Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
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November 2001
Contents
Executive Summary.......3
Direct Digital Transmission Standards....4
DVI-I Connector........7
o
DVI-D Connector..7
o
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Executive Summary
Most of the computers on the market today generate digital video, which is then converted to
analog by the video graphics card and transmitted to an analog CRT monitor. In the case of
digital displays such as Plasma, LCD flat panel monitors, DLP and LCD projectors, that analog
signal is then converted back to digital before it can be displayed, a process that can add
unnecessary cost and complexity to some products. Additionally the digital to analog (D/A) and
analog to digital (A/D) conversion of the video signal can introduce sampling errors, which can
reduce image quality and require the addition of controls to help correct the errors introduced in
the process.
With the increase in popularity of digital flat panel monitors, the need for a digital graphics
connection became apparent. The challenge was to develop a simple, cost effective digital
connection to send high bandwidth digital RGB signals across a reasonable cable length.
Solutions based on National Semiconductors Low Voltage Differential Signaling (LVDS)
technology and Silicon Images Transition Minimized Differential Signaling (TMDS) technology
were explored. TMDS proved to be better suited to transmit digital signals across long cable
lengths than LVDS technology. A number of competing standards for digital interfacing soon
emerged. VESA introduced the Plug and Display (P&D) standard, Compaq Corporation led a
consortium of manufacturers to introduce the Digital Flat Panel (DFP) interface standard and the
Digital Display Working Group (DDWG) introduced the Digital Visual Interface (DVI) standard. All
three standards were based around Silicon Images TMDS technology.
The Plug and Display (P&D) standard attempted to implement a multifunction interface with
support for USB and IEEE1394/Firewire. It failed to attract the interest of video graphics card
manufacturers and never gained much popularity. The Digital Flat Panel (DFP) standard was
introduced as a way to simplify the implementation of an all-digital connection. It failed to gain
widespread acceptance because of its limited functionality. The Digital Visual Interface (DVI) was
designed to provide the industry with a single, universal digital interface. Its primary focus was to
provide a digital connection between a PC and a display device. It quickly gained widespread
market acceptance and is now the industry standard.
DVI offers the right combination of versatility and functionality, which is why it has become the
industry standard. Market research indicates that in just a few years, sales of digital display
devices will surpass sales of analog display devices. DVI is poised to replace the analog VGA
connector to become the single, universal display interface.
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P&D/M1 Receptacle
Connector
DFP Receptacle
Connector
DVI-D
Receptacle Connector
DVI-I
Receptacle Connector
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Display
60-Hz LCD with 5% blanking
Interval
75-Hz CRT with approx. 15%
blanking interval
85-Hz CRT with approx. 15%
blanking interval
Up to HDTV
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DVI-Integrated (DVI-I): supports both analog and digital connections to the display. This 29pin connector can carry single or dual-link all-digital video/data signals on 24 pins and uses 5
pins to carry analog video/data signals and ground. It is easily distinguishable by the plusshaped slot surrounded by four pins used to carry the analog connection.
DVI-I
Receptacle Connector
Pin
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
C1
C4
DVI-Digital (DVI-D): supports digital-only connections between the host computer and
display. This interface is designed for a 12 or 24-pin connection to enable single or dual-link
mode activation.
DVI-D
Receptacle Connector
Pin
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
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The DVI connectors have a clever design feature that allows a Digital-only DVI-D plug to connect
to both the DVI-D and DVI-I receptacle. In contrast the DVI-I plug can connect only to DVI-I
receptacles. This design feature ensures that a Digital-only device is not connected to an Analogonly device.
DVI-Audio
Silicon Image has developed an audio solution that is fully backwards compatible with the DVI
standard. It is called DVI-Audio and it and it has the bandwidth to support anything from two
channel digital stereo transmitted to HDTV, to 8 channel digital audio or DVD-Audio transmitted to
an A/V receiver. This clever solution works by embedding the audio signal into the clock signal.
DVI-Audio takes advantage of Transition Minimized Differential Signaling (TMDS) ability to
modulate the position of the falling edge of the clock to send 1 bit of data during each clock cycle,
without affecting the functionality of the display device and without the need of software drivers.
