VESA Adds "Adaptive-Sync" to Popular DisplayPort Video Standard

New Technology Enables Smoother Gaming, Lower Power and Efficient Display of Content Rendered at a Wide Range of Frame Rates

NEWARK, CA (12 May 2014) – The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA^®) today announced the addition of ‘Adaptive-Sync’ to its popular DisplayPort™ 1.2a video interface standard. This technology delivers several important capabilities to computer users: Adaptive-Sync provides smoother, tear-free images for gaming and judder-free video playback. It also significantly reduces power consumption for static desktop content and low frame rate video.

Computer monitors normally refresh their displays at a fixed frame rate. In gaming applications, a computer’s CPU or GPU output frame rate will vary according to the rendering complexity of the image. If a display’s refresh rate and a computer’s render rate are not synchronized, visual artifacts—tearing or stuttering—can be seen by the user. DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync enables the display to dynamically match a GPU’s rendering rate, on a frame-by-frame basis, to produce a smoother, low latency, gaming experience.

In applications where the display content is static—such as surfing the web, reading email, or viewing a slide presentation—DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync allows the display refresh rate to be reduced seamlessly, lowering system power and extending battery life.

During the playback of lower frame rate video content, Adaptive-Sync allows the source to optimize transport of the video format leveraging OS and DisplayPort interfaces. In addition to providing smoother video playback, the lower frame rate enabled by Adaptive-Sync also reduces power demand, extending battery life.

“DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync enables a new approach in display refresh technology, ” said Syed Athar Hussain, Display Domain Architect, AMD and VESA Board Vice Chairman. “Instead of updating a monitor at a constant rate, Adaptive-Sync enables technologies that match the display update rate to the user’s content, enabling power efficient transport over the display link and a fluid, low-latency visual experience.”

Adaptive-Sync is a proven and widely adopted technology. The technology has been a standard component of VESA’s embedded DisplayPort (eDP™) specification since its initial rollout in 2009. As a result, Adaptive-Sync technology is already incorporated into many of the building block components for displays that rely on eDP for internal video signaling. Newly introduced to the DisplayPort 1.2a specification for external displays, this technology is now formally known as DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync.

“VESA is constantly evaluating new methods and technologies that add value to both the end user and our OEM member companies. Adaptive-Sync delivers clearly visible advantages to the user for gaming and live video, and contributes to the development of sleeker mobile system designs by reducing battery power requirements, ”said Bill Lempesis, VESA Executive Director. “VESA has developed a test specification to certify Adaptive-Sync compliance. Systems that pass Adaptive-Sync compliance testing will be allowed to feature the official Adaptive-Sync logo on their packaging, informing consumers which DisplayPort-certified displays and video sources offer Adaptive-Sync.”

Implementation of DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync is offered to VESA members without any license fee.

For more information about DisplayPort, please visit http://www.displayport.org