WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.560 It seems like everything you can connect to a TV or monitor has an HDMI port, 00:00:04.560 --> 00:00:09.440 but somehow DisplayPort, which is largely able to just do the same thing, 00:00:09.440 --> 00:00:14.320 has stuck around for years on our computers. So what's the point of having two connectors that 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:20.320 are seemingly interchangeable? Well, it turns out HDMI and DisplayPort were designed with different 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:27.200 uses in mind. HDMI hit the scene in 2003 and was mostly backed by companies involved in the home 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:32.080 theater side of consumer electronics. Think Panasonic, Philips, and Sony, for example. 00:00:32.080 --> 00:00:38.800 Digital cable boxes, HDTVs, and DVD players were starting to take off, and Movie and TV Studios 00:00:38.800 --> 00:00:42.560 worked with the companies that made these devices on a connection that supported 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:48.640 copy protection. DisplayPort, on the other hand, didn't come along until 2008 and was designed 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:54.160 specifically with computers in mind by Vesa, the same folks that standardized those mounting holes 00:00:54.160 --> 00:00:58.240 so you could stick a big screen on your wall. Vesa members included big players in the PC 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:03.520 industry such as Intel, AMD, NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Apple. DisplayPort was meant to replace 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:10.000 older standards like VGA and DVI, and for the longest time, DisplayPort was ahead of HDMI in 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:17.920 terms of performance. For example, DisplayPort 1.2, which came out in 2010, supported 4K at 60Hz. 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:22.160 I mean, there are plenty of PCs that still struggle with gaming at that resolution and 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:29.840 Meanwhile, HDMI 1.4, which was the dominant standard back then, only supported 4K at 30Hz, 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:34.800 meaning anyone with a powerful GPU had to be careful which connector they were using. 00:01:34.800 --> 00:01:40.160 Early versions of DisplayPort also supported features that HDMI lacked, like Vesa Adaptive Sync, 00:01:40.160 --> 00:01:45.680 meaning it could work with AMD FreeSync more than two years before HDMI 2.1 brought official 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:51.840 support for variable refresh rates. But fast forward to 2022, and both HDMI and DisplayPort's 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:57.840 most recent revisions are seriously impressive. They each support all the major flavors of HDR, 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:07.200 loss of audio, and seriously sky high resolutions. HDMI 2.1 maxes out at 10K 120Hz, while DisplayPort 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:16.880 2.0 gives you 16K at 60Hz or 10K at 80Hz. Sure, I have a display like that. So are HDMI and DisplayPort 00:02:16.880 --> 00:02:22.000 meaningfully differentiated anymore other than just the connector? They are, and we'll tell you 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:25.760 about that right after we tell you about our sponsor. If you want to use NVIDIA's full 00:02:25.760 --> 00:02:32.320 implementation of G-Sync, you have to use DisplayPort as it doesn't work over HDMI for the time being. 00:02:32.320 --> 00:02:37.760 DisplayPort also supports Vesa's new Adaptive Sync certification program, with the goal of 00:02:37.760 --> 00:02:42.480 being to inform you quickly by the use of a spiffy logo, whether the monitor's variable refresh rate 00:02:42.480 --> 00:02:48.400 technology will reliably work across a wide range of frame rates. But do keep in mind that 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:54.800 HDMI 2.1 supports VRR, so you should have at least some protection against screen tearing no matter 00:02:54.800 --> 00:03:00.000 what you go with. Another key difference is that DisplayPort allows daisy chaining, meaning you can 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:05.520 connect multiple displays to just one port as long as those monitors have a pass-through port. This is 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:09.920 especially useful if you need to use several monitors at once for work or for something like 00:03:09.920 --> 00:03:15.920 photo editing, but aren't rocking a fancy GPU with tons of ports. An HDMI port can't carry more 00:03:15.920 --> 00:03:20.560 than one video signal, which means you need additional equipment for a multi-monitor setup 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:27.760 without DisplayPort. But one area where HDMI is more useful is ARC, which stands for Audio Return 00:03:27.760 --> 00:03:32.400 Channel. If you have an HDMI display connected to a receiver, you can cut down on cable clutter 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:38.720 because ARC sends an audio signal back down the same HDMI cable. So if you got audio originating 00:03:38.720 --> 00:03:44.640 from a Netflix app on your TV, it can piggyback on that one HDMI cable all the way down to your 00:03:44.640 --> 00:03:50.480 speakers. And HDMI also allows you to adjust the volume with your display's remote if you're using 00:03:50.480 --> 00:03:56.160 something like an HDMI soundbar. So both ports have their strengths, but you can see that they're 00:03:56.160 --> 00:04:01.280 designed for different use cases despite the fact that they both carry insanely high-quality video 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:06.720 signals. Sure, it would be nice if we could use one port for absolutely everything, but what's 00:04:06.720 --> 00:04:12.320 the fun in that? Huge thanks for watching. Hit like. Don't hit dislike. Check out our other videos. 00:04:12.320 --> 00:04:15.040 Actually, I guess you can hit dislike. No one sees it anymore. Does it even matter? 00:04:15.760 --> 00:04:17.920 Comment your video suggestions down below and just have a great day.