DisplayPort's back -- with Dell, HP, and Lenovo
By Ryan Block 
posted May 4th 2006 7:05AM
posted May 4th 2006 7:05AM
Ruh roh, just when you knew for a fact you
were all settled in with the latest generation of video interconnects for your laptops and peripherals, then VESA comes
along and gets three of the most influential companies in the PC business, Dell, HP, and Lenovo, to rally behind its new video interface: DisplayPort. Ok,
so it's not that new (we wrote about it last
year), but it looks like it's finally ready to rumble starting May 8th. We called up VESA to get the skinny on the
port, and they were kind enough to hit us up with that graphic and the following deets: it'll not be backward
compatible with with DVI / VGA (ouch), it'll have wire-line encryption developed by Philips -- that's not compatible
with HDCP (double ouch), but has a very small plug and scales well
(eh). So why create DisplayPort when we've all already settled into DVI / HDMI with or without HDCP for plugging in our
plasma or LCD TVs or monitors? Well, because VESA wanted the market to have a unified, license-free video interconnect
standard that did a few things current systems don't do, like have a standard low power, low pin count, low profile
connector for use on portable device internals and external monitors alike, or scale indefinitely to resolutions, color
depths, and refresh rates possibly yet unthought of by systems integrators. Ok, fair enough, but where were these guys
in 2001, huh? You know how we feel about nascent standards trying to butt in once we've all finally gotten settled on
something decent.
MS Vista requires an HDCP compatible connector in order to display HD content on connected screens. DisplayPort doesn't do HDCP but is trying to become the standard in computer -> display connections.
Surely there is a big issue here.
The whole of the computer and entertainment world (which are slowly merging together in terms of content and devices) are slowly but surely moving towards High Definition, and now a brand new connector wants to become the industry standard but purposely doesn't support HDCP (the only agreed HD standard).
It seems a very strange thing to do.
I know that not everyone is going to be interested in HD, but at least with DVI/HDMI connections you are able to take advantage of it if you want to, whereas using this connector means you are consciously locking yourself out of viewig HDCP protected content (ie most HD sources).
You forgot to talk about UDI (Unified Display Interface) currently beeing developped by Intel to replace both DVI and HDMI, and supported by Silicon Image Inc., Apple, LG, Samsung and NVIDIA.. And UDI is compatible with DVI, HDMI and HDCP.
Version 0.8 of the UDI specification has already been published, with version 1.0 due in Q2 2006.
Unified Display Interface SIG web site : http://www.udisig.org
... and I forgot National Semiconductor, Analogix Semiconductor, FCI Connect, Foxconn, Redmere Technologies, JAE Electronics, Sure-Fire Electronics, THine Electronics, and the most important: ATI Technologies.
Moreover, Intel, NVIDIA and ATI make video-out for the PC graphic cards (but not VESA, Dell, HP nor Lenovo behing DisplayPort). Samsung is the world leader in LCD HDTV market. I think UDI will easily win against DP.
Why would anyone want encryption on a display cable??? Does anyone else find this silly? Unless the divices on both ends ane also secure (and we all know that computers arent) and the content cannot be copied any other way why would anyone want to get the data out of the display cable?
Apart from that yeah it's great... apart from the fact that it's not backwards compatible... but its good that it's small especially for things like iPods, Palms etc...
and Smartphones.....
those DVI ports are freaking huge. this is a good thing. And I'm sure there will be adapters to DVI/HDMI/VGA.
UDISIG == win!
Here's the reasons why companies NEED to move to a new display connector...
1) VGA is dated, has pins that can be damaged, and it's bulky.
2) DVI is EXPENSIVE due to the number of pins.
3) HDMI is a better alternative since it supplies plenty of bandwidth, can carry audio, is backwards compatible with DVI, and it supports HDCP. It's also quickly becoming the standard for digital tv hookups.
DisplayPort is kind of silly because it's hard for the average idiot (consumer) to distinguish from HDMI and doesn't support HDCP. While I would love to see an open DRM-less standard for display connections, some content providers (coughhollywoodcough) won't support it.
UDI has a better shot, but I don't see why they are resisting moving to HDMI. It's the smartest route since it's backwards compatible with DVI and fairly easy to convert to VGA... meaning that it will be compatible with every monitor out there.
These "standards" aren't about "compatibility"... it's about MONEY. Whoever designs a standard which becomes dominant (i.e. Microsoft), they reap the financial rewards.
Sony invested too much in R&D to develop Blu-Ray disc for them to give in and support HD-DVD.
The main reason we have the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD format war is because whoever wins standands to make a lot of money because they hold the patents.
With that said, did you know that WIntel software/hardware powers the current crop of HD-DVD players? They run WindowsCE, which is why the players take so long to boot. It'll be interesting to see what Blu-Ray players run on. All I know at this point is that the software is Java-based.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort
--
DisplayPort includes a DPCP (DisplayPort Content Protection), which uses 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard encryption, with secure modern ciphers. It also features full authentication and session key establishment (each encryption session is independent). There is an independent revocation system. This portion of the standard is licensed separately.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Display_Interface
--
...and includes a form of digital rights management (DRM) known as High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP). Windows Vista, the upcoming version of the Microsoft Windows operating system, will require DRM for playback of protected HD content. Otherwise, such content will be scaled down to DVD quality or 480p.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDCP
--
High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) is a form of digital rights management (DRM) developed by the Intel Corporation to control digital audio and video content as it travels across Digital Visual Interface (DVI) or High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) connections. The HDCP specification is proprietary and an implementation of HDCP requires a license.
HDCP is licensed by Digital Content Protection, LLC. In addition to paying fees, licensees agree to limit the capabilities of their products. High-definition digital video content is restricted to DVD quality on non-HDCP video outputs. DVD-Audio content is restricted to DAT quality on non-HDCP digital audio outputs (analog audio outputs have no quality limits). Licensees cannot allow their devices to make copies of content, and must design their products to "effectively frustrate attempts to defeat the content protection requirements."
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I see a trend here.
Well, the thing is, HDCP is not free, hence the move to DisplayPort and UDI, which both use a freely available encryption system. If you want to use HDCP you have to pay a license to Intel & friends which some companies are not happy about as it increases the cost of the product in question. That's one of the main reasons why companies want to move away from HDMI/DVI.
According to this article, it will be backwards compatible with DVI -
http://dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2154
From a customer viewpoint DisplayPort will drive DVI displays as the number of signals in both connectors is the same and the graphics subsystem will auto detect which monitor is connected to the connector (DVI/HDMI or DisplayPort) and then natively drive the right signals to the monitor.
All you need is a DisplayPort to DVI cables (similar to today's DVI to HDMI cables.