Category: VESA

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New VESA DisplayID 2.0 Standard to Optimize Plug-and-Play Connectivity for VR/AR

When you look at display technologies what do you look for? Resolution, where it’s LED, LCD or OLED, maybe a refresh rate or two. Whilst these are aspects the average consumer looks for in a new TV, or when comparing virtual reality (VR) headset specs, there are far more underlying systems in place which need to work effectively, giving you the best experience. One of those is the Display Identification Data (DisplayID) standard, and today the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) has announced a major 2.0 update.

The new version aims to simplify connecting and configuring modern display products, including PC monitors, consumer TVs and embedded displays. As a result, DisplayID 2.0 offers a best-in-class plug-and-play experience with advanced capabilities that support 4K-and-higher resolutions, high dynamic range (HDR), VR and augmented reality (AR, and refresh rates of 120Hz and above.

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DisplayID 2.0 looks to address the growing use of head-mounted and other types of wearable displays; providing a clearer way to define Adaptive-Sync (i.e., dynamic refresh rate); extending field sizes to support higher pixel counts; expands the magnitude of parameters needed to enable HDR; and supports high luminance.

“What version 2.0 of the DisplayID standard facilitates is a true ‘it just works’ plug-and-play consumer experience,” said Bill Lempesis, VESA executive director. “With advanced display technologies becoming more widely available, DisplayID 2.0 – by stripping out legacy capabilities – provides a crisp, succinct way to describe optimized connectivity while carrying forward structures that remain relevant today. This ensures the standard will expand to accommodate user demands.”

“EDID remains viable for lower-resolution devices, and the current framework allows for the smooth transition from EDID to DisplayID as modern displays migrate over time,” commented Syed Hussain, VESA board vice chairman and AMD Senior Display Domain Fellow. “While DisplayID 2.0 is a future-focused specification incorporating support for higher resolution and refresh rates as well as HDR and Adaptive-Sync, it can also co-exist with older products supporting EDID, further enabling us to help guarantee full-plug-and-play ability for consumers regardless of the type of display they own.”

And back in May, VESA announced the formation of a Special Interest Group (SIG) to address the various needs of those in the VR/AR markets.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of VESA, reporting back with the latest announcements.

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Synopsys Integrate Display Screen Compression for Ultra HD Displays

Software developer Synopsys have announced its success in integrating its DesignWare MIPI DSI Host Controller IP with the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) display stream compression encoder in order to delivery improved resolution for virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and smartphone displays.

The new host controller IP supports ultra HD resolutions and 4K displays with refresh rates of 60Hz or higher. The IP allows allows for reduced memory and power consumption, and less electromagnetic interference, according to tests submitted by Synopsys.

“The growing demand for ultra-high-resolution mobile displays with wider picture range, broader color range and better contrast ratios in consumer devices brings new challenges to SoC designers,” said John Koeter, vice president of marketing for IP at Synopsys. “Synopsys’ DesignWare MIPI DSI Host Controller IP with integrated VESA DSC encoder enables designers to meet the requirements for quad HD, 4K and higher resolution display with higher refresh rates for the next generation of mobile displays.”

“The demand for 4K and higher resolution displays for high-end smartphones and new applications like virtual/augmented reality, automotive infotainment and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) is growing,” said Joel Huloux, chairman of the board of MIPI Alliance. “As a MIPI Alliance board member and contributor to the Display Working Group, Synopsys continues to promote interoperability within the ecosystem and drive adoption of the MIPI DSI specification for high-definition displays in mobile applications and beyond.”

“Display manufacturers for mobile, IoT and automotive applications are moving to higher-resolution displays to differentiate their products, challenging SoC designers to find methods to compress data transmission for increased pixel count,” added Bill Lempesis, executive director at VESA. “By integrating the DSC encoder with its DesignWare MIPI DSI Host Controller IP, Synopsys is providing designers the opportunity to incorporate visually lossless compression over display links into their SoCs.”

VRFocus will continue to report on new innovation in VR/AR display technology

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VESA Creates AR and VR Special Interest Group

VESA Creates AR and VR Special Interest Group

Many people don’t actually know who VESA is, but they’re responsible for a lot of the display standards that we use every day. They’re responsible for the most crucial digital display standards that have existed in the past and even into the future including VGA, DVI, LVDS and DisplayPort. The extremely popular USB Type-C uses DisplayPort alt-mode to pass video signals through the new universal USB connector, this also makes VESA uniquely positioned as a technology leader that should be thinking about where AR and VR are going. The popularity of AR and VR was evident all around CES at the start of this year and the presence that it had even at the VESA booth was undeniable and is in part what drew VESA to move towards exploring more about AR and VR.

