What is the DisplayPort port

Today we are going to continue with the series of articles on video connectors that we can find in the vast majority of our devices. The next thing we're going to touch on is the DisplayPort. Although the HDMI is the most common of the three, the DisplayPort is entering the market with force and possibly, the ones that have most opted for this connector are Apple and AMD.
- ✔️【Designed for Gaming】: Displayport 1.2 cable with 165Hz refresh rate provides super smooth gaming experience in First Person Shooter (FPS) and Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games. It also fully works with FreeSync and G-Sync.
- ✔️【Immersive 4K Video & Audio】: UltraHD 4K @ 60Hz offers higher resolution and detail compared to Full HD (1080p). Supports UHD 4K (3840x2160 @ 60Hz), 2K (2560x1440 @ 165Hz), 3D Surround, DTS-HD and Dolby Audio, providing a cinematic experience for home entertainment or gaming.
- ✔️ 【VESA Certified】 It also meets the high standards of the DisplayPort 1.2 standard guidelines and is officially certified by VESA. Since pin # 20 is not used (according to VESA specification), there is no risk of short circuits.
- ✔️ 【Quality Assurance】: Before leaving the factory, all cables have passed more than 15.000 plug and unplug tests. Superior 28AWG copper and 24K gold connectors ensure flawless video. No dropouts, no random flashes, no white dots, and Plug & Play.
- ✔️【For office, home and entertainment】: So you can work comfortably at home. Connect your desktop/laptop to HD TV, monitor, display, gaming graphics card to get high definition video and ultra clear audio. Easily create a desktop extension or mirror screen. Backwards compatible with the DP1.2/1.1/1.1a standard.
Table of Contents
Introduction
This connector has been developed by the Association for Electronic Video Standards (VESA). VESA was born in 1988 by the company NEC Corporation and they are in charge of several connectors that have been standardized, but in addition, they are also the ones that make the standards for monitor mounts, called Flat Display Mounting Interface. Compact computers such as the Intel NUC often refer to VESA because they can be installed behind monitors with attachments. Wall fittings also include this rating.
Regarding the DisplayPort, we have that this connector is a free license and without guns. This standard is intended for the transmission of video from the computer to the monitor. Not only does it support video streaming, it also enables audio streaming for home entertainment systems, and it also supports sending data, just like a USB port.

General features
Currently this cable competes directly with the HDMI, in addition to also having an option system against copying called DisplayPort Content Protection (DPCP). The company that first opted for this connector was AMD, who began to introduce it in 2007 in its products. Not only AMD has made a strong commitment to this connector, there are also very important companies that have added this connector to their products, such as AMD, Intel, Dell, Lenovo, Molex, NVIDIA, Apple, Samsung or Philips, as the most representative.
Versions
DisplayPort 1.0
It came to the market as a great high-performance solution offering a maximum data transmission speed of 10.8Gb / s and supporting a resolution of 1440p @ 60Hz (2560 × 1440) for high-resolution and performance monitors. This connector is 8B / 10B encoded for data transmission. Supports 6-bit, 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit, and 16-bit colors per component.
Regarding the bandwidth of this connector, the maximum resolutions are limited to three meters of cable length and admits a maximum of fifteen meters, yes, greatly reducing the resolution to 1080p. It not only supports DPCP, it also supports HDCP of HDMI in version 1.1 onwards.

DisplayPort 1.2
DisplayPort was revised in 2010, a few years after being implemented and has been to improve it a lot. The highlight is the data transmission, which has gone from 10.8Gb / s in the standard starts to double, with 21.6Gb / s thanks to High Bit Rate 2 (HBR2). Not only that, we have gone from a simple monitor to being able to use two monitors through a single cable with a maximum resolution of 2560 × 1600 pixels and supports up to four displays with a single cable and a resolution of 1920 × 1200 pixels.
Video and audio transmission through multiple channels has also been added, adding to this using high definition formats such as DTS HD, Dolby MAT and BD formats. This new connector offers 3D video support, this being the emission of double the frames for HD3D screens with a maximum of 240fps in 1080p resolution. This means that we can connect a 3D monitor with a maximum resolution of 2560 × 1600 pixels working at 120Hz. It also allows data transfer, such as USB ports, with a bandwidth of 720Mbps.

DisplayPort 1.3
This connector was revised in September 2014 and significant improvements were added to it. This connector had a bandwidth of 32.4Gbps, thanks to the HBR3 mode that allows transporting 8.1Gbps per lane. This allows this connector to support 4K UHD @ 120Hz, 5K @ 60Hz, and up to 8K UHD @ 30Hz. Thanks to MST technology, it allows watching video on two 4K UHD @ 60Hz screens and up to four WQXGA @ 60Hz screens. It also has support for DVI and HDMI 2.0
DisplayPort 1.4
It has been introduced very recently, in March 2016. There are no variations in terms of data transfer speed, which is still 32.4Gbps. The novelty is that this update adds support for Display Stream Compression 1.2 (DSC), Forward Error Connection, HDR 10 with defined extension CTA-861.3. DSC technology is a 'lossless' encoding technology with a maximum 3: 1 compression ratio. By using DSC with HBR3, the resolutions it supports have been improved, with support for 8K UHD @ 60Hz and 4K UHD @ 120Hz.

