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Explaining 4K 60Hz Video Through USB-C Hub

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Re: Explaining 4K 60Hz Video Through USB-C Hub

#81

Post by yoz-y »

Nextgrid wrote: post #26

The USB-C spec is an insane mess. The fact that every port used to be different is actually a feature, as it helps you identify which device supports what based on the ports it had. If you see an HDMI port on a laptop you can be sure it's going to output some kind of video signal over that. If you see Thunderbolt then you're sure the machine supports Thunderbolt. USB-C just jams all these incompatible standards into…

A nitpick but thunderbolt never had its own port. Versions 1 and 2 used mini display port plug and, version 3 used USB-C and well, USB-4 is just renamed Thunderbolt 3.

Re: Explaining 4K 60Hz Video Through USB-C Hub

#82

Post by alias_neo »

tlamponi wrote: post #70
Nextgrid wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That world will not happen unless every single device including entry level phones and size-constrained devices somehow magically include all the circuitry required to handle all the different alternate modes. Also, as far as I understand there just isn’t enough pins to support all the modes at once so trade offs have to be made...

I can plug in a X1 carbon thinkpad in my monitor (some ultrawide dell) with USB-C support just fine. I then get video, audio, USB (the monitor has a hub where I have mouse and keyboard connected) _and_ charging/powering my laptop over a single link. Works today with Linux here! It's just magical, I tell you. The world started to happen already, it may not become all that good and 100% universal soon or anytime, but g…

I also recently bought a monitor with USB-C (Thunderbolt 3) which I can plug it's single cable into my DELL XPS and charge it, output 4K@60 to the display, and have my mouse and keyboard which are connected to the back of the monitor.

The downside is when I want to use the same kb/mouse with my desktop, I have to unplug them from the monitor and plug them into the desktop.

Re: Explaining 4K 60Hz Video Through USB-C Hub

#83

Post by floatboth »

lmm wrote: post #61
janlaureys wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm soon switching a lot of things to USB-C. What brands of cables would you recommend ?

Anker. They're consistently reliable, and accessories are their whole business, so a problem would hurt their reputation a lot more than one of the big hardware companies.

Well, if you look at the spreadsheet linked below https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vnpEXfo2HCGADdd9G2x9... Anker did have one model of cable that was recalled because it was dangerous :)

Re: Explaining 4K 60Hz Video Through USB-C Hub

#84

Post by floatboth »

coldtea wrote: post #42
dheera wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only that, but the USB-C plug itself is the worst-designed plug I have seen in a decade. It's flimsy sheet metal on the plug side with a nice big cantilever, and flimsy sheet metal soldered to a PCB on the other. Perfect recipe for broken ports and cables. I break about a cable a week and break a device every now and then. Mostly doing very normal things like charging a phone in my pocket while hiking. USB-C seem…

> I break about a cable a week and break a device every now and then You're doing it wrong then. I have about 5 USB-C cables and have never broke one in 3 years... Kinds of cables I have broken over my IT life: - A few Apple charger cables (on the Mac connecting end) - A few headphone cables

> Apple charger cables

Apple cables are generally really awful in terms of physically tearing apart, no matter the connector on the end.

Re: Explaining 4K 60Hz Video Through USB-C Hub

#85

Post by nothrabannosir »

tlamponi wrote: post #70
Nextgrid wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That world will not happen unless every single device including entry level phones and size-constrained devices somehow magically include all the circuitry required to handle all the different alternate modes. Also, as far as I understand there just isn’t enough pins to support all the modes at once so trade offs have to be made...

I can plug in a X1 carbon thinkpad in my monitor (some ultrawide dell) with USB-C support just fine. I then get video, audio, USB (the monitor has a hub where I have mouse and keyboard connected) _and_ charging/powering my laptop over a single link. Works today with Linux here! It's just magical, I tell you. The world started to happen already, it may not become all that good and 100% universal soon or anytime, but g…

The X1 is a very expensive machine. The dream kills cheap machines. The reality is that they will cut corners to compete on price, and who you gonna call?

