HDMI vs Display Port - the education continues

This article was posted on CEPro and it is the most concise summary of the differences I have seen yet. I will quote it pretty much in full (against Chairman Gruber's guidance) but then hopefully CEPro will benefit from some referral traffic as it is the source of much useful info on the home electronics and custom installation space.

Both HDMI and DisplayPort (DP) have similarities and differences. They both: transport video by using high-bandwidth digital signaling have a form of content protection have similar connectors, except DP's connector may have a better locking mechanism. DP, as it stands currently, is saying, "no royalty fees," whereas HDMI has a fee of a few cents per product. From an operational viewpoint, the video data on HDMI is transported by red, blue and green channels (with the addition of a common clock channel for all). DP's video, which still uses four channels (lanes), can use up to 4 channels, depending on the spec. A clock is embedded on each of the four channels, allowing each channel to work on its own. If it needs more horsepower, then another channel is added. So, if the bandwidth grows, it just grows another channel to accommodate it. Both still have intelligence channels -- HDMI has a DDC line and DP has an Aux. Both communicate resolution decisions and copy protection. HDMI's knowledge is sent by way of Philips I2C protocol and DP's knowledge is sent by a 1 MHz bidirectional channel. Both have Hot Plug Detect, too -- however, DP's Hot Plug signals its Aux channel for updates, HDMI's does not.

The explanation was written by Jeff Boccaccio, president of DPL Labs