Through this process, a minimum of 25 Mbps can be sent. That is enough bandwidth to support
existing digital audio standards with leftover capacity to support future standards. When
transmitting HDTV resolutions, this capacity is extended to 74.5 Mbps to enable multiple digital
audio channels, well in excess of todays audio technology.
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CONCLUSION
The DVI interface has gained industry wide acceptance and is considered the industry standard
digital graphics interface. It offers the right combination of versatility and functionality. DVI can be
used to deliver single or dual-link digital video to a display device while supporting legacy analog
devices. Leading market research firms are forecasting dramatic rises in sales of digital display
devices, which will eventually surpass sales of the current analog display devices. Market surveys
indicate that over 50% of the displays sold in Japan today, are digital. DVI is also spreading into
the consumer market. There are plans to add the DVI connector to HDTV sets, Set-top boxes,
DSS receivers and HD-DVD players. DVI is poised to replace the analog VGA connector to
become the single, universal display interface.
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Bibliography
Understanding Direct Digital Technology Extron Electronics
http://www.extron.com/download/files/appbrochure/directdigital.pdf
Chang, Luke and Goodart, Joe Digital Visual Interface Dell Computer Corporation
http://www.dell.com/us/en/arm/topics/vectors_2000-dvi.htm
Multimedia/Panel Displays, PC Tech Guide.com
http://www.pctechguide.com/07pan2.htm
High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) Silicon Image. Inc.
http://www.siimage.com/documents/SiI-WP-002-A.pdf
PanelLink A/V: The Digital Solution for HDTV Silicon Image, Inc.
http://www.siimage.com/documents/SiI-WP-003-A.pdf
Digital Video Solutions-PanelBus Texas Instruments Inc.
http://www.ti.com/sc/docs/products/msp/intrface/panelbus/market.htm
Goldie, John LVDS based FPD-Link spans industries with Gigabits @ milliwatts! National
Semiconductor Inc. http://www.national.com/nationaledge/may01/lvds.html
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What is DVI?
A:
DVI or Digital Visual Interface was created by a consortium of computer industry leaders
called the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG) as a way to transport video digitally from a
personal computer to a desktop display. The DVI 1.0 standard was first released in April 1999.
More recently DVI has gained support from home entertainment equipment manufacturers as a
way to eliminate many of the sources of image imperfections associated with older analog
interfaces. See: www.ddwg.org for more information on DVI.
Q:
A:
In a modern home theater system the video source is often a DVD player. The data on
the DVD is digital, much like it is on an audio CD. Similarly, many home theater projectors use a
digital imaging device like DLP, LCD, or LCoS. With a digital source and a digital display it really
makes no sense to use an analog interface to connect the two.
Analog interfaces are prone to image degradation and artifacts such as: noise, sparkles,
ghosting, snow, poor color matching, and softness caused by a loss of sharpness.
Additionally, projectors using pixelated imagers must convert the analog video to digital to be
displayed. This analog to digital conversion introduces artifacts into the image as well.
DVI, being a digital interface, suffers from none of these problems.
In addition to transporting video from the source to the display without degradation, DVI offers
other advantages as well. For instance, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has
endorsed a copy protection standard called HDCP, specifically for DVI. The MPAA has been
reluctant to release high definition movies until there was some way to prevent them from being
copied. HDCP allows the user access to high definition movies over DVI. The MPAA will not
allow high definition content to be available over analog interfaces once HDCP goes live. This
means that only projectors with both DVI and HDCP will be able to display high definition content.
Q:
Why dont I see any difference when I use DVI instead of the analog interface?
A: Many users will not see any difference when using the DVI interface instead of the analog
interface. This is especially true if the video interconnection cable is short, well designed and
manufactured, and the displayed images are not very demanding. Photographs and normal
computer desktop displays are not very demanding. The differences become more apparent with
test images designed to push the capabilities of the interface. The differences become readily
apparent with long cable lengths, poor analog cabling, and with higher resolution displays.
