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DisplayPort: A Better Video Interface
(hackaday.com)
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I used to think DisplayPort was the future, about 10-13 years ago.
By now I feel it has come and gone.
HDMI 2.1+ is making its way in everywhere.
Pretty sure the PC desktop segment will keep the port alive for a while, but right now it doesn’t seem like a very useful port apart from having a plug that claws itself in place and is often unnecessarily hard to unplug.
With Ultra High Speed HDMI (these names are ridiculous, seriously, look at the standard names) there’s very few, if any, reasons to use DP, apart from compliant HDMI cables costing an arm and a leg.
To be honest I’m struggling a bit to understand why it’s not just all pushed through a CAT6/7 Ethernet cable at this point.
DisplayPort is a better system than HDMI. It even can ride piggy back on USB-C, which means a display can both power a computer on the same line as it connects to a laptop with. DisplayPort also supports daisy chaining(although it's not a common feature on monitors), so you could potentially have a single USB-C cable going to a laptop and then have multiple monitors connected with needing a dock or anything of that sort.
But (most of that) that’s the display port standard, not the plug.
DisplayPort over USB-C works mostly fine, except that it’s “fine”, not perfect. Daisy chaining tends to make it less fine.
It’s a better standard, but a worse plug. Important distinction.
That doesn’t matter in the long run though. Better doesn’t always win.
Just look at how USB won over FireWire. And FireWire could daisy chain too
My iPhone 13 Pro syncs slower over USB than my second generation iPod did over FireWire.
While I obviously can’t blame that fully on USB, it’s an ironic observation, especially since my OG iPod would be 21 years old now, if it still worked.
Worse plug how? You can buy DP cables without the locking mechanism.
Example
Go to your local electronics store and see if that is true when you want a cable “today”.
There’s a difference between theory and practice.
Different countries and regions may have better markets for DP cables, but I can’t recall having had options other than length.
Why would you even want that, the locking mechanism is imo one of the advantages DP has over HDMI, I had one too many instances of the HDMI plug getting lose in the socket causing signal loss (granted, not a big issue for Home Theater but def. an issue for some people for PC usage).
YMMV, obviously.
Locking DP is a pain in the ass for me. HDMI disconnecting was never an issue either.
I just wish I had a choice, but in practice I don’t as selection of cables is poor.
I never screwed in VGA or DVI connectors either.
Personally I prefer the plug falling out instead of the connector and/or cable getting damaged if you pull on it.