DisplayPort AND HDMI: No Longer a Debate | You Need Them Both

The battle between HDMI and DisplayPort is not new. But if you really understand them both, you will know that each serves its own purpose. In this blog, we will talk about how to get the best display results with the use of these two cables.

A wide range of devices come with HDMI port, from TVs to laptops and projectors. DisplayPort, on the other hand, has a much more niche usage (or acceptance or requirement). It is great for a gaming setup and external monitor usage in a workstation setup. It works great with most graphics cards and has a daisy chain mechanism, so you can hook up more than one monitor to a single CPU with just one DisplayPort on it.

Let us explore the nuances of the different setups that work with the HDMI cable and DisplayPort cable:

Entertainment Setup:

Since all TVs have an HDMI port on it, it is the easiest and the best option for this setup. Generally, a TV has around two or three HDMI ports. With the increase in streaming devices, this is great if you want more than one option. You can use one port for a channel setup box, the second for a streaming device and yet a third one for connecting a soundbar.

HDMI Arc output gives you the option to route audio out to a soundbar. This is, of course, very convenient as you can extend your music system beyond simple TV speakers. You are free to switch up to whatever speakers you want to use, including the latest ones that have digital assistants built-in.

This gives you the flexibility of switching out the streaming device if you ever want to plug in your laptop to the TV, leaving the soundbar and the channel setup box as a permanent setup.

Another different entertainment setup is when you want to use a projector. All standard projectors have HDMI compatibility. So, you can attach your source device and a soundbar to it.

HDMI’s ubiquity provides an assurance that you can buy a device with this standard and expect it to work with the rest of your setup over the coming years. Device manufacturers will not want to instantly disconnect you from their brand, so no matter how much “courage” they have, the HDMI port is not likely to disappear from everywhere suddenly. This is why the cable is cheap to buy.

Such a setup would not require a particularly long HDMI cable. An average of 3 to 5 feet should be just enough, though SF cable does have a variety of options to suit your needs.

Gaming Or Video Editing Setup:

We can easily club these two setups in terms of the devices used. Whether you are gaming or editing videos, the most important thing is the monitor. You need something with a high refresh rate, ideally 90Hz or more. But the monitor’s refresh rate is not enough to get the best results. You need to connect the computing source to it, with a DisplayPort cable that can drive such a high refresh rate.

DisplayPort has this neat function of being able to daisy chain monitors. You can connect one monitor to a CPU and add the rest to it. This makes for a neat setup even when your CPU does not have more than one DisplayPort. This is of great value for video editing because you need to be judicious with the ports.

An efficient setup tends to have three monitors: one for a full display, and two for the edit timeline. Additionally, this setup needs to have advanced no latency audio output, through speakers or headphones. If required, a sound mixer is also a part of this editing suite.

If gaming is your priority, a two or three monitor daisy chain connection via the DisplayPort cable is essential. You can add a joystick, controllers, and headphones or speakers. Just like video editing, gaming also requires zero-latency data transfer and you can do it using DisplayPort.

With both, the HDMI cable and the DisplayPort cable, it is important to note what version you are buying. The ports and the cables have to be of the same version. If your cable is older but your device is new, then you will not get the best results.

For optimal display experience, you must check their compatibility. The newer your port and cable, the more future proof it is.

The debate is not between HDMI and DisplayPort because their version and your requirement are what really matters for the perfect display. Learn what all these cables can do.