MiniDisplay Port to HDMI Cables "Unlicensed" and Cannot Be Sold

[eric_n_dfw]

DP on Dells

FWIW, We just bought a bunch of somewhat high-end Dell workstations and all came with video cards having dual display ports (we ended up having to use a pair of DP->DVI adapters for the cheap monitors we use, but no big deal there) Even the low-end, commodity Dell desktop machines are coming with VGA + DP now too.

In fact, every video card option they seem to have includes DP: http://content.dell.com/us/en/business/d/help-me-choose/hmc-precision-video-card.aspx?ref=CFG

As for laptops, it seems their XPS line has mDP and as others have said, other manufactures are including it too.

Apple loves mDP because they have less and less room on their laptops, especially with the way MB Air's are selling - I bet the next Air has a Thunderport/mDP port maybe 1 USB2 port. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see a pair of Thunderport ports only with a Thunderport->USB adapter available. (would allow mouse or keyboard to plug in w/out daisy chaining it to a hard drive)

 

[jonnysods]

eBay.

'nuff said.

 

[AidenShaw]

... I'm not a huge fan of HDMI since I'd prefer audio to be transferred over a different cable (such a pain to use HDMI with receivers). Unfortunately display port doesn't really fix that problem either.

I'm of the opposite opinion - I think that 1 cable for video+audio is one of HDMI's best features.

My home theatre receiver is a 7x2 crossbar HDMI switch, so there are 5 HDMI input cables to the receiver, and 1 HDMI output cable to the big screen. Everybody sends bitstream to the receiver, which does the decoding to analog.

Discrete cables for 7.1 sound would be a royal pain when multiplied by 5 - especially if it's analog audio.

 

[steveh]

Here's what I saw at newegg. 35 monitors out of over 400 had displayport connectors. I'm not sure I'd call that "widely supported".

Were they clustered at one end or other of the price range? If yes, I'll bet it wasn't at the cheap/low quality end.

Were they released to the market on average around the same time as the non-mDP monitors, or are they typically more recent?

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

HDMI supports 2560x1600 (75hz @ 24bpp, 60hz @ 32bpp) as of HDMI 1.3 - with that said, I'm not a huge fan of HDMI since I'd prefer audio to be transferred over a different cable (such a pain to use HDMI with receivers). Unfortunately display port doesn't really fix that problem either.

That is pretty anti Apple. Apple was the one that pushed 1 cable for everything.
Honestly since it is all digital and not anolog one cable going in for HDMI is great. It is less mess to deal with, less places things can go wrong and no loss of quality.

 

[K42]

And yet Apple don't even sell an adaptor so you can connect to DisplayPort monitors.

Yes, mini displayport is truly a disaster. You will have to spend like another 15 dollars to connect your 1500 dollar laptop to a 1000 dollar monitor.

 

[AllieNeko]

Here's my viewpoint from a professional video point of view. I love the DisplayPort technology Apple is using:

1. VGA sucks. But it's extremely common for venues with hardwired projectors and stuff (conference rooms and the like) to have only VGA accessible. Mini DisplayPort can give me VGA when I need it. VGA experiences ghosting and sync issues, so no, it's not good to have ONLY VGA.

2. HDMI sucks. It's a flimsy connector, the computer is often forced into silly over-scanned TV resolutions, and the sound being on the same connector is sometimes a major PITA. But if I want to plug into an LCD TV (digital signage and the like) Mini DisplayPort can give me that.

3. Single-channel DVI is great for projection and display. High resolution, can run long distances over CAT5 reliably with the right equipment. Mini DisplayPort can easily give me a normal single-channel DVI connector and can also work with Matrox's TripleHead2Go.

4. DisplayPort is superior in terms of reliability and flexibility to dual-channel DVI for desktop monitors. Got that too

The missing number 5 is composite video - sometimes (increasingly rarely) a necessary evil. I now need to carry a VGA to composite scan converter for that...

 

[technicsdj]

Haha I already bought 4 of these a few months ago!

