WEBVTT

00:00:00.740 --> 00:00:03.740
foreign

00:00:04.580 --> 00:00:11.040
this enormous pile of to be tested

00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:17.279
DisplayPort cables comes from all the most popular brands Amazon Basics

00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:19.920
Monoprice Best Buy and more we bought

00:00:17.279 --> 00:00:23.939
three of each at various lengths for the most popular models to give us multiple

00:00:22.080 --> 00:00:28.260
data points and we are going to be painstakingly running all of them

00:00:25.859 --> 00:00:33.380
through our total phase cable tester to see who has the good stuff and who has

00:00:31.080 --> 00:00:38.460
the crude stuff I know our sponsor build Redux has the

00:00:36.120 --> 00:00:41.879
good stuff they create PCS for gamers who want to win and who want High frame

00:00:40.500 --> 00:00:45.840
rates without breaking the bank they're backed by a two-year parts and labor warranty so you're covered and you can

00:00:44.700 --> 00:00:49.760
click the link in the video description to start creating your PC today

00:00:56.059 --> 00:01:02.820
Okay I lied a bit the cables have already been tested at their rated speed

00:01:00.239 --> 00:01:07.920
and if they passed we pushed them even further to see who is under promising

00:01:04.979 --> 00:01:13.920
and over delivering we did over a hundred runs in total and ended up with

00:01:10.260 --> 00:01:16.500
this masterpiece of a spreadsheet

00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:21.840
proud of this one aren't you married now why are we testing

00:01:19.380 --> 00:01:26.280
DisplayPort partly because we already tested HDMI and got a lot of requests to

00:01:24.360 --> 00:01:30.720
follow up with DisplayPort but the other half is that people like me and Wendell

00:01:28.860 --> 00:01:34.619
over at level one techs who apparently actually went out and bought one of

00:01:32.700 --> 00:01:38.939
these cable testers after our last video have had a lot of issues with

00:01:37.079 --> 00:01:43.860
DisplayPort over the years from intermittent signaling issues to

00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:48.180
outright dead cables and I think it's about time I figure out why each cable

00:01:46.860 --> 00:01:52.079
went through our total phase cable tester at the spec that it's rated for

00:01:50.040 --> 00:01:56.939
now there are a total of eight versions of DisplayPort two of which are minor a

00:01:54.899 --> 00:02:00.720
revisions that don't change much so we'll acknowledge that they exist and

00:01:58.740 --> 00:02:05.579
move along and even some of the numbered ones we didn't have to do much with

00:02:02.100 --> 00:02:07.860
DisplayPort versions 1.0 and 1.1 are

00:02:05.579 --> 00:02:11.340
relatively ancient so that's part of why we're not testing any of those cables

00:02:09.239 --> 00:02:17.459
here but the real reason is that they weren't widely adopted so most cables

00:02:14.160 --> 00:02:19.500
are rated for at least DisplayPort 1.2

00:02:17.459 --> 00:02:24.959
and it's the same story for DisplayPort 1.3 it was superseded by 1.4 almost

00:02:23.099 --> 00:02:29.640
immediately which carries the same bandwidth but added support for display

00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:33.720
stream compression 1.2 forward error correction and HDR 10 metadata that

00:02:32.040 --> 00:02:41.040
leaves us with really three display ports that matter 1.2 1.4 and the

00:02:37.739 --> 00:02:42.840
upcoming 2.0 spec in consumer terms the

00:02:41.040 --> 00:02:47.280
biggest difference between these three is that each one is rated for a

00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:51.780
different maximum bandwidth the higher the number the faster it can go now

00:02:50.099 --> 00:02:56.099
there are multiple ways to hit that limit you could crank the resolution you

00:02:54.420 --> 00:03:01.019
could crank the refresh rate you could crank the color depth or realistically

00:02:58.500 --> 00:03:05.220
some combination of those three and then you just won't be able to go any higher

00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:08.879
unless you enable display stream compression we could talk a little bit

00:03:06.780 --> 00:03:11.940
more about that later now here are the manufacturers we're talking about today

00:03:10.379 --> 00:03:16.500
you'll be familiar with many of these from our HDMI cable testing video where

00:03:13.920 --> 00:03:19.860
we covered some things in more depth that we're going to gloss over a little

00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:22.620
bit today like how digital signaling Works we're going to have a card in the

00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:28.860
end screen if you're playing catch-up now here are our tests we have three

00:03:26.220 --> 00:03:32.340
groupings tab one in yellow are the cables that we're testing in triplicate

00:03:30.659 --> 00:03:37.140
to eliminate flukes these are the most popular ones we're expecting most of you

00:03:34.019 --> 00:03:39.900
to actually buy Tab 2 and orange are

00:03:37.140 --> 00:03:44.879
single samples of nine of the top 10 cables on Amazon and finally Tab 3 in

00:03:43.080 --> 00:03:48.840
blue are cables that we sampled from around the office including bundled

00:03:46.860 --> 00:03:53.940
cables from monitors made by aorus Samsung and ASUS Rog

