USB 3.0-infused DisplayLink products coming in 2010
By Darren Murph 
posted December 25th 2009 4:48PM
posted December 25th 2009 4:48PM
DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort may be enjoying the spoils right now, but the world's most popular port may just give 'em a run for their collective dollars by the end of next year. DisplayLink, which enables monitors to receive signals via USB instead of through one of the more conventional cables, has been mildly successful with USB 2.0 at the helm, but a whole new world is about to open up with the introduction of USB 3.0. As you've no doubt seen by now, the third iteration offers up over ten times the bandwidth of v2.0, which would obviously allow for great resolution support when channeling video. In reality, USB 3.0 is the first USB protocol that could support a legitimate high-def video stream, and it's expected that a prototype device will be shown at CES next month transmitting content at up to 4.8 gigabits per second. In theory, at least, USB 3.0-enabled DisplayLink would allow vast 30-inch panels to be connected to netbooks via USB without having to rely on a sub-native resolution, but then again, said netbooks will probably need a GPU with a bit more oomph than the current Ion can provide. Not like that'll be an issue for long, though.
If it will work for mini-USB that would mean lighter & cheaper HD capable smarpthones.. :D
Will this actually use GPU resources? That has been the problem of USB video devices in the past, solely using CPU resources.
@Pyronick Not with existing technology it won't use GPU resources. I do think that USB 3.0 will be huge for casual video use (i.e. connecting to video projectors for presentations). I don't think it'll be huge for day-to-day use with displays because USB as a protocol is too CPU intensive, not to mention it'll load down your PCIe bus to have the USB controller pulling the video out of video memory to put it on the USB bus.
AHHHHHHHHHHHH is that vista?
My thoughts are, how does USB 3.0 compare to the Firewire 800 in regards to speed?
@Plazmic Flame
Firewire 800 actually is spec'd to go to >3Gbps (that's gigabits per sec) = roughly 400MBps (megaBYTEs per sec), which is the same as USB3 after accounting for protocol overhead. This raises the question, why was this not done with Firewire 800 already, or the earlier Firewire 400 before that which is faster than USB 2.0 and certainly fast enough to drive 1080p? Actually one can find old web articles talking about just that – driving monitors with Firewire 400 – as far back as 2002. I'm sure there's some good reason related to video cards; I'd be happy if somebody knowledgeable could chime in.
@bauhausrules I'm guessing it's because USB uses a controller-host model of communication where as firewire uses peer-peer. This means that firewire devices essentially act as independent devices communicating over a network. This wouldn't really be good for something like a monitor because there would be a lot more overhead.
My question about this is I wonder if USB3 will have the same problems USB2 has over firewire; namely, sustained transfer rate vs burst transfer rate.
The question is why this is being done at all. USB is not for piping video to monitors. WTF? A friggin' VGA connection is better than this.
What a waste. And with the legendary "consumer confusion", this name is sure to hurt DisplayPort.
Please expand on the details if possible. "would allow vast 30-inch panels to be connected to netbooks via USB" doesn't really tell anyone anything. As long as the screen is over about 15" you can get 1920x1080 or larger resolutions, which would give you about 3840x2160 about in a 30", which I doubt it would be able to do at maximum speed.
So, is HDMI already dead?
@ju1bxmmh I wouldn't be surprised if v1.4x was the last version we see of it. I was just getting used to it as well.
@ju1bxmmh
HDMI is definitely not dead. I don't see USB connects carrying audio and video like HDMI so it's definitely not dead.
From the linked article:
DisplayLink has also backed off from its once-ambitious plans to battle DisplayPort and HDMI in the PC market.
"We were trying to make USB video the primary solution for desktop machines, but the market has changed a bit towards notebooks and netbooks, so why fight the trend?" Crespo said. "We're now squarely focused on making USB video the solution for your second or third screen."
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So it's for extra displays using USB3 as a virtual PCIe slot as it were.
NO. USB is for mice, keyboards, and modems.
