What is DisplayPort 1.4? and what’s different about DisplayPort 1.4?

[Clark]

Both gamers and people who enjoy high-definition movies have a reason to smile, thanks to DisplayPort. But, this is not a new tech because, for years, gamers and workers running monitors at a high refresh rate have relied on DisplayPort. Think of refresh rates and resolutions of 144Hz and 4k. Because it has a higher data rate than its counterpart, HDMI, DisplayPort handles data transfer far better. But, if you are relatively new to this, it's best to understand what it is and why it's different. Let's get you started.

What is DisplayPort 1.4?

It started back in 2006 when Video Electronics Standards Association, also known as VESA, designed a display interface to compare to HDMI. The need was to fill the gap HDMI didn't fill with catering to high-definition display for gamers and workers. Movie lovers also got lucky with the tech.
DisplayPort may not be as widely used as HDMI, but it's catching on as more high-resolution monitors prefer it over HDMI.
Since you probably already know what HDMI is, let's use it to understand DisplayPort. Typically, the two have the same capability to transmit bandwidth, but DisplayPort does double the work HDMI can manage. That is, 32.4 Gbs data transfer to be precise. This means 8k at 30Hz with 10-bit color HDR are easily viewed. Also, as mentioned earlier, 4k at 144Hz with 24-bit color or a 5k display of up to 60Hz and 30-bit color.
When working or playing games, you need to have multiple-stream transport tech, where DisplayPort comes to life. It allows you have multiple displays per port without connecting a ton of cables. This is pure heaven for people who need to work with multiple displays because all you need is your DisplayPort and a daisy chain or multi-stream transport hub.
As mentioned, gamers love DisplayPort because it supports NVIDIA's G-Synch and AMD's FreeSynch technology, commonly used by gamers. The sync technology aligns the PC hardware to the system's GPU and matches it with the monitor's refresh rate, so there isn't any tearing when playing.

Why it's different

You can already see why DisplayPort is better, but let's take it a notch higher. Now, unlike DisplayPort 1.2 and 1.3, DisplayPort 1.4 has come with the introduction of Display Stream Compression 1.2 support. DSC is a lossless encoding technique and a great way to get more from your cabling and DisplayPort. This is what allows DisplayPort to support 4k, 5k, and 8k resolutions and speed rates.
DisplayPort 1.4 also supports Dual-mode, so you can use it together with DVI and HDMI 2.0 sources or vice versa. If you prefer a noiseless transmission, then this DisplayPort is precisely what you need. It supports forward error correction and HDMR10, making your transmissions noiseless.
The cable has increased the number of audio channels from 8 to a whopping 32, with the maximum audio sample rate increasing from 768kHz to 1,536kHz.
With all these improvements, it's clear that DisplayPort is not only here to stay, but it's getting ready for the future where higher resolutions and speed rates seem to be headed.