DisplayPort: screen to 33 metres

The VESA association, which manages the DisplayPort standard, has just announced that the 1.2 standard (already used in some units) was able to operate with "active" cables and that the length of the latter can reach 33 metres. Currently, it is limited at best 15 metres with current solutions.

Assets, liabilities, links

DisplayPort, one must distinguish between several things. First, the current cables are so-called "passive", that the flow is generated by the graphics card and the cable is the transmission. With "active" cable, there is a chip in the cable that will manage the transmission and adapt the power of the signal distance. The chip is usually powered by the graphics card or screen, but supplied with USB solutions are possible.

Then there is the link: the DisplayPort can reach 17 Gigabit/s of bandwidth, or about 4 times more than the DVI (limited to 3.96 Gigabit/s). This bandwidth is actually composed of several aggregated "links", which has benefits at the level of consumption: it is possible to disable the unused links to limit power. And reduce the number of links by increasing the power function allows to increase the scope of the cables. Typically, four links (the maximum) are limited to about 3 metres while with only one link (sufficient for 1,920 x 1,080) is reached 15 metres.

With the Active cables, should reach 33 metres, without that it knows the number of usable links at this distance. It is interesting in a particular case as the walls of images: as DisplayPort 1.2 allows to feed several screens, may use Active cables to place multiple displays at a distance high machine without interfering with the quality of the image (for example).

Remains to verify compatibility with existing equipment and the price of the cables.

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