Try using test images from Display Mate (www.displaymate.com). Note that with DVI the lines
between the vertical color bars are sharp and the checkerboard patterns show no noise or
blurring. Now try the same test with the analog interface. Try again with a long, thin analog
cable. The image quality difference should be readily apparent with long, thin analog cables.
One could also devise a test to demonstrate that the color matching on the DVI interface is better
than on the analog interface.
Having said all of that, image quality is a highly subjective thing. What looks fine to one person
may look terrible to another.
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Q:
A:
DVI is fast becoming the interface standard of choice for set-top box manufacturers.
Additionally, several manufacturers of DVD players are planning to make DVI enabled DVD
players. By purchasing a projector with a DVI interface you are future proofing your investment.
You can further future proof your investment by purchasing a projector with HDCP.
Q:
Ive heard about DVI-CE. How is DVI-CE different than DVI 1.0?
A:
HDCP stands for High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection. HDCP prevents a casual
user from copying high-resolution movies from the DVI port of a computer or other video source.
HDCP is specific to DVI interfaces. More information can be found at www.digital-cp.com
Q:
A:
No. Many projectors have a DVI interface, but few have HDCP. Check the
manufacturers datasheet carefully. On the other hand, if the projector has HDCP it must also
have DVI.
Q:
A:
HDCP allows you to view movies in high definition format. Video sources playing high
definition movies connected to projectors without HDCP are required to reduce the resolution of
their outputs. The idea is to allow users of older projectors without HDCP to view new movies
(albeit in lower resolution), but not allow thieves to make high definition copies. Owners of
projectors with HDCP will be able to view high definition movies in full high definition resolution.
Q:
A:
The MPAA has not given a specific date when they will require HDCP on DVI when
showing so-called protected content. However, many industry analysts believe that the
requirement for HDCP will be tied to licensing of the new HD-DVD standard. So one might
expect HDCP to become a requirement to view high definition content when the HD-DVD players
and content begin showing up in retail outlets.
Q:
A:
So far, nobody is saying. The main outstanding technical hurdle for the mass production
of HD-DVD players is the long-term reliability and cost of the blue laser diode required to pack HD
content on a standard size DVD.
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Q:
Ive heard that HDCP was hacked. Does this mean that HDCP is useless?
A:
At least one prominent cryptographer has proposed a way that one might hack HDCP.
As of the time of this writing, Fall 2001, nobody has posted a hack of HDCP to a public site. In
any case, HDCP was not designed to be uncrackable. It was designed to prevent the casual
copying of specific high definition video content. The Motion Picture Association of America
(MPAA) still supports HDCP for use on DVI interfaces.
Q:
Ive heard that DVI cables are limited to 5 meters in length. What do I do if I need a
longer cable?
A:
The DVI standard specifies no specific cable length. The practical cable length is
dependent on the quality of the cable, the pixel clock rate of the video being transported, and the
quality of the DVI transmitter and receiver being used. For example, 1024 x 768, 24 bits-per-pixel
(bpp), 60Hz video has a pixel clock rate of about 65 MHz. For this example, most reasonable
quality cables will work fine at 5 meters with InFocus projectors. Better quality cables will work
well at 10 meters. InFocus has taken pains in the design process to optimize the performance of
the DVI receivers used in InFocus projectors to give the longest cables run possible.
If DVI cable runs longer than 10 meters are desired there are several DVI cable extension
products available.
Extron (www.extron.com), Altinex (www.altinex.com), Gefen
(www.gefen.com), and Opticis, (www.opticis.com) all have DVI extension solutions available.
Q:
A:
The M1 Display Interface System is a standard created by the Video Electronics
Standards Association specifically for displays. It was approved by the VESA membership in
August 2001.