00:03:51.480 --> 00:03:57.440
all right Colin show us what's behind tab number one

00:03:58.799 --> 00:04:05.760
every single one passed every huh that's not what I was

00:04:04.379 --> 00:04:12.319
expecting so every single brand new cable that we

00:04:10.200 --> 00:04:19.260
purchased specifically for this video passed at its rated spec

00:04:15.720 --> 00:04:22.019
which I didn't see coming but the

00:04:19.260 --> 00:04:26.400
science behind it kind of makes sense here's the thing the inside of a

00:04:24.360 --> 00:04:31.740
DisplayPort cable is actually very similar to the inside of an HDMI cable

00:04:28.919 --> 00:04:36.660
with only one more conductor for a total of 20 versus 19.

00:04:34.020 --> 00:04:40.919
both of them have four shielded Twisted pairs of conductors

00:04:38.520 --> 00:04:47.639
think of them kind of like the sides of this lanyard but in HDMI only three of

00:04:44.520 --> 00:04:49.500
them carry data with a Fourth Kind of

00:04:47.639 --> 00:04:55.680
skinnier one that just is reserved for clock pulses DisplayPort takes advantage

00:04:52.500 --> 00:04:57.240
here by using all four shielded pairs to

00:04:55.680 --> 00:05:02.759
transmit data you know what this isn't working let's just do a different visual

00:04:59.400 --> 00:05:04.500
new colors of lanyards.lttstore.com this

00:05:02.759 --> 00:05:10.440
allows each pair to run at a lower frequency while maintaining overall

00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:12.300
transmission parity with HDMI so with 12

00:05:10.440 --> 00:05:16.620
of the 20 conductors used for the signal plus signal minus and ground connections

00:05:14.340 --> 00:05:20.580
that leaves eight other conductors that are used to run a configuration Channel

00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:24.539
an auxiliary Channel and a power connection the power connection actually

00:05:22.380 --> 00:05:29.039
goes unused in common cables though and is reserved for use in devices with

00:05:26.460 --> 00:05:32.759
integrated DisplayPort cables and having these wires connected can actually cause

00:05:31.020 --> 00:05:36.780
a ShortCircuit condition that was a problem in the past particularly with

00:05:34.620 --> 00:05:41.039
cheap Mini DisplayPort cables fun fact by the way those locking tabs on the end

00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:45.479
are not actually part of the official DisplayPort specification they are nice

00:05:43.259 --> 00:05:49.259
to have though now with respect to our results we can gather that this

00:05:47.460 --> 00:05:53.880
reduction in signaling frequency is contributing to better signal Integrity

00:05:51.180 --> 00:05:58.560
leading to DisplayPort cables being more consistent than what we saw with HDMI so

00:05:56.639 --> 00:06:03.960
if you're buying a brand new cable today cheap is probably cheerful and infinite

00:06:01.919 --> 00:06:08.400
cables once again topped our list for the lowest cost per foot followed by

00:06:05.880 --> 00:06:13.860
Amazon Basics and Monoprice but we're not done yet inside the dense document

00:06:11.820 --> 00:06:18.060
that is the DisplayPort standard there exists a set of definitions for

00:06:15.660 --> 00:06:22.919
transmission modes these are the bit rates that DisplayPort can transmit data

00:06:20.280 --> 00:06:29.100
at we're not talking about resolutions per se but rather the speed at which the

00:06:25.560 --> 00:06:31.139
cable operates full stop DisplayPort 1.4

00:06:29.100 --> 00:06:39.000
for example is compatible with four different transmission modes rbr hbr

00:06:34.259 --> 00:06:41.520
hbr2 and hbr3 which Peaks at 8.1gb per

00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:47.160
second per Lane that means with four lanes DisplayPort 1.4's Peak bandwidth

00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:49.680
is 32.4 gigabits per second that is

00:06:47.160 --> 00:06:55.440
significantly less than the 48 gigabit per second maximum of HDMI 2.1 I am not

00:06:53.520 --> 00:06:59.940
calling it that to get around this some applications of

00:06:57.840 --> 00:07:05.100
DisplayPort have implemented more than the usual four lanes Apple famously

00:07:02.220 --> 00:07:09.960
created a custom 8-lane DisplayPort 1.2 interface to drive the first 5k iMac and

00:07:07.860 --> 00:07:14.100
Thunderbolt can also have up to eight Lanes allowing it to carry two display

00:07:11.699 --> 00:07:19.199
signals over a single cable the long-term solution however is

00:07:16.259 --> 00:07:22.680
DisplayPort 2.0 which can run in three new modes named according to their

00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:26.220
perlane bitrate now we'll talk about why that matters

00:07:24.300 --> 00:07:31.500
shortly but first let's take a look at our next tab Amazon's best sellers

00:07:29.460 --> 00:07:37.139
how'd they do every single one passed again

00:07:33.960 --> 00:07:39.419
now that's crazy every single one of

00:07:37.139 --> 00:07:45.180
them not only met the current spec that they were rated for but even met the

