA.
Those companies might like this standard better than HDMI for another reason, too: Unlike HDMI, DisplayPort's an open standard with no fees required to those who invented it. Other than that, besides the slight bandwidth advantage of DisplayPort, the two are almost the same and will be interchangable in some cases with an adapter. But not all cases. Such as...
What do we like about it? You can daisy chain multiple 2560x1600 monitors together, and the standard also supports fiber optic cable, able to blast tons of serious bandwidth for longer distances. It also has an advantage over DVI with its 15-meter spec length, compared with DVI's measly 5-meter recommended distance. We're also quite fond of that ability to support 16-bit color for each component, and hey, the damn thing is easier to connect than a DVI or VGA cable. With Dell and ATI first out of the gate, expect graphics cards and monitors to jump on board any day now. [DisplayPort Info Guide]
Comments
Sooner or later we're all gonna have to just revert back to serial.
i am a little bit confused on how the a/v port enforces drm? isn't that done in software?
Whoever came up with the HDMI connector should be shot.
The screws besides that DVI connector are there for a reason you bloody pinhead.
What I want to know, is if you will be able to purchase a horrendously overpriced Monster version which adds no value. Forget the Pear Anjou version though: I don't want my monitor image to be "danceable"....
seems nice
This is ridiculous. I agree. I think we should all use under-carpet, trans-living room, 3 meter thick copper wiring. And vacuum tubes. And punch cards. Oh, and throw in a carrier pigeon. Wait no, they have content protection.
i don't see a display port connector in that photo...anyone else with me on this? that looks like hdmi to me...display port connectors are flat on the side and just look cooler than hdmi
this is a display port connector...
[www.bit-tech.net]
All I want is one connection........for everything. You hear me USB? Actually my roommate is convinced everything will be USB-ish one day. From your power outlet to your network connection, it can be anything, will work in any country, and you'll never have to buy another cable again.
@ReductiMat: Yeah, this thing looks like HDMI which isn't all that great without the screws.
Gah, just what we need: another DRM-enabled connector to close the analog "hole".
I hope everybody who uses DRM goes out of business, and ceases to be able to distribute their DRM keys, and their works get forever lost to the sands of time. Nothing will be "classic" in the future, because you won't be able to watch old stuff. And it's all the shortsighted creators' fault!
There are a number of ways that the DRM could be implemented. Peripheral identification and authorization, where only the peripherals that are authorized (keyed) to decode the signal will be able to do it. In addition the system could also have watermarking, variable refresh rates, partial screen refresh variation, etc... In the end it's all computer code, and the hope is that it prevents quick and easy 1 to 1 copying.
The people most interested in this are the large content creators, like the
MPAA, and distributors, like the
NATO who are afraid that if all theaters become digital, theft of content will increase.
From what I understand, the majority of theft is still with in the "Industrie's" own hands. It happens not from people bootlegging at home, but from the media providers them selves. $100k reels of film disappear not because a staff member has access to it. A DVD is duplicated from a master (or copy) at the source, and footage is copied from render houses. Distribution of the thieved copies is a different matter.
great...another damn interface. even better! another damn interface with lace DRM!! wooo
I will say this, those screws that everyone seems to love are the worst inventions ever after that clear plastic retail packaging, and getting your hand smashed in a car door. Simple plug much better.
screws are kinda outdated. After all, the spec calls out for connectors with or without latches...see for yourself, download the spec ([www.displayport.org])
@Jolyrogr: Simple plugs wiggle out, though, which is the whole point of the screws.
And those thumbscrews are pretty much the best happy medium you'll get. You want to talk pain in the butt? Back in the early days of computing, those serial and parallel plugs came with Phillips-head screws. *shudder*
@ReductiMat:
Amen
Will DisplayPort make it's debut in a way that is, resolution wise, superior to DVI?
I remember when DVI hit the market (in single link form) with a max resolution of 1600x1200, compared to VGA's 2048x1536. I hope displayport doesn't make everybody upgrade twice too...just come to market full-spec and make me happy.
Hey guys/gals, it just dawn on me...
Isn't HDCP copy protection on displays useless after all?
Think of it.
They are, in all their twisted minds, thinking that I will reproduce say, a DVD, to my monitor in a DVI connection, and miraculously hook up the same connection to a miracle circuitry that will copy that signal into a new stream so I can pirate it.
Sounds a lot like thinking I'm going to dub VHS tapes using a patch video cable.
If I'm using digital data, I would pirate it with software to strip the DRM and copy into a hard drive directly. I would not copy from the video signal... even if it was digital.
HDCP is as stupid a trying to DRM the SPDIF (optical) output of a sound card so you cannot copy an MP3 file... You wouldn't, you would just copy the file, not the output.
HDCP on video is stupid to begin with... I guess DPCP follows suit.
@Jolyrogr:
i like to use smoke signals. not that reliable over long distances or in windy conditions, but hey, fire. burning stuff is cool.
@HeartBurnKid: Phillips-head? I seem to remember that the VGA cables on my first several monitors and the serial cables on my first couple of mice used straight-slot screws, with half the torque and twice as many opportunities for the screwdriver to jump out.
Wake me up when it all goes wireless. That and when people realize content is not a priviledge, it is a right. And digital is not a right, it is a given. So content is a given, not a priviledge or right. If it were, humanity would be soulless shells of carbon based life. Art, science, technology, friendship, humanity would not exist. Going from there, it seems someone has a hidden agenda to end humanity...
That plug looks VERY much like the OLd Sun Raster Plugin for monitors...
