VESA MyDP: the Mobile DisplayPort to compete with HDMI in mobiles

The VESA association has approved the MyDP standard (Mobility DisplayPort), an extension of the DisplayPort for mobile devices, something which will shake up the competing HDMI.

Smartphones and top of the range tablets now often come with a HD video output (although this is sometimes via a dock) allowing their display to be shown on a big screen. Until now, it was always the HDMI standard that was used.

But HDMI, while being practical, doesn’t have everything going for it as it uses technologies that require royalty payments to be made to the patent holders. It is for this reason that another format has been developed, to eliminate HDMI’s constraints – both from the intellectual property perspective, but also the technical front (voltage, dedicated data channel).

After a maturation phase, VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) has approved the MyDP standard (Mobility DisplayPort) presented as an extension of the DisplayPort standard (successor to VGA and DVI ports) which is capable of displaying full HD (1080p and 3D support) from mobile devices thanks to DisplayPort 1.2 (5.4 Gbps) and DisplayPort 1.1 (2.7 Gbps, initially for the showing of 720p).

MyDP will help with the evolution of the smartphone and it various uses, turning it and tablets into a multimedia hub that is capable of displaying content on a big screen… simply by using the micro-USB port present on mobile devices and not with a dedicated connector as is the case with HDMI (even though it is now possible to also use the MHL connector).


Full HD video, 1 Mbps data channel, charging of the mobile device...
The MyDP promises the broadcasting of 1080p content in 24-bit colour in 60 Hz, with 7.1 sound, although it will still be compatible with the VGA and DVI standards (via an adaptor). It also comes with a 1 Mbps channel which allows it to drive peripherals (keyboard, mouse, remote control). Finally, it is capable of charging mobile devices as they play their content (in 500 mA/5V), although it doesn’t allow MHL without an additional connector – something which HDMI is not capable of, so that the devices battery doesn’t drain – even if you don’t have the charger with you.

This new video standard from a mobile device will accompany the emerging DisplayPort on screens and televisions. While the chipset manufacturer STMicroelectronics has for a long time been working on MyDP, its approval by VESA and its 180 members should now allow it to be quickly taken up.

The association is estimating that the first MyDP compatible products (tablets, smartphones, ultrabooks) will be available in the last quarter of 2012. The fight over video from mobile devices has therefore begun, with MHL 2.0 correcting some of the functions initially missing from MHL having been announced in May.