Cable Descretion

Applied to Wikipedia
　This article is about the computer bus to connect peripherals. For other uses of USB, see USB (disambiguation).
　USB (Universal Serial Bus) is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices.
　USB was designed to standardise the connection of computer peripherals, such as keyboards, pointing devices, digital cameras, printers, portable media players, disk drives and network adapters to personal computers, both to communicate and to supply electric power. It has become commonplace on other devices, such as smartphones, PDAs and video game consoles. USB has effectively replaced a variety of earlier interfaces, such as serial and parallel ports, as well as separate power chargers for portable devices.
　As of 2008, about 2 billion USB devices were sold each year, and approximately 6 billion devices have been sold in total.

Applied to Wikipedia
　High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a compact audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed digital data. It is a digital alternative to consumer analog standards, such as radio frequency (RF) coaxial cable, composite video, S-Video, SCART, component video, D-Terminal, or VGA. HDMI connects digital audio/video sources (such as set-top boxes, DVD players, HD DVD players, Blu-ray Disc players, AVCHD camcorders, personal computers (PCs), video game consoles such as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and AV receivers) to compatible digital audio devices, computer monitors, video projectors, tablet computers, and digital televisions.
　HDMI implements the EIA/CEA-861 standards, which define video formats and waveforms, transport of compressed, uncompressed, and LPCM audio, auxiliary data, and implementations of the VESA EDID. HDMI supports, on a single cable, any uncompressed TV or PC video format, including standard, enhanced and high-definition video; up to 8 channels of compressed or uncompressed digital audio; a Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) connection; and an Ethernet data connection.
The CEC allows HDMI devices to control each other when necessary and allows the user to operate multiple devices with one remote control handset. Because HDMI is electrically compatible with the CEA-861 signals used by Digital Visual Interface (DVI), no signal conversion is necessary, nor is there a loss of video quality when a DVI-to-HDMI adapter is used. As an uncompressed CEA-861 connection, HDMI is independent of the various digital television standards used by individual devices, such as ATSC and DVB, as these are encapsulations of compressed MPEG video streams (which can be decoded and output as an uncompressed video stream on HDMI).
　Production of consumer HDMI products started in late 2003. Over 850 consumer electronics and PC companies have adopted the HDMI specification (HDMI Adopters). In Europe, either DVI-HDCP or HDMI is included in the HD ready in-store labeling specification for TV sets for HDTV, formulated by EICTA with SES Astra in 2005. HDMI began to appear on consumer HDTV camcorders and digital still cameras in 2006. Shipments of HDMI were expected to exceed that of DVI in 2008, driven primarily by the consumer electronics market.
　Note that a given product may choose to implement a subset of the given HDMI version. Certain features such as Deep Color and xvYCC support are optional.

HDMI version 1.0-1.2a 1.3 1.4 Date initially released December 29, 2002 June 22, 2006 May 28, 2009 Maximum clock rate (MHz) 165 340 340 Maximum total TMDS throughput (Gbit/s) including 8b/10b overhead 4.95 10.2 10.2 Maximum throughput (Gbit/s) with 8b/10b overhead removed 3.96 8.16 8.16 Maximum audio throughput (Mbit/s) 36.86 36.86 36.86 Maximum color depth (bit/px.) 24 48 48 Maximum resolution over single link at 24-bit/px 1920×1200p 60 Hz 2560×1600p 75 Hz 4096×2160p 24 Hz Maximum resolution over single link at 30-bit/px N/A 2560×1600p 60 Hz 3840×2160p 30 Hz Maximum resolution over single link at 36-bit/px N/A 1920×1200p 75 Hz 3840×2160p 25 Hz Maximum resolution over single link at 48-bit/px N/A 1920×1200p 60 Hz 3840×2160p 24 Hz

Applied to Wikipedia
　Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) is a proposed industry standard for a mobile audio/video interface for directly connecting mobile phones and other portable consumer electronics (CE) devices to high-definition televisions (HDTVs) and displays. The MHL standard features a single cable with a low pin-count interface able to support up to 1080p high-definition (HD) video and digital audio while simultaneously charging the connected device.
　MHL is being developed by the MHL Consortium, a consortium of developers of mobile devices.

Applied to Wikipedia
Serial ATA (SATA or Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) is a computer bus interface for connecting host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives and optical drives. Serial ATA was designed to replace the older parallel ATA (PATA) standard (often called by the old name IDE), offering several advantages over the older interface: reduced cable size and cost (7 conductors instead of 40), native hot swapping, faster data transfer through higher signalling rates, and more efficient transfer through an (optional) I/O queuing protocol.
SATA host-adapters and devices communicate via a high-speed serial cable over two pairs of conductors. In contrast, parallel ATA (the redesignation for the legacy ATA specifications) used a 16-bit wide data bus with many additional support and control signals, all operating at much lower frequency. To ensure backward compatibility with legacy ATA software and applications, SATA uses the same basic ATA and ATAPI command-set as legacy ATA devices.
As of 2009, SATA has replaced parallel ATA in most shipping consumer desktop and laptop computers, and is expected to eventually replace PATA in embedded applications where space and cost are important factors. SATA's market share in the desktop PC market was 99% in 2008. PATA remains widely used in industrial and embedded applications that use CompactFlash storage, though even here, the next CFast storage standard will be based on SATA.

