DisplayPort to support HDCP?

DisplayPort, the would-be successor to today's DVI monitor connection standard and computer-centric rival to HDMI, is to support the HDCP high-definition copy-protection specification, if Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) members approve a proposed 1.1 update.

According to VESA, the DisplayPort 1.1 proposal has the backing of AMD/ATI, Dell, HP, Intel, Lenovo, Nvidia, Samsung and others. The 1.1 spec is a stepping stone to DisplayPort 2.0, which is due to be defined next year. DisplayPort already incorporates an copy-protection system designed to prevent pirates tapping the link between graphics card and display, but since HDCP is the anti-piracy technology with the broadest backing in the computing and consumer electronics markets, clearly VESA feels it needs to support it too.

DisplayPort 1.1, if approved, will incorporate HDCP 1.3. It also makes it possible for PCI Express graphics card and integrated chipset makers to add DisplayPort connectors to their products.

DisplayPort is a packet-based successor to DVI, VGA and LVDS - it's essentially HDMI without the audio support and some of that standard's more consumer electronics-oriented features. The DisplayPort 1.0 specification supports a single, uni-directional four-lane link capable of shunting data at a rate of 10.8Gbps, enough for one uncompressed video stream and associated audio. It supports 8-bit and 10-bit colour. Alongside this Main Link is a bi-directional 1Mbps Auxilliary Channel for device control. ®