CIE Components in Electronics
STMicroelectronics has added the STDP43 series of products to its DisplayPort portfolio. These Systems-on-Chips (SoCs) are, according to the company, the world’s first high-speed active-protocol bi-directional media-routing devices that manage audio and video data from various sources and send this data to multiple displays.
The devices support DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 1.4, the latest versions of the two most common digital-display interface technologies used in computer and consumer electronics. The STDP43 SoCs are catalytic in the rapidly expanding markets for next-generation digital signage, universal docking stations and video hubs required by the new generation of notebooks and PCs based on the latest Intel and AMD CPUs that support the multi-stream features of DisplayPort 1.2.
The STDP43 series offers routing logic to help manage complex display options, such as in data centres, video-walls, and control centres, where content sharing to multiple displays is a critical requirement. Using dual-mode receivers and transmitters in various configurations, these new SoCs can split, combine, route and convert DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 1.4 signals into full HD on multiple daisy-chained displays with colour depth up to 48 bits per pixel, or into 4Kx2K (4096x2160p = 4 times Full HD) on a single display.
“The STDP43 SoC adds a very versatile product to ST’s mix of DisplayPort 1.2 solutions,” said Todd Meany, General Manager of ST’s Display Product Division (DPD). “Our media-routing concept allows for more flexibility and faster implementation of complex media functionality from docking stations and media hubs. In addition, multimedia data centres will now have more options to expand their designs by taking full advantage of the multi-stream feature.”
The STDP43 series’ industry firsts include: the first single-chip solution to combine two DisplayPort or HDMI streams into a DisplayPort 1.2 MST (Multi-Stream) output; the first to convert DisplayPort 1.2 MST signal into two DisplayPort or HDMI outputs and to transport up to 8 A/V streams on a single connector/cable from one device to another. It is also the first discrete DisplayPort receiver with DisplayPort GTC (Global Time Code) feature for Audio inter-channel synchronisation.