Introducing DRM to cables seems bound to cause problems for some legitimate users, while trying to "solve" a piracy problem which doesn't exist. Not since the days of VHS has anyone copied a movie by connecting two players together, because it's so much easier and quicker to do it further up the line, at the source material. Once that protection is breached, which it inevitably always is, anything else becomes an irrelevant waste of time and money.
@oyumurtaci: "when people realize content is not a priviledge, it is a right"
That's great and everything, but since nobody wants DRM and nobody wants advertising-driven, somebody has to come up with a business model that works. Because I'm pretty sure Star Wars would never have gotten made if the investors had asked, "Any chance we'll make money on this?" and the answer had been, "Nah, probably not. But content is a right, isn't it?"
Everybody who is having a fit over there not being "screws" can relax and read the spec. If you read the section of the spec that discusses the external mechanical connector for DisplayPort there is a provision for a latching mechanism activated by a thumb button.
Now I would agree that a latching mechanism internal to the mechanical casing wouldn't be as sturdy as a couple of screws, but it still won't 'wiggle out' as one commenter complained, unless somebody is really yanking on the back.
Wait a second... I can daisy chain with this? That's really actually pretty damn nice. No more running three big DVI cables up to my monitors. Just one cable from my PC to the monitors and then two short patch cables.
I want to follow up on my last post regarding the mechanical fastening of a cable to a display device. It should be noted that even with screws holding a cable into a port (RGB, DVI, DisplayPort, whatever) there is still a risk for damage to the solder joints fixing the connector the the PCB if force is applied to the cable, this even applies if the screws are reinforced through a metal bracket (as on the back of a video card) as that bracket can act as a pivot point if enough force is applied. That force isn't as much as you might think either.
@strictnein:
and if you are running enough bandwidth to some monitors or devices that won't allow you to daisy chain, a display port connector can fit 4 connectors on the back a any card fitting into the PCI spec.
To AEC007:
Playing DRM audio usually requires the player to disable the optical outputs.
Anyway I sworn the first day I touched a spectrum 48k clone that I won't touch or buy anything that decides instead of me how or if it's going to work :)
way to use the picture from my link!!! but now i look like an idiot because you changed it after my comment :(
Oh no! Another connection again?! Zomg...
@aec007: It's not about stopping piracy and it hasn't been for some time. It's about maximizing profit from honest people who, incidentally, outnumber pirates by an enormous amount.
Stopping piracy is simply not that profitable but screwing consumers who don't know any better and have no other means at their disposal is an excellent way to tag their pocket books.
@Empire: Yes, because obviously nobody has ever made money with a movie since the VHS tape came out. *rolls eyes*
@Empire: I'll go out on a limb and say that what they've come up with so far isn't working then. Content creators aren't happy (the guild strike), content consumers aren't happy (I know I'm not), middlemen aren't happy (I'm pretty sure warner and universal are not pleased that they aren't getting new material, and that they're spending money trying to 'protect' material inevitably driving costs higher which incites the consumers to sidestep aforementioned protection) and the only people having a field day are the lawyers (RIAA and such), who are supposed to protect both sides (creators and middlemen, forget the consumer we're just dirtbags) and doing so for neither somehow.
I'm no business guru, but I remember even during the dawn of DivX and P2P, I didn't mind paying around the 10 dollar or below price range for a DVD that I liked with the extra features and content I would get (Eurotrip, for 7 bucks, was a steal for the great beer and pizza accompanied commentary). If I've already paid a boatload of money for my super grand HDTV, sound system and HD player of some sort and taken all the measures (even through redundant cabling and such) to ensure I get the show on the road, I definitely don't want a collection of 10 movies that I like to cost the same amount or more than the damn thing that plays them. Just like I don't like the idea of buying a Tesla Roadster and find out my electricity bill will skyrocket because I'll need a special high output high voltage plug from the power company installed in my garage and will pay 3 times more money because the plug has... 4 prongs. Maybe that was a bad analogy, but you get my point I hope...
@Quantum: Sorry bout the rant, I miss analog.
@Geeum: Till you plug the power cable into the video port and your $1000 dollar tri-sli system explodes into a giant ball of flames and your 3 year old screams again again!
@aec007: Too true.
And really, not letting you output to an analogue source so you don't "dub" the video - really, give the pirates some credit.
@pb4ugoout: Don't worry. I figured out they added your linked pic as I read through. They could have said thanks, though.
The DRM in the DisplayPort is not about coppying the content that you are playing on your monitors. It is about reducing quality or resrticting what it will display. The consept is alot like when the PC Blue-Ray drives came out. DRM was suppost to limit the resolution and not let you get the native 1080 of the disk.
I'll wait for DisplayPort 2.0, which will no doubt abandon the legacy DRM for a new scheme, rendering your existing movie library unreadable.
will there be "adaptors" for HDMI devices to use this?
how long did rca and component video cables survive?
what's wrong with just using coaxial or optical connections?
we're rolling out fibre across countries, but we still have to use shitty multi-mini-contact wires for HD content? wtf
it's like a make busy project within the audio video industry - retreading further and further - upgrading getting closer to computer hardware shelf life
HD video and audio in one cable? Sounds like HDMI. So it is just another standard.
@person65535: Oh it knows the diffrence, stop thinking so small!
Here we go again. There are cases of hdcp on hi-def cable boxes blacklisting a large number of tvs. Imagine twice the risk. HDCP and DPCP both on the wire now = twice as many tvs getting blacklisted twice as fast. Hoo boy! Sure miss the old days of the vcr. At least you were guaranteed that you were going to get a picture