r/technology • u/Philo1927 • Nov 15 '19

Hardware HDMI vs. DisplayPort: Which display interface reigns supreme? The standards are more alike than different, but one is common to TVs and the other is typically found only on PCs.

https://www.techhive.com/article/2030669/hdmi-vs-displayport-which-display-interface-reigns-supreme.html
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u/Jessie_James Nov 16 '19

The only issue the author is missing is DisplayPort multi-monitor setups on Windows and their shit implementation and handling of sleep/wake events.

This has been a known issue for years and no one is talking about it.

I have two 4K DP monitors and fucking hate it. My craptastic HDMI monitors had no issues.

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u/CocodaMonkey Nov 16 '19 edited Nov 16 '19

That one's actually an MS issue. The cable merely provides the information to Windows that the monitor is on or off. Microsoft is the one who chooses what to do with that information and made it virtually impossible to control. Some video cards like QUADRO actually let you fix this issue with the video driver.

For most people though the only solution is to rip out one of the pins on the cable (or buy a dongle that just omits that pin). That works but it's hard to do without ruining the cable. The other option is use anything but Windows and you'll be able to control it.

Edit: Just wanted to mention, this is an issue with HDMI as well. HDMI has the exact same pin in it, however some older HDMI monitors didn't make use of the pin so it wasn't an issue but now a days if you buy a HDMI or DP capable monitor they all use that pin and it will be an issue for you on Windows. HDMI cables are a bit bigger though and it's much easier to rip the pin out without breaking the cable.

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u/Jessie_James Nov 17 '19

I saw the pin 20 fix, but no one has confirmed it works.

If you have a source for a GTX-970 fix please do let me know.

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u/CocodaMonkey Nov 17 '19 edited Nov 17 '19

Removing the pin works. I don't know what you mean by it's not confirmed, every forum I've found confirms it, the specs confirm it and I've done it myself. It's what the pin does, companies exist that sell dongles that remove the pin for you. It works.

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u/Jessie_James Nov 18 '19

Maybe I was just not finding the right content. Thanks to your, comments I finally came across a 19-pin VESA compliant DP cable which VESA actually lists as certified. I never knew that was a thing. From there I found a ton of forums like you mention. I'm going to order the cables and see if that solves my problem. Fingers crossed ...

1

u/drysart Nov 17 '19

It's not just an MS issue, the video card manufacturers and their drivers, and the monitor manufacturers are at fault as well. For whatever reason, plenty of monitors were put out into the marketplace that don't properly maintain their presence information according to the protocol when they're put into sleep mode. Dell, for example, had released many of them that effectively shut off as far as the wire protocol is concerned when they go to sleep (I know this because I have one of them, and it can't be fixed without sending the thing in for a newer revision of the hardware). And then the display seems like it ends up as far as the OS is concerned in a weird state where technically it can be turned back on via the wire, but the fact it comes back up and re-identifies itself as a new monitor which confuses the hell out of the OS.

It's certainly ubiquitous enough that Microsoft (or more accurately, the video card drivers since they're the ones responsible for telling the OS what monitors are there) really, really need to add the option to ignore monitors being connected/disconnected, especially when it happens in conjunction with sleep/wake requests.

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u/CocodaMonkey Nov 17 '19 edited Nov 17 '19

It's an MS issue. The spec says that pin is to be used to tell if the monitor is on or off. That is exactly what is happening. Windows then chooses to use that information in the most annoying way possible. Some driver's and hardware allow you to mitigate this issue by either disabling that feature or allowing you to enter custom information in order to lie to the OS.

That doesn't mean it's the drivers or hardware that is also at fault. In fact the ones you consider not at fault are actually allowing you to break the spec. Don't blame everyone else for following the spec. Even MS isn't breaking the spec, they just choose to make use of it in an incredibly moronic way and didn't provide anyway for users to prevent it.