[NewsPoster]

The group responsible for the DisplayPort protocol, the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), yesterday published the Embedded DisplayPort (eDP) Standard version 1.4a. The new eDP 1.4a enables a higher video data transfer rate for increased panel resolution up to 8K, greater color depth and higher refresh rates. It also incorporates the VESA Display Stream Compression (DSC) Standard v1.1, and includes a new segmented panel architecture.

The new refinements were made to the eDP 1.4a standard to take advantage of higher GPU video performance and newer display technologies, while also enabling reduced system power and form factor. The eDP v1.4a standard builds upon the VESA DisplayPort (DP) Standard v1.3, published last September, as a base specification. That standard's new higher HBR3 link rate, which operates at 8.1 Gbps per lane, is now also part of eDP v1.4a.

An entirely new feature in eDP v1.4a is "Multi-SST Operation," or MSO, which supports a new type of display architecture that VESA calls "Segmented Panel Display." Segmented Panel Display is designed to enable thinner, lighter and lower-cost panels that use less power.

In operation, MSO allows the four high-speed eDP data lanes within the eDP interface to be divided up between either two or four independent panel segments. For lower resolutions, two lanes can be used to support two panel segments. This panel segmentation enables a higher level of integration on high-resolution displays; each segment can contain a separate timing controller with integrated source drivers.

Embedded DisplayPort 1.4a also includes revisions to the partial update capability for Panel Self Refresh (PSR) that was introduced in eDP 1.4. Partial update enables the system video processor, or GPU, to update only the portion of the display that has changed since the video frame update, further saving system power.

The revisions to the standard are universal across both dedicated DisplayPort connectors, as well as embedded Thunderbolt, and are expected to be seen first in laptop computers and all-in-one PCs. It is anticipated that eDP 1.4a will be used within these systems by 2016.

Another article: VESA publishes Embedded DisplayPort 1.4a standard that supports 8K displays | Ars Technica

Once again, I will point out that this is NOT an 8K standard, because 7680×4320 is not 8000 pixels.

7680×4320 is not "8K" (8000), just as 3840x2160 is not "4K" (4000), because it never gets up to 4000 pixels. It's lying, and it's wrong, and the standard should reflect what the supported pixel dimensions actually are.

[Mike Wuerthele]

I suspect that the "8K and 4K" has more to do with 7.68K and 3.84K not rolling off the tongue so well.

FireWire isn't actually on fire. USB isn't universal (but its close). Marketing sometimes trumps actual numbers.

[Charles Martin]

See also: Apple rounding drive capacities, SSD drive sizes, cable speeds, etc.

Precisely. I still remember the "93 GB are missing from my 1 TB hard drive" wars. Glad they finally fixed that.

I still don't see why 4096x2048 and 8192x4096 are such an unapproachable standard. Large TVs might as well be 2:1 ratio. The numbers that I gave are integer powers of 2, and they would meet the respective "4K" and "8K" criteria.

(Meanwhile Apple's iMac actually is an honest 5K.)

[cacruden]

8K as defined in the above standard is actually higher resolution than what some anal commenters are complaining about. You are assuming that the resolution of the 8K monitors will have a certain orientation or size. For a TV that is important since the recordings all follow a set standard, but since there are no 8K TV standards.... that is just complaining about something for the sake of complaining.

8000 x 4000 is 32 million addressable pixels.
7680 x 4320 is 33+ million pixels.

So the standard has enough bandwidth to handle your lower resolution monitor if you want to arrange the pixels that way.

[cacruden]

If eDP supports 8K monitors, then it should also be able to support 3 x 4K external monitors and 4K internally (assuming Skylake can display that much - even if not in an action game). I could easily use 3 x 40 inch monitors for a work environment (I currently have 4 smaller monitors) when developing. So the thought of 8K may seem excessive, it really is not. I probably would not use one 8K monitor (unless it flexed around in a different resolution format), but the capability is useful.