DisplayPort Monitor Interface to future proof industrial
display solutions
Nick How, CEO of GPEG international Ltd, outlines how the new display interface standard will
impact on more traditional industrial and professional applications.
Looked at the back of a PC recently? Chances are you will have spotted the “DP” or “DisplayPort”
logo appear over the past year or so. According to the industry standards body VESA, more than 90%
of commercial desktops and notebooks will have DisplayPort video interfaces as soon as 2014,
heralding the arrival of yet another connector standard and further extending the gap between
commercial and industrial PC-driven display applications.
Given that DisplayPort could soon be the display interface standard of choice instead of more
traditional standards, what impact will it have on OEMs and other volume users and will it be able to
meet future demands for higher quality video output?
Why launch yet another video standard?
Following the recent implementation of high definition panel technology, with increasingly larger
pixel counts and frame frequency, old standards such as VGA and DVI are starting to show their
limitations. In addition, Intel and AMD expect that analogue display outputs such as Video Graphics
Array (VGA) and the low voltage differential signalling technology (LVDS) panel interface would no
longer be supported in their product lines by 2015. HDMI has been widely adopted in the AV market
for HD but is commercially expensive to implement, mechanically bulky and comes with limited
physical range of data transmission before the use of boosters is required.
TFT panel manufacturers have clearly indicated and are reacting to end user demands for greater
image quality and clarity – including industrial markets such as medical, instrumentation, vision
systems, digital signage and automation. They have met these challenges through a combination of
three main technical improvements:
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Higher pixel count (so called 4k display with a horizontal pixel count of near or in excess
of 4,000 pixels)
Faster frame frequency (100Hz or in some cases up to 240Hz panels)
Deeper colour depth (24bit or even 48bit colour as compared to 18bit)
The volume of bandwidth demanded by such applications meant a new standard was required to
meet the latent and future needs of such panel offerings.
Display Port 1.2a
Supported by industry giants such as
Intel, AMD, Samsung and LG, VESA
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GPEG International Ltd
created a licence free model that would be backwards compatible with older systems but be able to
future proof foreseeable demands for higher quality video systems. In addition to supporting, and
even extending, the above key three video-related features, the standard also offers huge benefits
through its implementation in other areas. For example:




Longer distance, lossless cabling: As standard up to 15m can be accommodated without
the need for boosters. Particularly useful for digital signage and thin client applications.
Mechanical: Connector size and format has a much lower profile, yet can still be latched
at both ends of the cable run. This, in turn, enables thinner profile monitors, cable looms
and embedded solutions.
Extended i/o: You can piggy back USB, UART, HD Audio and other parallel data channels
along the same cable for monitor diagnostics, touchscreen inputs, proximity data, etc.
Power over video: The standard defines up to 1.5W of power can be made available
across the video link, useful for standby functions and remote interrupts, creating the
possibility of greener implementation of display systems.
Multi-screen implementation
One striking and nascent opportunity that
DisplayPort opens up is simple multi-screen
implementation. Unlike a VGA/DVI multiscreen set up, DisplayPort allows for the
daisy chaining of multiple displays from a
single cable. This further reduces complexity
of cabling, EMC, mechanical routing and
software support. Applications using several
large screens with subsidiary diagnostic i/o
can be implemented with ease, with or without the addition of touch input. Based on screen
resolution and the central GPU three, four or five screens can be daisy chained together, significantly
lowering the cost of multi-screen applications such as digital signage, public information, way finders
and gaming machines.
Early experiences
“What is coming to light right now,” says
Dave Webbing of GPEG International Ltd, “is
that the PC motherboard manufacturers are
starting to withdraw detailed support for
VGA/DVI solutions. It’s hard to get an
effective, stable multi-screen environment
and be confident that unforeseen changes in
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GPEG International Ltd
the future won’t disrupt complex set ups without the implementation of DisplayPort. We have made
significant investment in bringing DisplayPort to the professional and industrial monitor market
ahead of our competitors, so that compelling advantages can be given to our customers well in
advance of the major chip set makers withdrawing support for traditionally interfaced models.”
www.gpegint.com
About GPEG International Ltd.
Based in London, with offices in Milan and Taiwan and manufacturing
facilities in China and South Korea, GPEG is recognised as the largest UK
display developer. With a group turnover in excess of $45M we are
focused on delivering electronic solutions that are brighter, clearer and
easier to use. GPEG helps customers in gaming, consumer, signage and
other similar markets achieve faster time to market with more
compelling products, supported by a variety of related patents and IP.
Images:
Multi-screen and gaming images copyright Shutterstock
Tuesday, 08 October 2013
GPEG International Ltd