USB Type-C just got another alt mode

[Dark Jaguar]

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/09/u...ble-specs/

HDMI this time.

This could lead to some interesting things. Firstly, it won't support the latest HDMI revision. That's most likely due to HDMI wanting to keep making those licensing dollars off of their tech, which USB Type C would avoid.

I'm very interested in that. HDMI might have shot itself in the foot without even realizing it. The Display Port alt mode supports up to the latest revision, so we're looking at a cable transition now. Firstly, it just became reasonable to start sticking USB Type C connectors onto new TVs, and in fact start phasing out the older HDMI ports. Console makers will also find it a good idea to have a range of USB C ports to replace the HDMI port they need now. With USB C to HDMI converters to handle older ports in both cases, both sides will have to start thinking about which alt modes to include. 4K at 60 FPS is being heavily promoted on the next revisions of Sony and MS's consoles. They would do well, in the future, to include alt modes for both HDMI and Displayport in one. However, going forward, if both TVs and consoles already have Displayport as standard, companies will have little reason to bother with HDMI licensing fees. We could be looking at the first real chance for Displayport to usurp the grip HDMI has.

[A Black Falcon]

So USB can do HDMI now too? It can do power, data, video... what CAN'T USB do? "Universal" Serial Bus indeed...

[Dark Jaguar]

USB type C will be an all in one connector, but that's the key point here, it'll be universal as a connector, but not as a connection standard.

Here's the key thing to remember about alt-modes. They're optional. Manufacturers are not obligated to include support for any of the alt modes, and in practice most will at best support one or two alt modes, depending on what the manufacturer decides to implement the hardware for. In the case of Thunderbolt, every port will require an on-board device to handle it, since Thunderbolt itself doesn't support the hub style interface of USB (instead, if a Thunderbolt device wants to share a port, it implements a thunderbolt port in itself to allow a daisy chain). That's the other key point. These alt modes are entirely different operating modes from USB. In any of these alt modes, the cable will be functioning based on that alt mode's standard, not as USB.

So yes, as a connector plug, we've finally got something truly universal, but we've still got a big bunch of competing standards fighting over these ports, and there's no promise that your particular PC's USB-C connector will support HDMI or Thunderbolt or whatever.

That said, there is a fairly good chance that USB standard 3.2 might just implement Displayport as a baked in part of the USB standard, meaning any USB 3.2 port would, by necessity, also be Displayport compatible. Mind you, that doesn't mean the device the connector is part of will actually be designed to do anything with that signal, in the same way that just because you hook a mouse to a Wii it doesn't mean the Wii will have any clue what to do with one.

[A Black Falcon]

Good point, it would be VERY confusing when you have identical or nearly identical looking cables that do different things... such things have existed before in technology, and it's a mess whenever it happens. You already have USB 2.0 and 3.0, with how you need 3.0 cables to get 3.0 speeds, of course, you can't make things much more confusing than that for consumers. So I guess as you say what happens will be up to the people who set the USB standards.