The 5 Big Problems with DisplayPort 2.1

DisplayPort 2.1 is the latest generation of DisplayPort connectivity that is slowly making its way to the display market, but there are 5 major problems with it that we need to talk about.

These are not widely understood and there’s a lot of hype and misinformation about this new connection, so we’ll try and explain in detail what the problems are, the key things you need to understand and look out for, and also tackle the question as to why DP 2.1 hasn’t really been used much so far.

========================
*PURCHASING*

Relevant products mentioned:

========================
*USEFUL LINKS*

========================
*OUR TEST SYSTEM*

Our thanks to the following manufacturers for support in the build of our new test system (includes affiliate links):

========================
*FOLLOW US FOR UPDATES, NEWS AND CONTENT*

========================
*TIMESTAMPS*

00:00 Intro and what DP 2.1 is, and offers
05:28 1) Not all DisplayPort 2.1 connections are the same
09:14 2) Open to abuse and "fake DP 2.1" connections
10:31 3) Source devices just aren't ready yet
13:11 4) Scalers aren't as common either
13:59 5) Cables are very limited
17:59 Wrap up, summary and thoughts on the future use of DP 2.1

========================

[Echo-Head]

It's sad how hard they dropped the ball on standardizing the actual cable spec, allowing sellers to get away with using the DP 2.1 branding without supporting the full bandwidth of the spec.

[grospoulpe]

I'm not surprised; for example, in the past, we had "HD ready" display, and then "Full HD".
Now, I guess, we would have "DP 2.1 ready", and then "Full DP 2.1" or something...

[vicveco]

PS5 labels 8K in their boxes—what do you expect? They'll do anything to increase sales, even tell the "half truth."

[michaelkreitzer]

“Visually lossless” is a slimy term. It’s no wonder people don’t trust it. It’s like calling mp3 “aurally lossless”.

[MaxLebled]

What a trainwreck of a specification this is... thanks for shining a light on it!

[MNaka-ufyz]

HDMI forum: We f*ed the HDMI 2.1 specs at launch.
VESA: Hold my beer!

[ZylonFPV]

One thing not mentioned here that Wendell (level 1 techs) has mentioned.. the cables. Apparently even the displayport connector is a limiting factor, and AMD has made some kind of Mini DisplayPort connector for its Pro level graphics cards which support 2.1. It apparently handles the signal much better. He did a video on it.

[NeoNyder]

Thank you for such a clearly explained no nonsense video covering this confusing topic, very helpful.

[ZylonFPV]

What an absolute mess. How can anyone with common sense have created this standard? It’s like USB… what a mess that is too!

[BurningDrake]

Dsc is not always that great, for some reason on my odissey oled g6 when I enable 10bit at both 240hz and 360hz I get a green tint, constant and there is nothing I can do about it. So if I want to use HDR I have to set it at 120hz which is a bit disappointing.

[bo]

Brilliant Explanations! Exactly what i was looking for.

[marsovac]

Why hasn't the industry adopted an optical connection for displays?
2 meters of OM5 optical cable that supports 100Gbps costs about 18$, which is cheaper than a hypothetical 2 meter DP2.1 80 cable.
And optical cables can go hundreds of feet it length.
The transcievers use about 4 watts of power, so that is not the reason.
Probably the cost of transcievers then?

[imadecoy.]

It's worth mentioning that losing Nvidia features (DSR, DLDSR, etc.) has nothing to do with DSC. It's entirely to do with hitting the pixel rate that causes the GPU to use more than one display head (of a total 4 on the card) for that output. This is why sometimes the features are available with DSC and sometimes not. It probably also causes the extended black flickering issue.

Monitors Unboxed covered this in their DP 2.1 video.

[davidschaub]

So the answer is:

- VESA should release a real DP standard that stops everything being optional;

- people should stop buying Nvidia cards;

- and it is going to be freaking forever for USB4v2/TB5 120 Gbps display connections are running (maybe outside of Apple).

[TroyFlaro]

I made a comment on the review video for the PG27AQDP thinking I understood but of course I didn't. Thank you for explaining this and I apologize for my ignorant comment even if you may not remember. I will do better next time rather than make assumptions about things I've read somewhere on the internet

[NameUserOf]

Display Port introduces new standard with confusing names
USB: First time?

[duncanny]

The abuse happening is automatic. No question. the system has been actively designed to be confusing and easy to obfuscate and use in misleading marketing. Sadly not surprised. these codes and standards to afford deception seem to be the desired standard in all modern updates.

[AngelicStreak]

Wow, they certainly do know how to mess and mud things up! Thanks for the heads up!

[Raivo_K]

I think we also have toke account t the price of the monitor. I dont expect, nor need DP 2.1 80Gbps on a 200€ monitor. I doubt thing most other people do either.
But buying a monitor that has top end specs and that costs over 1000€ should also come with the newest standard and appropriate cable included in the box (looking at you Sony).

When a monitor already costs 1000+ the costs of the scaler and cable becomes much less of an issue.
People buying such high end monitors are not going to skip on it because it's 50-200 more expensive.
They may however skip it if it has deficiencies in the specs compared to it's competitors.

[darrendavies]

So it looks like the 5090 will have 2.1 display port. Will the GIGABYTE AORUS FO32U2P the one to buy