Zotac releases DisplayPort to dual HDMI adapter
by Kristian Vättö on August 2, 2011 2:23 PM EST- Posted in
- Displays
- ZOTAC
- DisplayPort
- HDMI
Zotac has released two new products: Mini DisplayPort and DisplayPort to dual HDMI adapters. These adapters are first of their kind and simply have one (Mini) DisplayPort input and two HDMI outputs, which allows users to use one DisplayPort port for two HDMI equipped monitors.
Unfortunately the HDMI outputs are limited to 1920x1080 which indicates that this adapter might be based on older, 1.1a or earlier, DisplayPort (DP) version. A monitor with 1920x1080 resolution, 60Hz refresh rate and 24-bit color requires bandwidth of ~4.43Gb/s whereas DP 1.1a provides 10.8Gb/s, which is fine for two 1080p monitors. However, if DP 1.2 was supported, then the adapter should in theory support two monitors at 2560x1600 since they require ~8.75Gb/s each and DP 1.2 provides 21.6Gb/s.
Mac users should be pleased with an adapter like this because many Macs have only one video output, hence allowing only one external monitor. Zotac's Mini DisplayPort adapter should give Mac users an option of running two 1080p monitors on any Mac with mDP. Currently Mac users have been limited to USB video adapters and Matrox' products, which both have their limitations (USB ones are generally slow and Matrox are expensive).
Zotac has not unveiled availability details but their product page is already up so we would expect imminent availability. Suggested retail price for these adapters is $49.99, which makes them significantly cheaper than other alternatives. Zotac claims that all graphics cards are supported, including IGPs, and evidently all operating systems are supported as well.
Source: Zotac
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Misel - Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - link
I've asked quite a few retailers and many don't even know what it is?Kristian Vättö - Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - link
At least I haven't seen any :( I'm sure we will post something here in AT when we hear about themVideot - Thursday, August 4, 2011 - link
Not yet, looks like early next year perhaps. The MST (multi-stream transport) section of DP 1.2 had some revisions made, and the compliance spec for MST is just being generated. Should see MST prototypes at the DisplayPort PlugTest in November (including DP 1.2 hub devices), and then demos at CES.phatboye - Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - link
Does this adapter just duplicate each display or can each display be driven independently?PyroHoltz - Wednesday, August 3, 2011 - link
Obviously it would be two independent displays based on the bandwidth required. ~4.43Gb/s x 2 = ~8.86 Gb/s which is less than the required 10.8Gb/s for DP1.1a.If the breakout box was just allowing you to show the same thing on both HDMI connections it wouldn't require twice the bandwidth.
Pontius Dilate - Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - link
I can't even find any monitors available which accept greater than 1920x1080 over HDMI. If you need to plug multiple 2560x1600 monitors into one DP why would you bother switching to HDMI to transmit the signal?CapitalC - Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - link
I see you guys really struggled to find something negative to say. The best you could come up with is that it doesn't support 2560x1600? Based on a silly bandwidth calculation?Monitors with that resolution are very rare to begin with. Very few of those have HDMI inputs. And those that do, generally don't support 2560x1600 over HDMI (which requires HDMI 1.3 support).
So even if you own two Dell 3007WFP, or two 3008WFP, or two Apple 30" Cinema Displays, none of those will do 2560x1600 over HDMI. Not even over single-link DVI. And the idea that someone would want to drive those from a MacBook is pretty ridiculous.
All in all it's a pretty stupid criticism.
Kristian Vättö - Wednesday, August 3, 2011 - link
My goal was not to criticize, but to add something more than what other sites and Zotac released. That is one of our main goals: to provide more than just a rewrite of press releases and other stories. It was merely backup for my assumption that the adapter is based on DP 1.1a or earlier, as Zotac claims that it only supports up to 1080p.I am aware that most monitors don't support more than 1080p over HDMI but if Zotac supported 2600p over HDMI, one should be able to get HDMI to dual-link DVI adapters to be able to drive two 30" displays at 2600p. It's a small market but I still wanted to add something of my own to the article instead of rewriting the PR.
This ia definitely a great product and the $50 price tag makes it even more appealing. In fact, I might buy one for my own use at some point.
stm1185 - Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - link
How do you know it is setup to allow the computer to have 2 video outputs for an extended display setup and not just a way to send the same video to 2 different devices, say a 42inch TV and a 24 inch monitor.Are you guessing or does it actually say that and how does it work, does it show 1 3840x1080 monitor in the control panel, or does it have software to make the monitors show up correctly.
sjael - Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - link
In the product brochure thing on Zotac's site, it says "3840x1080 spanned resolution" so I'm guessing it will identify as a single 3840x1080 screen. It definitely doesn't (just?) mirror them though.