An Overview of Current Display Interfaces

2
The Future of Display Interfaces
Monitor and TV Market Trends
The following trends seem likely over the next 3-5 years in the monitor and TV
markets.
 While there will continue to be a trend to larger-sized monitors, the upper end
of this market will not increase significantly in terms of size – the majority of
desktop monitors will remain under 30-inch diagonal. Some increase in
resolution (pixel formats) will likely occur, but most monitors will maintain the
current norms – 1600 x 900 to 1920 x 1080 resolution for widescreen displays
in the 20-inch to 27-inch size range, with the top end of mainstream monitors at
about 2560 x 1440 resolution.
 The trend in the TV market will be to larger sizes and a greater percentage of
widescreen, HDTV-type displays, but in this particular application the pixel
formats are constrained by television broadcast standards. The highest-
definition format in normal use will remain at 1920 x 1080 pixels.
 There will continue to be growing pressure to provide content protection of
copyrighted material (meaning the prevention of unauthorized viewing or
copying of this material). As it is very difficult to provide adequate protection in
the case of analog interfaces, this factor will likely accelerate the adoption of
digital connections – and the displacement of their analog counterparts, such
as the VGA connector in the PC market. Although content protection is of
greatest importance in the consumer products market, the commercial sector
may also be affected by this trend.
 There is also a growing desire, primarily on the consumer side of the PC
market, for better interoperability between PC and digital TV products. Over
the long term, this may lead to convergence on a single digital interface
standard for all such products, which would likely pull commercial users in the
same direction.
 LCDs already account for essentially all of the PC monitor market, and have a
rapidly-growing share of the TV market. No other display technology is
expected to displace the LCD from its top position over this time period.
 These trends and the current state of the market will have the following effects
on the predicted future of display interfaces.
 The long-lived VGA connector will continue on in the short term but will begin
losing market share to the newer alternatives. While the VGA connector
currently remains the interface of choice for entry-level products, digital
alternatives are starting to take hold. Due to content protection issues, the VGA
connector will eventually be driven out of the market and by 2013 may be
completely abandoned.
 The DVI connector has started to decline in favor of the newer DisplayPort
standard as the PC industry’s leading digital interface. By 2013, we expect the
DVI interface to be essentially gone from the market. (Support for legacy
products will be provided via adapters between dual-mode DisplayPort
products and their older DVI counterparts.)