Video Electronic Standards Association (VESA) has just promulgated the latest version of the DisplayPort specification, replacing the previous DP 2.0 with backward compatible DP 2.1. Through long-term cooperation with member companies, VESA wants to ensure that the related hardware products can meet the updated and higher-demand DisplayPort 2.1 specifications—including GPU/dock/display scalar chips that support ultra-high bit rate (UHBR), PHY repeaters (such as re-timers chips).
(from: VESA)
also has DP40/DP80 signal cables (passive/active) and covers DP 2.1 specification certification for full-size DisplayPort, Mini DP, and USB Type-Ch connectors.
Whether it is through native DisplayPort cables, DP-Alt mode (via USB-C connector), or USB4 link tunnels, achieving a powerful end-to-end user visual experience, remains the top priority of VESA DisplayPort 2.1 specification.
In view of this, VESA strengthens the consistency of DP 2.1 with the USB-C/USB4 PHY specification to promote common PHY serving DisplayPort and USB4.
It is worth mentioning that DP 2.1 introduces a new feature of DisplayPort bandwidth management, allowing DisplayPort tunnels to coexist with other I/O data traffic more efficiently through USB4 links. The improvement in
in this regard is mainly due to the support of lossless display stream compression (DSC) codec and panel replay (Panel Replay) functions mandatory by VESA.
A Lan Kobayashi, Board of Directors and Chairman of the VESA DisplayPort task force, said:
Given the significant overlap in the use case model between DisplayPort and USB4 ecosystems, achieving greater consistency between DisplayPort and USB on a universal PHY has always been a key task for VESA.
DP 2.1 integrates DisplayPort with USB4 PHY specifications to ensure maximum video performance across a wide range of consumer products.
Even for HDR content, the higher bit rate and proven DSC display compression provide sufficient bandwidth to meet all practical application needs.
On this basis, users can drive multiple monitors through a single cable, or enable multiple functions on a single port—such as video, power supply, data transmission—without any compromises in format selection.
Finally, the advanced features of DisplayPort video interface are benefited from the valuable contributions of our more than 300 member companies from the entire electronics ecosystem.
As for the updated DP 2.1 cable specification, VESA provides greater robustness and enhancements for full-size and Mini DisplayPort cable configurations.
thus improves connectivity and longer-distance usage experience without reducing UHBR - DP40 can exceed 2 meters, and DP80 can exceed 1 meter.
● VESA certified DP40 cable: up to UHBR10 link rate (10 Gbps) @ quad-channel, throughput 40 Gbps.
● VESA certified DP80 cable: maximum UHBR20 link rate (20 Gbps) @ quad-channel, throughput 80 Gbps.
