HDMI vs. DisplayPort: Which display interface is better?

“The HDMI audio/video interface standard is everywhere,” Michael Brown writes for PCWorld. “You’ll find the connection in TVs, set-top boxes, Blu-ray players, A/V receivers, gaming consoles, camcorders, digital cameras, and even some smartphones. You’ll also find an HDMI port in most consumer desktop and laptop computers.”

“But given HDMI’s ubiquity, you might have forgotten the other digital audio/video standard: DisplayPort,” Brown writes. “Both HDMI and DisplayPort can send high-definition digital video and audio from a source device to a display. So what’s the difference?”

“HDMI was designed primarily for consumer-electronics applications: Blu-ray players, TVs, video projectors, and the like. Despite the confusing cable specifications, it does things that DisplayPort can’t. Meanwhile, VESA-designed DisplayPort to be the ultimate display interface for computers, so it complements rather than replaces HDMI,” Brown writes. “HDMI isn’t going anywhere, and we wouldn’t want it to, but it’s time for computer manufacturers to show DisplayPort some love, too.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: It can get quickly get confusing for average consumers.

For example, Apple’s 12-inch MacBook offers a USB-C port which supports native DisplayPort 1.2 video output, HDMI video output using a USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter, and even VGA output using a USB-C VGA Multiport Adapter. Apple’s MacBook Pro offers Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports which also support native DisplayPort output over USB‑C and HDMI, VGA, and Thunderbolt 2 output via adapters.

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