Not even for hard drives, and sure as hell not for VIDEO!
For current 1080p even USB 3.0 is overkill, throughput is arround 4Gbps while max throughput for HDMI is cca. 2x that or arround 10 Gbps. http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com/hdmi-cables.html
For clarification on displaylink:
The DisplayLink network graphics technology is composed of Virtual Graphics Card (VGC) software that is installed on a PC and a Hardware Rendering Engine (HRE) embedded or connected to a display device. The DisplayLink VGC software is based on a proprietary adaptive graphics technology. The VGC software runs on a Windows or Mac OS X host PC and takes information from the graphics adapter and compresses the changes to the display from the last update and sends it over any standard network including USB, Wireless USB, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi. After receiving the data, the HRE then transforms it back into pixels to be displayed on the monitor.
There is a DisplayLink-supported open source project called libdlo with the goal of bringing support to Linux and other platforms There are also unofficial reverse-engineered specifications available.
source: wikipedia.org
So it's NOT about replacing the normal connectors like HDMI or displayport with USB3 but to enable extra monitors using extra hardware and USB3, and that would primarily be interesting for laptops since ATI now put that 3/6 monitor stuff on their graphicscards negating a need for displaylink in desktop setups.
Can you say "DisplayLink USB 3.0 GPU?"
Eventually, a computer will just be a box with USB ports.
And then if we get superfast WiFi and the ability to pair devices like bluetooth......... well......... the future does look quite rosy :)
No we'll get cloudcomputing where only balmer and jobs get to own devices and we can read about them with our web-only boxes, provided we pay a monthly fee :/
I liked it, I want to buy it, I can not wait more, Thanks to share me.
Bowtrol
Sounds like this will go well with windows multipoint 2010
I would have a use for this... adding a third monitor to my PC.. most cards don't come with enough ports and having to buy 2 is irritating and often buggy, especially if the cards are 2 different types (one high-end, one cheap low-end one purely for ports++).
The less different ports out there to deal with, the happier I am. Video ports are a mess at the moment with VGA/DVI-D/DVI-I/HMDI/that new version of HDMI that won't be backcompatible/DisplayPort etc.
I like how this tech doesn't force people into anything.. you want another monitor, add on a usb one..and if you don't the port is still useful for a billion other things.
Video ports with the exception of HDMI and minidisplayport are also way too chunky.. I hate the whacking great ugly VGA output that I never use sticking out the side of my laptop.. and it's really hard to buy one without one of those dinosaur ports sticking out of it.
"the whacking great ugly VGA output that I never use sticking out the side"
Now really, there is something called overdoing it, whacking big, sticking out, come on now.
And you can buy colorful plastic covers for ports incidentally, if it's so ugly in your eyes, or you can make your own, you are a human, top-of-the-line species who can use tools.
@Wwhat
So far all my species' evolution has allowed me to master is the art of sticking black tape over all of the annoying blinding LEDs that turn most gadgets into an irritating imitation of xmas tree lights. Making covers for the clunky monstrosities that are VGA ports are far beyond the ability of my clumsy digits.
Yes, I'm also one of those people who also hates loud ticking clocks, don't try to rationalise a fruitloop. :P
@(Unverified) Some people still use those connectors to hook up to projectors and such. On my netbook the plastic part connector is the same colour as the case, making it less noticeable.
I can't wait for USB 3.0. Performance improvements have long been needed on USB, and I'm surprised it's taken this long. And as far as using USB for monitors, I'm not surprised. It's become the dominate means of connection for everything else. It does sort of muddle the waters for HDMI. And DisplayPort... is anyone really using DisplayPort? And was anyone really asking for yet another interface that's unlike anything else we already have/support? At least with USB 3.0, it would be backwards compatible.
Geez, what the heck happened to VGA? I'm still using it for my Xbox 360 and the picture is incredibly crisp, even for HD gaming. The only downsides I can see are a fairly large plug by modern standards and separate stereo outs.