Changes in the latest notebook PCs have signaled the start of an evolution toward the adoption of a new digital interface standard - DisplayPort. Most notebook chipsets now include a DisplayPort interface, and it is rapidly becoming the new standard digital interface for connecting computers to flat-panel displays. DisplayPort is replacing VGA and DVI interfaces on notebooks, home and office PCs, projectors and monitors. This article will take a closer look at the technology behind a DisplayPort receiver.
The latest trend in the electronics industry is making digital devices smaller. TVs and monitors are becoming thinner, and even notebooks are shrinking. To accommodate this trend, everything has to shrink…including the video interface. The large, bulky VGA and DVI plugs don’t fit into today’s smaller designs. The small size of a DisplayPort latching connector enables very thin notebook computers. It uses a USB-type plug-in connector instead of the pins and screws used in DVI (see Figure 1). An even smaller connector version has been introduced, called Mini DisplayPort, for use in ultra-thin mobile Internet devices, netbooks and smartphones.
Figure 1. DisplayPort vs. VGA and DVI
With the majority of the video content now generated in cinematic quality high-definition, one critical concern is protecting against high quality copies of proprietary content being illegally distributed. With that in mind, DisplayPort supports high-bandwidth digital content protection (HDCP) encryption, which encrypts the HD signals in the digital domain.
Not all videos available to view on a PC require HDCP. Most Internet content, such as YouTube and Facebook videos, are usually broadcast in enhanced definition (ED) or standard definition (SD) and are not encrypted. Also, PC games and Windows displays could generate HD-level video, but are also not encrypted.
Videos from all Blu-ray DVDs and downloaded from Netflix are in HD and therefore require HDCP-protected links to view. The HD videos that are higher than 480p and downloadable from iTunes had been encrypted and could only be viewed on HDCP-enabled DisplayPort panels. But recently, SD versions have been made available to allow non-HDCP panels to display the videos at the lower SD resolution. Since HDCP is only intended to prevent unauthorized copying of HD digital videos, viewing them at a lower resolution (480p) or with a DisplayPort-to-analog adaptor is not prohibited.
NEXT: DisplayPort Architecture
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