DisplayPort as a standard has always been at the forefront of supporting the latest resolutions and refresh rates. DisplayPort was even the first to support 4K, 5K a,nd 8K resolutions. So, it comes as no surprise that they are interested in how they can enable VR and AR technologies with their own Special Interest Group (SIG). While this AR/VR SIG doesn’t necessarily have a specific purpose, when you consider the companies that are members of VESA, you can imagine that having a universal standard for AR and VR signaling that meets everyone’s needs could actually be a huge benefit for everyone.

The organization says that they are creating this standards SIG because they see that the market is growing rapidly and that fragmentation within different standards could cause issues down the road that they believe they could avoid. This SIG would investigate the issues with current VR and AR technologies and explore how their members can work together to create standards that meet everyone’s current and future needs.

Because eDP (embedded DisplayPort) is also part of their portfolio of technologies, VESA can be uniquely positioned to help drive the high pixel fill rates that are going to be needed for high resolution and high frame rate displays needed for future VR and AR solutions. By potentially introducing their own, usually royalty-free, standards VESA can help to reduce confusion about compatibility or interoperability between different technologies. Analogix, one of VESA’s member companies has proposed the AR/VR SIG as they are intimately involved in the smartphone industry and likely see a need for more standardization across smartphone VR just in their own customer base. However, we could see the needs for standardization across all different types of AR and VR devices make it easier to use devices cross-platform and increase the utility of different HMDs. Additionally, Analogix and VESA see that there isn’t enough talk about what AR and VR HMD makers need out of the VESA technologies in order to make the user experience better.

The VESA AR and VR SIG is already being commissioned with certain responsibilities, including:

  • Establish the hierarchical structure for AR/VR services, including physical connections, data transfer protocols, software drivers and application layers
  • Define the basic communication data structure and communication channel between the source and sink devices
  • Study the related technologies and algorithms, and standardize them to enable economic and efficient implementation
  • Suggest any changes to existing VESA standards that may be needed for better AR/VR support
  • Work with other standards bodies to merge suggested changes into related standards

VESA are hoping to help the hundreds of AR and VR companies out there to establish standards for AR and VR that will make both software and hardware development easier and more predictable with better compatibility and user experiences. The VESA AR and VR SIG is currently still open to interested companies and will likely expand as things move forward.

Disclosure: This is a guest post not produced by the UploadVR staff. No compensation was exchanged for the creation of this content. Anshel’s firm, Moor Insights & Strategy, like all research and analyst firms, provides or has provided research, analysis, advising, and/or consulting to many high-tech companies in the industry or related to this article. I do not hold any equity positions with any companies cited in this column. 

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VESA Creates Group Focused on Standardisation of VR/AR Markets

As virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) continue to grow so will the importance of standardisation in the industry. Today the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) – behind the DisplayPort and Embedded DisplayPort (eDP) standards – has announced the formation of a Special Interest Group (SIG), which look at standardising these immersive markets.

With its portfolio of display standards – these also include VGA, HDMI and other established interconnect standards – VESA is uniquely positioned to investigate AR/VR compatibility-related issues. The group was proposed by VESA member Analogix Semiconductor, Inc., and will be open to both VESA members and non-members, to allow a wide ranging discussion addressing the various needs of those in the VR/AR markets. The SIG will work with other VESA task groups, as well as other standards organizations, to help build a robust ecosystem that offers optimal benefits for end users.

VESA logo

“AR/VR products involve both software and hardware development, which requires that different companies in different areas work together to pursue a unified AR/VR standard,” said Greg Stewart, director of system architecture at Analogix Semiconductor and chair of the AR/VR SIG in a statement. “Not all of these required areas of expertise are currently being discussed in any existing VESA group, and we see a strong need and value in creating the AR/VR SIG to get the ball rolling. The SIG will explore the technology area and define recommendations for the requirements and scope of a possible standard, as well as set objectives and timelines so that a task group can move forward with more formal development and implementation.”

The VESA AR/VR SIG plans to tackle several key objectives:

  • Establish the hierarchical structure for AR/VR services, including physical connections, data transfer protocols, software drivers and application layers
  • Define the basic communication data structure and communication channel between the source and sink devices
  • Study the related technologies and algorithms, and standardize them to enable economic and efficient implementation
  • Suggest any changes to existing VESA standards that may be needed for better AR/VR support
  • Work with other standards bodies to merge suggested changes into related standards

“It’s exciting to see the growth in the AR/VR market, evident in such venues as the Consumer Electronics Show, which this year featured more than 260 AR/VR exhibitors with more show floor space than ever before,” said Bill Lempesis, VESA’s executive director. “However, a key question remains—when and how will these products be able to play well with each other? To our knowledge, no other standards organization is currently addressing the key challenges associated with AR/VR product function and interoperability, and we look forward to leveraging our industry leadership to encourage dialogue among industry providers and ultimately help drive further adoption of this exciting technology.”

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