Applied to Wikipedia
　DisplayPort is a digital display interface standard produced by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). The specification defines a royalty-free digital interconnect for audio and video. The interface is primarily used to connect a video source to a display device such as a computer monitor or television set.
　The first version 1.0 was approved by VESA on May 3, 2006. Two updated revisions have since been approved starting with 1.1a on April 2, 2007 followed by the current standard 1.2 on December 22, 2009.
　DisplayPort is designed to replace Digital Visual Interface (DVI) and Video Graphics Array (VGA), as well as replace internal digital LVDS links in computer monitor panels and TV panels. DisplayPort can also provide the same functionality as HDMI but is not expected to displace HDMI in high-definition consumer electronics devices.

Overview

　DisplayPort is the first display interface to rely on packetized data transmission similar to other data communication protocols such as Ethernet, USB, and PCI Express. It supports both external (box-to-box) and internal (laptop LCD panel) display connections, and unlike DVI/HDMI and LVDS standards where differential pairs are fixed to transmitting RGB pixels and a clock signal, the DisplayPort protocol is based on small data packets with clock embedded. The use of data packets also allows for DisplayPort to be extensible, meaning additional features can be added over time without significant changes to the interface itself.
　The DisplayPort connector supports 1, 2, or 4 differential data pairs (lanes) in a Main Link, each with a raw bit rate of 1.62, 2.7, or 5.4 Gbit/s per lane with self-clock running at 162, 270, or 540 MHz. Data is 8b/10b encoded where each 8 bits of information are encoded with a 10 bit symbol. So the effective data rates after decoding are 1.296, 2.16, and 4.32 Gbit/s per lane (or 80% of the total).
　Both video and audio signals are optional; a Displayport signal can be used to transport audio-only content, video-only content, or both audio and video simultaneously. The video signal path supports 6 to 16 bits per color channel, and the audio path supports up to 8 channels of 24 bit 192 kHz uncompressed PCM audio which can encapsulate compressed audio formats in the audio stream. A bi-directional, half-duplex auxiliary channel carries device management and device control data for the Main Link, such as VESA EDID, MCCS, and DPMS standards. In addition, the interface is capable of carrying bi-directional USB signals.
　The DisplayPort signal is not compatible with HDMI or DVI. However, dual-mode ports marked with a DP++ logo can transmit single-link HDMI and DVI signals through DisplayPort cabling; this requires passive external adapters which convert to the higher signal levels used by DVI/HDMI. Dual-link DVI and analog VGA are supported through powered adapters which perform active conversion (see Compatibility with HDMI/DVI below).

Applied to Wikipedia
　Thunderbolt (originally codenamed Light Peak) is an interface for connecting peripheral devices to a computer via an expansion bus. Thunderbolt was developed by Intel and brought to market with technical collaboration from Apple Inc. It was introduced commercially on Apple's updated MacBook Pro lineup on February 24, 2011, using the same port and connector as Mini DisplayPort. Though initially registered with Apple Inc., full rights of the Thunderbolt technology trademark belong to Intel Corp., and subsequently led to the transfer of the registration.
　Thunderbolt essentially combines PCI Express and DisplayPort into a new serial data interface that can be carried over longer and less costly cables. Because PCI Express is widely supported by device vendors and built into most of Intel's modern chipsets, Thunderbolt can be added to existing products with relative ease. Thunderbolt driver chips fold the data from these two sources together, and split them back apart again for consumption within the devices. This makes the system backward compatible with existing DisplayPort hardware upstream of the driver.
　The interface was originally intended to run on an optical physical layer using components and flexible optical fiber cabling developed by Intel partners and at Intel's Silicon Photonics lab. The Intel technology at the time was marketed under the name Light Peak, today (2011) referred to as Silicon Photonics Link. However, it turned out that conventional copper wiring could furnish the desired 10 Gbit/s Thunderbolt bandwidth per channel at lower cost. Later versions of Thunderbolt are still planned to introduce an optical physical layer based on Intel silicon photonics technology.
　The Intel and Apple implementation of the port adapter integrates PCI Express data and DisplayPort data, allowing them to be carried over the same cable simultaneously. A single Thunderbolt port supports hubs as well as a daisy chain of up to seven Thunderbolt devices; up to two of these devices may be high-resolution displays using DisplayPort.
　Apple sells existing DisplayPort adapters for DVI, dual-link DVI, HDMI, and VGA output from the Thunderbolt port, showing broad compatibility.