Re:DisplayPort and 4K
by G4E on Monday February 17, 2020 @02:37PM
(#22350036)
I'm always confused by those statements, that it's rare to find a monitor without DP.
I live in France, and actually HDMI is the norm here. All low-range and mid-range screens are HDMI only, and it's rare to find a DP actually.
It's especially sad when you wants to use freesync on Linux, as mesa (the gpu driver) added support in 2018 for DP, but it's still not usable over HDMI.
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Re:DisplayPort and 4K
by diffeomorphism on Tuesday February 18, 2020 @03:36AM
(#22354429)
My impression in Germany and the US was that cheap monitors and TVs come with HDMI, but not necessarily displayport. Anything higher priced or aimed at design, graphics, office work comes with display port and (often also) hdmi.
For example all dell ultrasharp models, hp z27, samsung's uhd monitors, all 4k LG ones.
In addition there are now several monitors offering usb-c connection for video+power+usb hub functionality (e.g. see the wirecutter recommended 4k monitors), which seems convenient.
Re:DisplayPort and 4K
by proverbialbunny on Monday February 17, 2020 @07:38PM
(#22352387)
Wow. That's surprising to hear that there are 4k60 monitors without DP. I'm sorry to hear you can't find a proper monitor in France.
I don't know about 4k60Hz screens actually. I'm not sure they are in the low/mid range price point (yet) ? I was responding more generally about HDMI and it's usefulness.
IIRC, Freesync will only ever work over DP because it relies on features that the HDMI protocol doesn't/won't ever have.
Also, it's very interesting that things are so different in France with regard to display cables. I would've assumed that, since it's mostly the same manufacturers making everything around the world, they'd have more or less standard models across regions.
HDMI 2.1 has a variable refresh rate mode which will presumably become the standard over time.
The DVI and HDMI protocols doesn’t need anything specific to support variable refresh rate: nothing prevents one to just extend the vertical front porch time.
It’s just a question whether or not the GPU can generate that kind of signal and whether the monitor scaler chip is willing to deal with it.