Q:
A:
InFocus is committed to making projector as simple as possible to use. To that end,
InFocus supports Plug-and-Play for monitors, referred to in the industry as DDC (Display Data
Channel) and/or EDID (Extended Display Interface Data). It gets rather complicated, but there
are several problems involved with getting DDC and EDID to work properly on dual-mode (both
analog and digital) displays using the DVI connector. This is because the DVI connector was not
designed for use on the display side of the interface, only the host or computer side. The M1
connector system fixes the problems with DDC/EDID as well as adding additional features such
as USB, and power for external devices such as fiberoptic DVI link extenders. M1 also makes it
more difficult to confuse inputs and outputs on video processing equipment, since DVI is always
and output and M1 is always an input.
Q:
How can InFocus advertise DVI compatibility when using the VESA M1 system?
A:
VESA designed the M1 system to work seamlessly with DVI connectors on the host
(video source) end of the cable. In engineering terms, M1 is a superset of DVI. Additionally, the
DVI standard is agnostic with regard to the connector used on the display end of the video cable.
All InFocus projectors using the M1 interface are fully DVI compliant.
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Q:
A:
The M1 standard was just completely ratified by VESA in August 2001. InFocus expects
there to be other projector manufactures to embrace M1 as soon as development allows.
Q:
A:
IEEE 1394 goes by many different names in the industry. Apple, the inventor of the
technology, calls it Firewire. Sony calls it iLink. Apple created the basic technology in 1986
and introduced it into the market in 1987. The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
made it an IEEE standard in 1994.
While the overall information carrying capacity or bandwidth of IEEE 1394 has increased from
100MHz, to 400 MHz now and 800 MHz on the horizon it still does not have enough bandwidth to
carry uncompressed full-motion video.
In a typical home theater setup there is some sort of central routing box; a cable or satellite settop box or a video switcher. Many of these devices have a picture-in-picture (PIP) capability.
Decompressing the incoming 1394 video streams to this box to perform the PIP function and to
add menus and then re-compressing the video to the display would introduce unacceptable
artifacts. This compression and decompression also adds substantial cost.
For these reasons most manufacturers of set-top boxes and video processors are planning to use
DVI (with HDCP) to connect to the display. Most InFocus projectors already have a DVI
interface.
Motion Adaptive Deinterlacing
Per-pixel motion adaptive techniques provide the highest resolution picture while suppressing
motion artifacts.
DCDi (Directional Correlational De-Interlacing)
Per-pixel selection of edge direction produces a smooth and natural picture without staircasing or
jaggies.
Film Mode Processing
One field look-ahead allows for superior 3:2 and 2:2 pulldown detection along with bad-edit and
mixed-mode detection, which is then coupled with proper inverse pulldown correction for an
artifact-free picture.
Motion Adaptive Cross Color Suppression
3D processing removes objectionable NTSC cross color artifacts created by the Y/C separation
process.
What is DCDi?
DCDi stands for Directional Correlational De-Interlacing. Conventional video deinterlacing
introduces image artifacts such as flicker, loss of vertical resolution and jagged edges. More
advanced motion adaptive deinterlacing can remove most of these shortcomings, but moving
diagonal edges may still exhibit staircasing or jaggies.
Why do I need it?
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The shortcomings of conventional deinterlacing are most apparent when viewing material from a
live or taped video source. In particular, television sports, variety, and concert presentations are
significantly improved by the use of this latest technology.
Broadcast television and other composite video sources are also enhanced by motion adaptive
cross-color suppression. Cross-color is the artifact created when fine detail is mistakenly seen as
color information by conventional video decoders. Think of the rainbows seen in a suits fabric
texture, worn by an anchorperson or talk show host. Those artifacts are now considerably
reduced or eliminated.
What about DVDs?
If the DVD contains material from a video source then the benefits mentioned above will apply. If
the DVD contains a motion picture shot on film, then a different method is used to create an
optimum image. Film mode processing reconstructs the original progressive film image from the
interlaced DVD output. Advanced 3:2 and 2:2 pulldown detection gives outstanding results from
NTSC or PAL video sources.
What about progressive DVD players?
Progressive material is displayed directly and very little signal processing is performed. The
LS110 and ???? will display a fine image from these sources. However, you will find the
deinterlacing and film mode processing of our new projectors superior, to many DVD players on
the market today.
What about HDTV?
InFocus does not use DCDi technology to enhance HDTV sources in our present products.
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