Unified Display Interface (UDI) was a digital video

interface Interface or interfacing may refer to: Academic journals * ''Interface'' (journal), by the Electrochemical Society * '' Interface, Journal of Applied Linguistics'', now merged with ''ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics'' * '' Int ...

specification based on

Digital Visual Interface Digital Visual Interface (DVI) is a video display interface developed by the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG). The digital interface is used to connect a video source, such as a video display controller, to a display device, such as a com ...

(DVI). It was intended to be a lower cost implementation while providing compatibility with existing

High-Definition Multimedia Interface High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controller ...

(HDMI) and DVI displays. Unlike HDMI, which is aimed at high-definition

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradit ...

consumer electronics devices such as television monitors and DVD players, UDI was specifically targeted towards computer monitor and video card manufacturers and did not support the transfer of audio data. UDI was primarily backed by

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

with support from

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

and other partners. It was effectively replaced by the

DisplayPort DisplayPort (DP) is a digital display interface developed by a consortium of PC and chip manufacturers and standardized by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). It is primarily used to connect a video source to a display device su ...

standard before products were released.

Overview

UDI provided higher bandwidth than its predecessors (up to 16 Gbit/s in its first version, compared to 4.9 Gbit/s for HDMI 1.0) and incorporated a form of digital rights management known as

HDCP High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) is a form of digital copy protection developed by Intel Corporation to prevent copying of digital audio and video content as it travels across connections. Types of connections include DisplayPort ...

. The connector had a single row of 26 contacts pitched 0.6 mm apart from each other, looking very similar to the

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...

plug which has a single row with only four contacts. Three of the 26 contacts are not wired but were reserved for undetermined future upgrade possibilities. Transmit and receive plugs were slightly different, and a UDI cable would fit only one way. Bidirectional communication worked at a much lower data rate than that available for the single direction video datastream. On December 20, 2005, the UDI Special Interest Group (UDI SIG) was announced, along with a tentative specification called version 0.8. The group worked on the refined specifications and promoting the interface. Members included Apple Computer,

, LG,

NVIDIA Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...

, and

Silicon Image Inc. Silicon Image is a provider of semiconductors for the mobile, consumer electronics and personal computers (PCs). It also manufactures wireless and wired connectivity products used for high-definition content. The company’s semiconductor and IP ...

The UDI specification 1.0 was finalized in July 2006. The differences between UDI and

HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controlle ...

was kept to a minimum since both specifications were designed for long-term compatibility. The group changed its name in late 2006 from "special interest group" to "working group". In early 2007 Intel started supporting the similar

standard, vendors started to use HDMI version 1.3, and both Intel and Samsung withdrew their support. There has been no announcements made about UDI since early 2007 and the UDI website became no longer operational after 2007.

References

{{High-definition Digital display connectors High-definition television