 

[Macsavvytech]

Board of Directors
Craig Wiley, Chairman, Parade Technologies
Bob Myers, Vice Chairman, Hewlett-Packard
Brian Fetz, Secretary/Treasurer, Agilent Technologies
Alan Kobayashi, STMicroelectronics
Bruce Montag, Dell
Roger Quero, AMD
Devang Sachdev, NVIDIA

Apple missing an individual on the board.

Apple is a member but so are about 100 other companies.

He was being sarcastic :S

 

[weckart]

A quick glance at Amazon UK shows that there is no shortage of these cables and probably won't be for the foreeable future. I dare say that only the major retailers and manufacturers will care enough about this announcement to cease supply.

 

[selenie]

Which is a great reference document and shows a DP to HDMI /DVI Adapter
with level shifter, 3V/5V converter, and DDC buffer w/HMDI detect.

Here is a chipset if you would like to make a dongle:
http://www.paradetech.com/products/...splayport-dual-mode-to-hdmidvi-level-shifter/

Which reiterates that DP is *not the same as, nor electrically, logically or physically compatible* with HDMI.

I don't think you understand these cables.

These banned cables are identical to the allowed adapters, except for the length of cable and gender of the HDMI end. The level shifter you linked is in the casing for the HDMI connector in both cases.

If you want to call it active instead of passive, fine. But it doesn't convert a DisplayPort signal into HDMI/DVI like the dual-link adapters do; it only works in a dual-mode DisplayPort jack, which is capable of outputting a signal logically equivalent to HDMI in addition to the normal DisplayPort signal.

But if, as you purport, you already knew all of this, then why is there "no way to do it correctly" with the cable version?

 

[Blue Fox]

Apple should just stop with their own priority ports and implement a HDMI port on macbooks. Stupid enough that you have to buy an adapter to use any non-apple monitor.

So, slap an HDMI on it, and when the next version of HDMI is released, you're stuck with it? The VALUE to the MiniDisplay Port is that I can convert it to whatever I damn well please. VGA, DVI, HDMI with Audio, etc, etc. Why the hell would I want to be stuck with ONLY an HDMI? If anything, the MiniDisplay Port is the most versatile port as it can be changed to anything. The problem is with these B.S. councils with their own interests claiming "oh, that's not a "true" HDMI for some B.S. reason. Blame their regulation, not the port.

 

[Minimoose 360]

Apple should just stop with their own priority ports and implement a HDMI port on macbooks. Stupid enough that you have to buy an adapter to use any non-apple monitor.

Hey man, my Radeon HD 6950 has two Mini-DisplayPorts! I use DVI-HDMI, but still nice to know it's there.

 

[gnasher729]

however, from what I've seen, mini-DP is just a bastard child that no one cares about except Apple. I've only seen mDP on Apple or designed-for-Apple components.

Mostly right, except it is not a "bastard child", it is an improved connector allowing 2560 x 1600 displays without any problems. It may very well be that only Apple can be bothered to allow connecting 2560 x 1600 displays to even their cheapest laptop modes, but that doesn't exactly speak against Apple.

 

[iphonepiephone]

Have we all suddenly transformed into electronics nerds & licencing suits? Man, what a truly boring thread...

 

[satcomer]

I'm of the opposite opinion - I think that 1 cable for video+audio is one of HDMI's best features.

My home theatre receiver is a 7x2 crossbar HDMI switch, so there are 5 HDMI input cables to the receiver, and 1 HDMI output cable to the big screen. Everybody sends bitstream to the receiver, which does the decoding to analog.

Discrete cables for 7.1 sound would be a royal pain when multiplied by 5 - especially if it's analog audio.

Do you have this year's audio receiver? I ask because my one year old Pioneer VSX-1020 and the HDMI does not switch then the receiver is off. I find this one thing a let-down but the manufactures now want me to buy the newer receiver to have HDMI switching (when off).