DisplayPort 2.0
The new standard has been developed to provide support for 8K @ 60Hz resolutions with HDR and 30-bit panel color. It also supports 10K uncompressed resolutions with 24-bit panel color and up to 16K with image compression. It offers us a bandwidth of 80Gbps, although effective will be 77.4Gbps.
This port can be used for video or data transfer, since it is based on the Thunderbird 3.0 standard. So the DisplayPort USB Type-C format will allow video output and / or data transfer. It will not begin to be implemented until the end of 2020.
Supported resolutions:
- A monitor
- Resolution 16K (15360 x 8460) @ 60 Hz at 10 bits with 4: 4: 4 and HDR (with DSC)
- Resolution 10K (10240 x 4320) @ 60 Hz at 8 bits with 4: 4: 4 (without DSC)
- Two monitors
- Resolution 8K (7680 x 4320) @ 120 Hz and 10 bits with 4: 4: 4 and HDR (with DSC)
- 4K resolution (3840 x 2160) @ 144 Hz and 8-bit with 4: 4: 4 (without DSC)
- Three monitors
- Resolution 10K (10240 x 4320) @ 60 Hz at 10 bits with 4: 4: 4 and HDR (with DSC)
- 4K resolution (3840 x 2160) @ 90 Hz at 10 bits with 4: 4: 4 and HDR (without DSC)
DisplayPort AltMode 2.0
DisplayPort 2.0 port upgrade with sSupport for USB4 standard via physical USB Type-C connection. It should be noted that the USB4 standard will be based on the Thunderbolt 3 standard. It will have the same bandwidth as DisplayPort 2.0 and will support the same range of resolutions.
- The DP to DP cable transmits high definition video and audio simultaneously from any equipped DisplayPort to an advanced HDTV, monitor or projector. Flawless Audio Pass-thru for uncompressed digital 7.1, 5.1 or 2 channels.
- Supports video resolutions up to 4K (3840 x 2160, Ultra HD) and 1080P (Full HD), and flawless pass-through audio for uncompressed 7.1, 5.1 or 2 digital channels
- High performance, made of triple shielding, 28 AWG OFC copper and gold plated contacts to ensure interference-free signal transmission with a release button for easy and secure connection;
- Nylon braided material and gold-plated connectors to ensure superior durability and functionality under heavy use. The high-quality aluminum housing effectively maximizes heat dissipation.
- We offer 18 months warranty for this Displayport cable. Please don't hesitate to contact us for a replacement if you have any quality issues within the warranty.
mini DisplayPort
Apple is the developer of this solution and made it for their laptops, especially. It was in 2008 and it is available in the Apple Cinema Display LED and in all Macintosh, such as MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro and Xserve. It was in 2009 when VESA accepted this connector and made it a standard within the DisplayPort specifications. Companies like Microsoft, Lenovo, Toshiba, HP and Dell have implemented these connectors in their laptops.
This new connector has a maximum resolution of 2560 × 1600 (WQXGA) and if this is mini DisplayPort in its revision 1.2 it supports 4K resolution. Not only that, this connector through an adapter can connect with VGA, DVI and HDMI displays. The rest of the parameters and characteristics are the same as the DisplayPort.

Comparative
STANDARD | BANDWIDTH | EFFECTIVE BANDWIDTH | RESOLUTIONS |
DisplayPort 1.0 | 10.8Gbps | 8.64Gbps | 1440p@60Hz |
DisplayPort 1.2 | 21.6Gbps | 17.28Gbps | 4K@60Hz |
DisplayPort 1.3 | 32.4Gbps | 25.92Gbps | 4K@120Hz 5K@60Hz 8K@30Hz |
DisplayPort 1.4 | 32.4Gbps | 25.92Gbps | 4K@120Hz 5K@60Hz 8K@60Hz |
DisplayPort 2.0 | 80.0Gbps | 77.4Gbps | 4K@144HzHDR 2x 5K@60Hz 8K@60HzHDR 16K@60Hz SDR |
DisplayPort AltMode 2.0 | 80.0Gbps | 77.4Gbps | 4K@144HzHDR 8K@60HzHDR 10K@60Hz 16K@60Hz SDR |
Why are there more DisplayPort ports than HDMI on graphics cards?
That there are a greater number of DisplayPort ports is because an HDMI port requires paying a royalty. As the HDMI port It is widely used and widespread, due to commercial pressure they must put it, even if it is a single port. In order to have several image outputs from the same graphics card, they choose to put a DisplayPort port, which is a royalty free standard. This can also be carried to monitors, although not so much to televisions.
Conclusion
It is not yet one of the most used in the market, far from it, but it has great power and can be a substitute for HDMI. This connector has enough potential for Virtual Reality, which uses this connector mostly, due to the high bandwidth of the connector. 3D also benefits from this connector, as it supports a large data flow, improving the experience in this field. That it allows to transfer data is another important factor of this connector, although it is limited in this aspect because it is a flow similar to that of USB 2.0 ports, which are now obsolete by USB 2.0.