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Comment by bhouston | Hacker News Reader

I really prefer USB C over both DisplayPort and HDMI.

Reasons:

- Easy to hook up to modern laptop (all MacBooks) that only have USB-C outputs.

- This allows your TV to become a hub.

- I have invest in a lot of high quality USB C cables rather lots of differ types of cables all of which requires either hubs, or built-in converters.

Can you hook up a USB C display to a iPhone or Android phone directly yet?

My ask of TV manufacturers:

Modern TVs should have built in cameras/microphones (or the ability to pull in a cameras via USB and mount it on top) to enable video conferencing so that my chromecast/Google TV device can run get me into Zooms/Google Meets without any other devices.

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Video through your USB-C port IS DisplayPort. It's just a different physical connector.

(Yes, I realize that there's a video-over-USB thing with a similar name, but that's old heavily-compressed niche junk.)

Sounds like a hack to me. Does the USB-C protocol allow the use of another protocol over the same connector?

Yes. The type C connector includes a couple of reassignable differential pairs explicitly for these kinds of shenanigans.

Thanks, that's good to know. Where do you learn about these things without reading 500 pages of specifications?

USB-C “alt modes”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB-C#Alternate_Mode_partner_s...

Yes, Alternate Mode[0] lets you run more or less whatever you like over those pins.

[0] https://www.cablechick.com.au/blog/definitive-guide-to-usb-c...

hilarious that the “protocol” has the word Port in it. Could it be any more confusing? especially when something named “DisplayPort” is working via a USB-C port.

what a mess. it’s like a parody skit…imagine how a layman would interpret all this.

> Can you hook up a USB C display to a iPhone or Android phone directly yet?

iPhone: yes.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/105099#:~:text=USB-C%20displ...

Isn’t video over USB-C still DisplayPort, just encapsulated?

Usually it's raw DisplayPort connection using some of the SuperSpeed lanes on USB3/USB-C connector. Encapsulation is optionally available when running Thunderbolt/USB4 on the port, then between consenting devices you can setup a virtal circuit where DisplayPort packets are encapsulated in Thunderbolt/USB4 packets.

Man, this is a sad answer in this forum.

Do you know anything about USB C and why there aren't any cables over 3m (10ft)?

And why these are 100$+ cables?

(Usb4/Tb3+ cables, capable of 40gbps like a hdmi2.1)

> Can you hook up a USB C display to a iPhone or Android phone directly yet?

Your phone should have a video output inside the usb-c port.

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