The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) unveiled Monday its latest open standard for variable refresh rate (VRR) displays.
The VESA Adaptive-Sync Display Compliance Test Specification (Adaptive-Sync Display CTS) provides more than 50 test criteria, an automated testing methodology and performance mandates for PC monitors and laptops supporting VESA’s Adaptive-Sync protocols.
Variable refresh rate (VRR) is a general term for a dynamic display refresh rate that can seamlessly vary on the fly. It requires support both within the source device (typically a gaming console or PC graphics card) and the connected display. A display supporting a variable refresh rate usually supports a specific range of refresh rates. There are several forms of VRR, including generic and proprietary terms, the latter including graphics card brands AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-Sync.
While VESA standards could be applied to consumer televisions, but the Association is focused more on PCs, laptops and supporting monitors that typically include VESA’s DisplayPort connector interface. VESA also offers compliance programs for various levels of performance criteria for DisplayHDR and other factors.
In addition to checking for support for the two proprietary (FreeSync/G-Sync) VRR applications, consumers can now verify further degrees of performance criteria.
While many PC and laptop displays currently support Adaptive-Sync protocols, VESA said there had been no prior open standard in measuring the level of performance or quality of Adaptive-Sync support for any given display.
To help you more easily purchase a product with some degree of gaming refresh rate performance, the Adaptive-Sync Display CTS is issuing a pair of product compliance logos to supporting devices showing tier-level support for capability.
These two performance tiers include:
- AdaptiveSync Display, which is focused on gaming with significantly higher refresh rates and low latency.
- MediaSync Display, which is designed for jitter-free media playback supporting all international broadcast video formats.
The new VESA AdaptiveSync Display and MediaSync Display logo programs will provide consumers with a clear benchmark for front-of-screen visual performance of variable refresh rate operation established by testing in compliance with the Adaptive-Sync Display CTS, the group said.
“By establishing the VESA Certified AdaptiveSync Display and MediaSync Display logo programs, VESA will enable consumers to easily identify and compare the variable refresh rate performance of displays supporting Adaptive-Sync prior to purchase,” VESA said.
Supporting displays will be required to pass Adaptive-Sync Display CTS and VESA DisplayPort compliance tests to qualify for one of the the two logos.
VESA said the program was more than two years in development and includes contributions from more than two dozen VESA member companies, including major OEMs that supply displays, graphic cards, CPUs, panels, display drivers and other components.
In 2014, VESA added Adaptive-Sync protocols to the VESA DisplayPort video interface standard to enable smoother, tear-free images for gaming and jitter-free video playback, as well as enable lower power and greater efficiency in displaying content rendered at a wide range of frame rates.
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Seok Ho Jang, Vice President in charge of IT Development Division at VESA member LG Electronics stated: “We believe that with VESA launching its Adaptive-Sync Display standard in the rapidly growing gaming market, we can expect to see even greater innovation in the gaming monitor categories. We are proud that the LG UltraGear™ brand will be involved from the very beginning with the acclaimed LG UltraGear™ 27GP950 and 27GP850 models, the first-ever monitors to receive VESA AdaptiveSync Display certification. LG also has new 2022 models on the way, which we believe will not only meet the high standards demanded by VESA’s performance tests, but are also well equipped to satisfy the expectations and diverse needs of today’s consumers.”
According to the statement:
“The VESA Adaptive-Sync Display CTS includes more than 50 automated display performance tests covering several key variables, including refresh rate, flicker, gray-to-gray response time (including limits on overshoot and undershoot to ensure high-quality images), video frame drop, and video frame rate jitter. As required by the VESA Adaptive-Sync Display CTS, all displays must be tested in the factory shipping state or default factory mode configuration, as well as tested in ambient room temperature, in order to ensure the display is evaluated and certified under realistic user conditions. In addition, all displays that meet the requirements for VESA AdaptiveSync Display and MediaSync Display logo certification must also be tested and certified to VESA’s DisplayPort standard. The majority of desktop and laptop GPUs introduced within the last two years are capable of supporting VESA’s Adaptive-Sync protocols. VESA encourages consumers to check with their GPU vendor to verify that their GPU and software driver enables Adaptive-Sync operations with VESA Certified AdaptiveSync Display and MediaSync Display products by default.”
The VESA Certified AdaptiveSync Display logo will give consumers of means to quickly verify that a display includes a value of maximum video frame rate that is achievable for Adaptive-Sync operation tested at the display’s factory default settings at native resolution (e.g., AdaptiveSync Display 144 or 240).
For the VESA Certified MediaSync Display logo, there is no performance tier since the emphasis of product certification for this logo is on the absence of display jitter rather than high frame rate, the group explained.
Roland Wooster, VESA Display Performance Metrics Task Group chair said: “The Adaptive-Sync Display CTS builds upon the foundation that VESA laid with the introduction of the Adaptive-Sync protocols eight years ago. It provides an open, industry-wide and brand-agnostic standard backed by a logo program that gives consumers a guarantee that the displays that they’re buying for gaming or for media playback will meet a clearly defined minimum set of front-of-screen performance criteria when used with a suitable GPU.
“In designing the test specification and logo program, VESA explicitly set a high bar on performance criteria and testing methodology with tighter criteria than many existing specs and logo programs. As with all of our standards, VESA will continue to develop and refine the Adaptive-Sync Display CTS to address new display developments and market needs in order to enable further improvements in visual quality and user-experience for consumers.”
Further information on the VESA Adaptive-Sync Display CTS is available here.
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By Greg Tarr
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