DisplayPort 1.1 ratified by VESA

DisplayPort, the competitor to the HDMI standard prevalent in the consumer electronics space, has just seen its 1.1 version ratified by its founding organization, VESA. The standard is described as being "free to use, open and extensible", which marks some contrast with HDMI's royalty fees which can exceed four cents. Another key difference is that, as the name implies, DisplayPort cannot transmit sound data. On the other hand, it can transmit 2560x1600 pixels on a single link, and up to 1920x1080 pixels even when using a 15m cable.

DisplayPort is supposed to be quite cost-efficient overall too, and smaller than HDMI size-wise, which should make it an interesting proposal in the handheld space for example. On the other hand, it should be noted that HDMI already has a lot of traction in various CE products, including TVs. As such, it's unlikely that it will ever dominate that part of the industry.

But in the PC space, DisplayPort has the support of companies such as Dell, HP, Lenovo, Intel, AMD and NVIDIA, which should make its victory fairly straightforward in theory - although the groups behind HDMI certainly still hope to be able to put up a proper fight and benefit from their early footing. Let's just hope this war doesn't last too long, since consumers obviously wouldn't benefit much from that!