Display Port: the new kid on the block is poised to take over - Part 1 of 3

VGA, DVI, Dual-Link DVI, HDMI, and now Display Port. The display market is getting crowded with standards. I’m one of the many individuals in the computer industry who believe that the Display Port is the way of the future. Why?

Display Port was designed as an alternative to digital-display-interface incumbents HDMI (its consumer electronics competitor) and DVI (the current PC standard). It definitely improves some aspects of HDMI and DVI for certain applications. However is this enough to cause a new standard to overtake a more established interface? I think so and I think the reason can be broken down into three primary factors that I will cover in three separate posts:

• Part 1 - Cost
• Part 2 - Performance and Design
• Part 3 - Futures

Cost

Display Port lowers display-to-interface costs in several different ways:

First, Display Port avoids the annual $10,000 license fee (this was reduced from the whopping $15,000 original license fee) associated with HDMI. The HDMI license fees are on top of a per device cost royalty (estimated at four cents per device). Display Port is an open standard so there is no license fee. There are per device costs since Display Port also shares the dubious honor of supporting proprietary DRM (digital rights management). So even if HDMI and Display Port were technically equivalent to the consumer, $10,000/per year will be a significant motivator to computer parts manufacturers.

Second, Display Port consolidates both external and internal display connections with direct-drive technology (similar to the technology used in the original VGA). With Display Port monitors, there is no need for scaling circuitry within the monitor or front-end electronics. The monitor can handle frame-rate and analog-to-digital conversion. This streamlines the implementation of many tasks that are currently supported by multiple components within a computer display (saving $5 to $10 per display).

The cynic in me wonders whether these shifts in cost will actually be passed on to consumers. But regardless, they are definitely a driving factor why so many influential computer parts makers - Intel, Dell, HP, Phillips Samsung and graphics card makers AMD, Nvidia, to name just a few - back the interface and are adding it to new products. For them, Display Port is simply the smarter economic choice so there will be no going back.

While cost may be the prime motivator for computer parts manufacturers, Performance and Design is what will be of most interest to the rest of us. I'll tackle that in my next Display Port post.