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HDMI 2.0 to DisplayPort. Possible, forget about it or ?

BlindZenDriverBlindZenDriver Registered User regular
I have been enjoying a 40" 4K Philips BDM4065UC monitor with my PC and have been for 3½ years now, but there the one downside in that it doesn't come with HDMI 2.0. I also use my PS3 with the Philips, but with Gran Tourismo now dead on PS3 it has become a rare occasion. However the Philips does work great not only as PC monitor for office stuff, but also for gaming with both the PC and with the PS3.

Having sort of skipped the PS4 I have been wondering about getting a PS4Pro for a while now, but the Philips lacks HDMI 2.0 support so that would then mean not getting the 4K or would it? I can see one can buy HDMI 2.0 to Displayport gizmos, but as they are upwards of $200 I do wonder if that is really a wise investment as I could put that money towards doing a monitor upgrade and also whether such boxes really work.

So I guess my main question - does anyone have experience with HDMI 2.0 to Displayport for use with a PS4Pro(or otherwise) for gaming and also the occasional movies?


NOTE: I updated/corrected this post to say HDMI rather than DVI as I sort of messed that up.

Bones heal, glory is forever.
BlindZenDriver on

Posts

  • BlindZenDriverBlindZenDriver Registered User regular
    I guess nobody has any input.
    This thread can be closed.

    Bones heal, glory is forever.
  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    edited October 2018
    This may be a dumb question, but why not HDMI?

    Edit: Apparently it only supports up to 30Hz at 4K over HDMI, is that right? That said, many games running at 4K (or sometimes even at lower resolutions) on a PS4 Pro only run at 30Hz anyway. So depending on the title, you wouldn't actually be compromising.

    Jazz on
  • BlindZenDriverBlindZenDriver Registered User regular
    Jazz wrote: »
    This may be a dumb question, but why not HDMI?

    Edit: Apparently it only supports up to 30Hz at 4K over HDMI, is that right? That said, many games running at 4K (or sometimes even at lower resolutions) on a PS4 Pro only run at 30Hz anyway. So depending on the title, you wouldn't actually be compromising.

    Thank you for the comments. Not a dumb question.
    In my head DVI and HDMI is the same, where in reality of course HDMI is DVI with audio. It is simply that for the longest time I have been running audio separately from video and I also mainly deal with computers and not entertainment gear. I guess I really should have made the subject of my post "HDMI 2.0 to DisplayPort. Possible, forget about it or ?".

    I didn't know that the PS4 Pro runs some games in 30Hz. I id expect it would output in 60 Hz even if the frame rate is perhaps not a stable 60Hz. Not good news, but I suppose you're right in saying that depending on the game having only 30Hz is then a non-issue.

    Another has crept up also which sort of makes any though of getting a DVI/HDMI to DisplayPort adapter less interesting. Looks like at work I will having to use a laptop when working from home rather than doing RDP and controlling a machine at work from the home PC, this then means I shall be using the spare DisplayPort for the laptop rather than an PS4 Pro or resort to cable swapping every other day ie. another compromise.

    I think I'll have to resort to waiting for a monitor with enough DisplayPorts and HDMI 2.0 to do it all + it must of course be fast enough for gaming...

    Bones heal, glory is forever.
  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    edited October 2018
    I guess I should have said 30fps, rather than 30Hz, my mistake - the output is still 60Hz as you'd expect, but some games - most, actually - simply don't go for 60fps. For example, Horizon Zero Dawn runs at 30fps on my PS4 Pro even without 4K (I actually only have a 720p TV for my consoles - stuck in the dark ages! - but it takes a 1080p input). The Pro enhances the the game in other ways; in that particular game the differences aren't huge, but the image quality does get a nice bump; like turning a PC game from medium to high settings, say.

    The Pro often will have you choose between 60fps in 1080p, and 30fps in 4K. Framerate or resolution. Often it can't actually push full 4K (again, depends on the title) but will still push higher than 1080p (so maybe upscaled 1440p or something), although it'll still output a 4K signal and it will look pretty great.

    It's a shame the Philips has that limitation with its HDMI, since it seems to have everything else covered. If you can live with the PS4 Pro being limited to 30 (Hz/FPS/delete as applicable) for now, which may very well depend on what you're playing on it, then just using HDMI for the Pro until such time as you replace the monitor seems like the obvious and simplest solution. It's certainly not ideal, granted, especially if framerates are an issue for you, but (and this is just IMO) getting stuck into spending hundreds on adapters seems like a bit of a waste when that could be a good chunk of the budget towards a new monitor in due course. Especially if you're going to be setting the games to 4K (or "high resolution") mode, you'll be at 30fps most (maybe almost all) of the time.

    Looking up PS4 Pro enhancements for the games you're interested in might be worthwhile too. If they're all (or primarily) ones that will still run in 30fps, you're not losing out. Here's one list, assume 30fps unless otherwise stated.

    Jazz on
  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    I didn't know that the PS4 Pro runs some games in 30Hz. I id expect it would output in 60 Hz even if the frame rate is perhaps not a stable 60Hz. Not good news, but I suppose you're right in saying that depending on the game having only 30Hz is then a non-issue.

    The majority, or close to it, of Playstation 4 Pro games run at 30 hz because the majority, or close to it, of PS4 (and Xbox One) games run at 30 hz. In partiuclar, the Playstation 4 Pro is primarily a "dynamic 4K" upscaling upgrade, not 30 to 60 hz framerate upgrade--basically, it boils down to it being a lot easier to get a game running at 900 or 1080p to psuedo-1440p or 2160p than from 30 to 60 hz, which can involve substantial chances to game logic, especially if there was no version that ran at 60 hz (most obviously, a PC port). The console absolutely can output 60 Hz, but it doesn't typically use it--which is the question that comes into play here, I think. And of course, there are some games that were supposed to run at 1080p/30hz, but didn't really hit that framerate, so their update to the better hardware mostly juts focuses on meeting that original goal, with the possibility of 1440p.

    That being said, I'd absolutely recommend a display that supports 2160p/60hz if I owned one (I have a Vizio M-Class that has 5 HDMI ports, and 1 of those does, in fact, support 2160p/60hz, since it's about two years old), since you might as well, even if the games are the exception rather than the norm.

  • OptyOpty Registered User regular
    As far as I know the PS4Pro does not support 4k@30Hz over HDMI 1.4 anymore. It supported it at one point but Sony removed the option and I haven't heard anything about it coming back. This means HDMI 2 is currently the only way to get 4k out of the console, at least for now.

    Even though your laptop is now taking over your DP port so this doesn't matter anymore, I would like to say that getting an HDMI to DisplayPort converter is not a good idea unless you have more than one device you plan on using it with. Paying that much for something you'll only use with one thing isn't a good idea. That said, the amount of latency they add is negligible, so if you had money to burn it wouldn't compromise your experience.

    And to be clear, the PS4 doesn't ever change its output resolution or refresh rate outside you manually changing it in the settings. When it's outputting 4k@60hz it's always outputting that, even if the game you're playing is running at 30fps and/or rendering at 1080p.

  • BlindZenDriverBlindZenDriver Registered User regular
    Great info everyone.

    Since October I have actually been so busy, that the whole issue has been on hold. I did the other day look to see if some new amazing monitor has become available, but there is no movement in the market at all. I hoped CES would bring some promise, but if it did then I has slipped past my radar.

    Also I have come to the conclusion and that getting an gadget just to make HDMI into Displayport, that would be to much money so for now I'll wait (instead I am looking into the games I missed for the PS3, although I fear that is perhaps a little late).

    Bones heal, glory is forever.
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