00:07:41.880 --> 00:07:46.380
next-gen uh-br 10 spec

00:07:45.180 --> 00:07:50.220
Wild now they're not an amazing deal cost

00:07:48.660 --> 00:07:55.139
wise but um at least they're easy to order I

00:07:52.380 --> 00:07:59.699
guess and they helped us confirm an interesting pattern or so we thought one

00:07:57.660 --> 00:08:05.099
of the Insidious ways that a bad DisplayPort cable can get you is by

00:08:02.819 --> 00:08:10.620
working but not working at the correct link speed that's actually a feature not

00:08:07.860 --> 00:08:15.840
a bug DisplayPort is fully backwards compatible so every time you plug in the

00:08:13.139 --> 00:08:19.139
devices go through a sort of handshake process called Link Training which

00:08:17.639 --> 00:08:23.940
determines the speed that they can operate at without errors and even if

00:08:22.139 --> 00:08:30.900
the devices are both capable of a greater speed let's say DisplayPort 1.4

00:08:27.259 --> 00:08:33.060
a bad cable could drag them back to a

00:08:30.900 --> 00:08:38.700
slower link speed let's say DisplayPort 1.2 and this can be really hard to

00:08:36.360 --> 00:08:44.219
diagnose because the links can be renegotiated on the Fly meaning that

00:08:41.520 --> 00:08:49.140
they might work fine for a bit then drop down only to jump back into action again

00:08:46.380 --> 00:08:53.700
again and we ran into just such a cable in tab number three where we grabbed

00:08:51.839 --> 00:08:57.240
some longer DisplayPort cables that we've purchased over the years as well

00:08:55.620 --> 00:09:00.600
as a handful of cables that were included with the monitors

00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:06.060
I knew it I've had so many issues with

00:09:03.660 --> 00:09:10.860
those 25 foot Monoprice cables that we bought in bulk like ages ago but on this

00:09:08.640 --> 00:09:16.980
one one of the four pairs managed a continuity check so it is connected but

00:09:14.040 --> 00:09:20.519
failed on Signal which is the worst kind of fail

00:09:18.060 --> 00:09:26.220
I'm going to enjoy cutting my people up oh my God that nearly hit the lens yeah

00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:31.320
we also had one of Samsung's bundled cables fail out right here continuity

00:09:28.620 --> 00:09:36.060
means that the conductors are just not conducting now we didn't have enough of

00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:40.860
those kicking around that we could just positively identify as Samsung

00:09:38.760 --> 00:09:45.660
bundled cables so we couldn't draw a clear conclusion other than that the one

00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:49.920
included with your monitor might not be the best quality but pretty much any

00:09:48.060 --> 00:09:53.820
reputable brand cable off the shelf should be okay even if you're a

00:09:52.200 --> 00:09:57.720
forward-thinking consumer who might want to get the most out of Intel's upcoming

00:09:55.260 --> 00:10:02.339
Arc Alchemist gpus which are confirmed to have DisplayPort 2.0 thanks to

00:10:00.779 --> 00:10:06.839
Samsung for sponsoring today's video Samsung has something new for you the

00:10:04.740 --> 00:10:11.279
freestyle it's a point and play projector with a compact design and

00:10:08.880 --> 00:10:14.820
adjustable 180 degree cradle stand you don't need to worry about fiddling with

00:10:12.600 --> 00:10:18.899
a focus wheel or rearranging your projector because the auto sensing

00:10:16.740 --> 00:10:24.300
feature will intuitively correct skewed and blurry images for you if you're on

00:10:21.480 --> 00:10:30.180
the go the freestyle has a 360 degree speaker and a 5 watt woofer for powerful

00:10:27.420 --> 00:10:34.140
all-around sound and you can power it with an external battery so it works no

00:10:32.040 --> 00:10:38.100
matter where you are it uses Samsung's built-in Smart TV experience that

00:10:35.760 --> 00:10:42.180
features Samsung TV plus various streaming platforms and more while also

00:10:40.380 --> 00:10:46.800
allowing you to use Bixby or Amazon aliexa so that you can go hands-free it

00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:51.060
offers full HD resolution and the ability to project an image between 30

00:10:48.420 --> 00:10:55.620
and 100 inches allowing you to use it in a small space or you can go all out and

00:10:53.579 --> 00:10:58.860
create an at-home theater experience so take your theater with you wherever you

00:10:57.300 --> 00:11:02.640
go with the freestyle you can learn more about Samsung's the freestyle and get a

00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:07.019
free carrying case if you pre-order before February 10th using the link down

00:11:04.860 --> 00:11:10.380
below if you guys enjoyed this video go check out the HDMI cable testing video

00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:14.700
where we got into a little bit more depth about what some of the charts that

00:11:12.959 --> 00:11:22.820
you guys might be looking at here mean and yeah see like the eye diagrams and

00:11:17.399 --> 00:11:22.820
stuff and why a narrow eye is a bad eye