Re: Explaining 4K 60Hz Video Through USB-C Hub

#86

Post by unionpivo »

garmaine wrote: post #18
Eric_WVGG wrote: post #16

I saw this headline and was briefly excited for a moment that a USB-C hub finally existed. That is, a device like an ethernet hub or a USB hub, that would turn one port into several other ports of the same kind. This is an article about USB-C port replicators. Four years into this and not a real single USB-C hub exists. I’ve never seen such a botched rollout.

USB-C hubs are not permitted by the spec.

I just bought new PC, I spend almost 300 EUR on Motherboard alone, just so I had 2 USB-c (one back one front) and 2 nvme slots.

Does that mean I'll only ever be able to hook up 2 devices to my PC ? If that's the case this sucks.

I just cheeked there seems to be lack of usbc pci cards, and the ones that exist only have single ports :(

Re: Explaining 4K 60Hz Video Through USB-C Hub

#87

Post by ben-schaaf »

Derbasti wrote: post #78

Let's talk power: The USB-C PD charger of my Nintendo Switch does not charge my phone, but it does charge my Surface. My phone's USB-C charger does charge the phone and Surface, but not the Switch. My USB-C battery pack charges my phone, but is charged by my Surface. Yeah, it just works. How do, say, a battery pack and a Surface negotiate who is charging who over a symmetric USB-C-to-C cable?

On the topic of power, I really don't understand how USB-C is supposed to replace charging cables. USB-C is limited to 100W. That's enough for a switch, phone or low power laptop, but if this[0] is anything to go by the 6 core intel laptop CPUs already eats 80W of power. Add an extra 2 cores and you might not even be able to sustain a CPU load without draining the battery. Not to mention much higher power draw GPUs.

My real question here is what's the plan? Because it's not possible to push 200-300W down a USB-C cable.

[0] https://www.techspot.com/review/1847-intel-core-i7-9750h-vs-...

Re: Explaining 4K 60Hz Video Through USB-C Hub

#88

Post by coldtea »

floatboth wrote: post #84
coldtea wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I break about a cable a week and break a device every now and then You're doing it wrong then. I have about 5 USB-C cables and have never broke one in 3 years... Kinds of cables I have broken over my IT life: - A few Apple charger cables (on the Mac connecting end) - A few headphone cables

> Apple charger cables Apple cables are generally really awful in terms of physically tearing apart, no matter the connector on the end.

Anecdotally, had better success with Apple USC-C cables than with the old MagSafe cables....

Re: Explaining 4K 60Hz Video Through USB-C Hub

#89

Post by zamubafoo »

nothrabannosir wrote: post #85
tlamponi wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can plug in a X1 carbon thinkpad in my monitor (some ultrawide dell) with USB-C support just fine. I then get video, audio, USB (the monitor has a hub where I have mouse and keyboard connected) _and_ charging/powering my laptop over a single link. Works today with Linux here! It's just magical, I tell you. The world started to happen already, it may not become all that good and 100% universal soon or anytime, but g…

The X1 is a very expensive machine. The dream kills cheap machines. The reality is that they will cut corners to compete on price, and who you gonna call?

My ASUS Chromebook Flip C302CA (released January 5th, 2017) supports this, so it's really a hardware support issue. Take into account that most devices that would benefit from USB C/Thunderbolt 3 only really began supporting it in (very) late 2018/beginning of 2019. Most consumer devices just don't have the right connectivity, but that's changing.

Re: Explaining 4K 60Hz Video Through USB-C Hub

#90

Post by cesarb »

yoz-y wrote: post #81
Nextgrid wrote: post #26

The USB-C spec is an insane mess. The fact that every port used to be different is actually a feature, as it helps you identify which device supports what based on the ports it had. If you see an HDMI port on a laptop you can be sure it's going to output some kind of video signal over that. If you see Thunderbolt then you're sure the machine supports Thunderbolt. USB-C just jams all these incompatible standards into…

A nitpick but thunderbolt never had its own port. Versions 1 and 2 used mini display port plug and, version 3 used USB-C and well, USB-4 is just renamed Thunderbolt 3.

USB4 is more than just "renamed Thunderbolt 3". It adds USB 3.x tunneling while Thunderbolt 3 could only tunnel PCIe and DisplayPort (AFAIK, it faked USB 3.x tunneling by having a PCIe USB 3.x host on the device).
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