DisplayPort - CompTIA A+ 220-1101 – 1.5

Let’s have a look at DisplayPort.

What is DisplayPort?
DisplayPort is a standard that supports the transfer of video and audio. It was released in 2007 by the Video Electronics Standards Association, otherwise known as VESA. VESA is a royalty-free standard. Essentially this means that, in order to put a DisplayPort into a device, you are not required to pay a fee. However, a yearly membership is required to get the specifications for the standard. You are allowed to manufacture as many devices as you want using that standard without paying any additional costs.

DisplayPort comes in two different connector types. The standard connector is the larger of the two, while the second is the mini-DisplayPort connector. This is often used in Apple computers. There is no difference to the connector’s features and abilities other than the size of the connector.

The DisplayPort protocol can also travel over a USB-C connection. Thus, you will see some monitors with a USB-C connector. Thunderbolt is also able to transfer video using DisplayPort. Thunderbolt uses a Type-C connector, thus if you have a Thunderbolt port you should be able to use it for video. On some computers, you may need to use a short video cable to connect the Thunderbolt card to the video card.

You will notice that when I look at a DisplayPort cable, it has a locking mechanism built into the cable. Essentially, there are two small pieces of protruding metal edge to hold the cable in place. When plugging in the cable, it will plug in quite easily; however, to unplug the cable you will need to push down on the unlocking mechanism at the top. If you attempt to remove the cable without pushing down, the cable won’t come out. The cable comes out easily if you push down on the top of the cable. Take care to do this before removing the cable, as you may damage the connector if you attempt to pull the cable out while the locking mechanism is still engaged.

DisplayPort Versions
I will now have a look at the different versions of DisplayPort. There are a lot of improvements between versions. The most important feature for most people will be the resolution supported. You can see that when we get up to version 1.2, we have already reached 4k resolution at 60 Hertz. At present, this should be good enough for most users.

Version 1.2 also introduces a new feature called Multi-Stream Transport or MST. This essentially allows multiple monitors to be daisy-chained together and connected to the same video card. Although, for reasons I will go into later in the video, I don’t think you will come across this too often, but CompTIA talks about it, so let’s take a look.

Version 1.4 introduces data compression and thus you may be able to get a higher resolution than the cable supports by using this compression. Version 2.0 has not seen much market adoption – you will find some new video cards using 1.4, but not many using 2.0 as of now. Given that 2.0 can run 8k at 60 hertz, I don’t think we will see it that much for a few years, as there are not many monitors on the market that support 8K just yet.

Generally, when purchasing video cards or monitors you will look at the resolution it supports. DisplayPort is backward compatible, so having a higher version won’t be a problem. The important point is to ensure that you use the correct cables and settings. If your device is set to a lower version than required, you may not be able to use the resolution you want or the hertz rate will drop.

References
“The Official CompTIA A+ Core Study Guide (Exam 220-1101)” pages X to X
“Dell UltraSharp U2417H

Credits

[dikkmartin]

The graphic shown at 5:46 (4x Full HD 1080) is misleading, because 4x 1920 × 1080 would result in 7680 × 4320, which is an 8K resolution, not a 4K.

[dikkmartin]

Using the correct cables (as stated at 3:25) is moot, because all DisplayPort cables support all versions of DisplayPort.

[vladislavkaras]

Speaking about MST, I have some questions:
1) Can the DP out port can be both DP in and out? And if not, I guess then you cannot use DP in for daisy chaining and and DP out for connecting the monitor to the PC.
2) Are DP in and out ports are marked somehow differently or is it up to the manufacturer of the PC?
3) If we are using either DP splitter or daisy-chaining monitors, do the OS & GPU drivers have to support it or is just just plug and play?

Otherwise, really great video explaining things, thank you!