DisplayPort 1.3 announced with 5K & 8K support
DisplayPort is leading the way, far surpassing the capabilities of the HDMI 2.0 standard. The new DisplayPort 1.3 cable standard supports 5K resolution on monitors and even 8K resolution on TVs. It also has support for better colors and much more.What HDMI 2.0 should have been
DisplayPort 1.3 can transfer up to 32.4 Gb/s, compared to 21.6 Gb/s for DisplayPort 1.2 and 18 Gb/s for HDMI 2.0. The extreme bandwidth will allow it to do so much more, and DisplayPort could finally play a role in TVs, too.
First and foremost DP 1.3 will support new resolutions for PC monitors, including 5120x2880 pixels, which will be available in the Dell UP2715K and is rumored for a new Apple iMac and Thunderbolt Display. It will also let you drive multiple monitors with a single connection, such as two 4K monitors.
More importantly, the group has also implemented better support for TVs, which would be major as DP 1.3 could take TV picture quality to the next level. DP 1.3 will obviously support 4K resolution, but also 8K resolution with the 4:2:0 chroma subsampling used in the TV world. Additionally, it supports HDCP 2.2 copy production, HDMI 2.0 conversion and even CEC that allows you to control connected devices with a remote. All this adds up to a more focused TV approach than previous versions.
Other capabilities include:
4K@120Hz was rumored for DP 1.3, but this has not been confirmed by the DisplayPort group. However, based on the bandwidth number it does not appear impossible. Nvidia and AMD have not made any announcements regarding DisplayPort 1.3 support yet.
DisplayPort is also the standard used for A/V signals in the Thunderbolt standard that for example Apple has embraced in its products. We should probably expect to hear an announcement regarding a Thunderbolt 3 standard soon.
- Source: DisplayPort
