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]

The 3008WFP's more pedestrian inputs are a pair of DVI ports, HDMI, component vid, S-Video, composite, and VGA. No word on what other specs got bumped (contrast ratio, etc.) vs. its now lesser predecessor or a street date, but our eyes drip with anticipation while we look for enough stuff to plug into it. [The Inquirer Thanks, John!]

Samsung Creates First LCD with DisplayPort Video Interface Seoul, Korea - July 25, 2007: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world's largest provider of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels, announced today that it has developed the world's first LCD panel using the next-generation video interface - "DisplayPort." Sanctioned by VESA (the Video Electronics Standards Association), DisplayPort will serve as a replacement for DVI, LVDS and eventually VGA. For Samsung's new 30-inch LCD, the DisplayPort interface transmits graphics data at a total data rate of 10.8Gbps. This speed enables 2560x1600 resolution without any color smear. By using a transmission speed more than double that of today's interfaces, Samsung's new LCD only requires a single DisplayPort interface, instead of the two DVI (Digital Visual Interface) ports now used. In a joint undertaking with Genesis Microchip Inc. (Santa Clara, California), Samsung developed its 30" panel using a new four-lane, 2.7Gbps/lane interface chip. The interface technology processes 2560x1600 pixels of graphics data at up to 10 bits of color depth or 1.07 billion colors, a feat that would normally require at least three DVI or four LVDS interface chips. "We are pleased to be the first LCD manufacturer in the world to create a panel with a DisplayPort interface," said Brian Berkeley, vice president, Samsung LCD Business, who is leading the company's DisplayPort development efforts. "We have received many inquiries from computer integrators interested in DisplayPort-based LCD panels, which prompted an acceleration of our R&D for this first DisplayPort LCD panel." Samsung was the only LCD panel maker participating in the original DisplayPort working (standards) group formed in 2004. Samsung's new 30" LCD also offers the company's proprietary Super Patterned Vertical Alignment (S-PVA) liquid crystal technology for 180 viewing angle, and 300nits brightness. Mass production of the 30-inch panel is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2008. Specifications: Display size: 30" Resolution: WQXGA (2,560 x 1,600 pixels) Response time: 6ms Viewing angle: 180 /180 Contrast ratio: 1000:1 Mode: S-PVA Brightness: 300 nits Colors: 16,777,000 Color saturation: 100% Interface: DisplayPort

[Samsung Press Release]

Those crazy videoheads at VESA have approved the final version of DisplayPort 1.1 that was announced at CES '07. And while we thought it was yet another new connector for your computer, monitors, TVs and projectors, different to every other video port out there and obviously designed to confuse everyone, apparently VESA says "it's a new roadmap for display connectivity convergence."

According to the Gizmodo Dictionary Of Marketing Drone Speak, "display convergence" means "something that is different from HDMI but that includes the same HDCP 1.3 digital content protection that neither the consumer nor some other companies want, and requires stupid dongles to connect to all displays because nobody supports it yet."

More baffling details after the jump.

DisplayPort 1.1 is the size of a "small USB connector", whatever that means, consumes "less energy," whatever that means, offers "higher performance than dual link DVI at 10.8Gbps," whatever that means, and has optional audio support, which I know what it means and makes absolutely no sense. Hopefully, it will be as ignored as DisplayPort 1.0 and everyone will just use HDMI, which currently can support any current monitor's highest resolutions (up to 3.200x2.048), even while it tops at 10.2Gbps. – Jesus Diaz

Press release [VESA]