DisplayPort Explained

By / April 6th, 2017 / There are currently 0 comments

DisplayPort is quite confusing and we have a number of products to meet your DisplayPort needs. First of all lets take a look at what it is..

DisplayPort is a digital display interface developed by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). The interface is primarily used to connect a video source to a display device such as a computer monitor, though it can also be used to carry audio, USB, and other forms of data.

VESA designed it to replace the common connections of VGA and DVI. DisplayPort is backward compatible with VGA, DVI and HDMI through the use of passive and active adapters.

There is confusion of DisplayPort versions such v1.0, v1.1, v1.2, v1.3 and v1.4. No need to worry about v1.3 as there is not much on the market or v1.4 as it won’t be appearing on the market in the near future considering the take up of v1.3.

The main difference between them all is bandwidth and greater screen resolution. This also applies to mini DisplayPort which as it sounds, it is a smaller connector with the same support or is it?

Transmission distances for DisplayPort are far smaller than HDMI, between 3mtr and 15mtr you can expect to get 1080p only and full bandwidth such as 4k up to 3mtr depending on the awg of the cable. Cables are not classified by version numbers, they just need to be built to the DisplayPort cable spec.

To keep things simple, thicker core wires provide more bandwidth.

Complications creep in when you are looking at the adapters, the adapters have to be compliant with the version numbers and some are passive while other are active. A lot of the adapters available are used for multi-display setups used by computer gamers. Due to the setup of multi-displays, cable quality is important as bandwidth is needed.

Mini DisplyPort is exactly the same but due to it having a smaller connector, the awg has to be thinner and therefore full bandwidth will only be found in small lengths.