 

[AidenShaw]

that would be nonsense for me

Do you have this year's audio receiver? I ask because my one year old Pioneer VSX-1020 and the HDMI does not switch then the receiver is off. I find this one thing a let-down but the manufactures now want me to buy the newer receiver to have HDMI switching (when off).

I'm not sure why I would ever want to have the TV on and the audio receiver off.

The speakers on the TV are off - the 6.1 setup driven by the receiver is the only sound source. The Faroudja circuits in the receiver work on the video signal, so why would I want them off?

One nice touch I found is that when switching to an audio-only source (e.g. XM or HD radio), the previous setting of the HDMI video crossbar is not changed. This makes it easy to watch something with the sound coming from another source - e.g. listening to music while a slide-show is playing, or one of my BD salt water aquarium videos.

 

[Darien Red Sox]

Here's my viewpoint from a professional video point of view. I love the DisplayPort technology Apple is using:

1. VGA sucks. But it's extremely common for venues with hardwired projectors and stuff (conference rooms and the like) to have only VGA accessible. Mini DisplayPort can give me VGA when I need it. VGA experiences ghosting and sync issues, so no, it's not good to have ONLY VGA.

Yes, and it will be this way for a wile at least. In many conference/classroom environments the switching, cabling, and projector would need to be changed to support HDMI. All of this would be at great expense, 5 BNC runs can support 720 resolutions fine. At my school we just got a bunch of Blue Ray players to get them when they still had component out.

 

[dime21]

Image

That looks ****ing ridiculous. If you pay them their 5 cents per device why can't they be happy?

Because HDMI is a horrible horrible standard, and it's disgusting how it's being forced upon us by all the consumer electronics manufacturers. It's encrypted, both audio and video, so there's no way to do anything with the signal unless they explicitly allow you to. All devices must be licensed, which means paying royalty fees, implementing their encryption standard, etc. It's particularly horrible for people who are into high end audio and video, since again, you cannot do anything with the signal unless they allow you to - you can't stream 24 bit 192k digital audio into a DAC, you can't stream video to multiple monitors, etc. It's really a piece of **** standard. It's just like software DRM in that they treat all consumers as criminals. Not to mention the slight incompatibilities between different versions of the HDMI standard that result in products not working as they're supposed to. **** hdmi.

DisplayPort is better in every regard.

 

[Sackvillenb]

This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Well maybe not EVER, but it's up there. Especially since you can have a female hdmi end but not a male one. Wow what a big difference that makes! Not.

 

[rovex]

In respond to this, just popped into Curry's earlier and snatched one up before it becomes to late.

 

[iphonepiephone]

Unethical corporate greed, is the road to nowhere. These giants think they're "winning" somehow, but they're just ****ing idiots, because who cares about 24 bit audio that ISN'T available, when I can download a warez'd MKV that I can do what I like with, hmmm?

By knitting increasingly complex webs of obfuscation and complexity, simply for the outcome that "it protects the artists and film makers", these f**ks are slowing down the evolution of technology, because their fat, greedy cash register eyes, cannot see past the dome of their over-stuffed, gorged bellies.

If I own the hardware, and own the disc, I'll do whatever I like with it. They *think* DRM has bought them peace of mind, and it may do for a short time, but is has ALSO earned them massive amounts of contempt, and total lack of ANY respect; respect has to be mutual and EARNED, not forced.

The only corporation I genuinely respect, because they have ALWAYS solved my issues, or compensated me, is Apple - sounds fanboyish, but it is entirely the case.

 

[iVoid]

And what about all those DVI to HDMI cables? All unlicensed and shouldn't be sold either?

This sounds liek a good reason to ditch HDMI to me.

DVI was always the better connector anyway.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

And what about all those DVI to HDMI cables? All unlicensed and shouldn't be sold either?

This sounds liek a good reason to ditch HDMI to me.

DVI was always the better connector anyway.

DVI is part of the licensing I believe so they are good.

 

[butterfly0fdoom]

DVI is part of the licensing I believe so they are good.

Well, HDMI is derived from DVI to begin with.