DDC

DDC = Display Data Channel

Name Pins Protocol
SDA SCL
DDC1 12 14 Unidirection protocol (uses VSYNC (14) as clock)
DDC2B 15 I²C
DDC2B+ I²C (Bidirectional)
DDC2AB I²C (ACCESS.bus)
DDC/CI I²C

Note: DDC2 was never implemented

DDC1

DDC1 is a quite simple protocol. Unidirectional communication from the monitor to the video card. VSYNC (14) is used as clock.

DDC2B

Based on Philips I²C protocol. Video card is the master and monitor is always slave. Monitor has address 0xA0 (for write mode) and 0xA1 (for read mode). Control of display is not possible only exchange of information.

DDC2B+

Modification to allow bidirectional communication, point to point. Both video card and monitor can be master and slave. Control of display is possible.

DDC2AB/DDC2B+

Monitors that implement DDC2AB/DDC2B+ are full featured ACCESS.bus devices. Multiple devices on one bus. ACCESS.bus is based on Philips I²C protocol. Default address for monitor is 0x6e and 0x50 for video card (host). Extra information is transmitted thru VDIF (VESA Video Display Information Format).

DDC/CI (formerly DDC2Bi)

DDC/CI = Display Data Channel Command Interface E-DDC (VESA Enhanced Extended Display Data Channel Standard) is the physical standard.

Extended Display Identification Data

EDID = Extended Display Identification Data

EDID 1.0/1.1

The EDID information consists of 128 bytes of monitor data.

Additional blocks of 128 bytes can be stored in EDID extension blocks (aka VDIF) after the initial EDID block. These blocks contain addtional detailed timing information. There is a flag within the EDID to indicate the existence of these blocks. VDIF is not currently used in our systems.

Version Revision Year Standard
1 0 1994 DDC
1 1 1996 EDID Standard v2
1 2 1997 EDID Standard v3
2 0 1997 EDID Standard v3 (Discouraged for future designs)
1 3 1999 E-EDID Rel A
Offset Name Description
00h-07h Header 00h, FFh, FFh, FFh, FFh, FFh, FFh, 00h
08h-09h Vendor/Product ID Manufacturer ID provided by Microsoft
0Ah-0Bh Product ID assigned by manufacturer
0Ch-0Fh Serial number
10h Manufacturing date Week 1-54
11h Year Year-1990 (must be >3)
12h EDID verion Version Current version 1
13h Revision Current revision 3
14h Basic Display Parameters Video Input Definition
  • bit 7: 0=analog, 1=digital
  • if bit 7 is digital:
    • bit 0: 1=DFP 1.x compatible
  • if bit 7 is analog:
    • bit 6-5: video level
      • 00=0.7, 0.3, 01=0.714, 0.286, 10=1, .4 11=0.7, 0
    • bit 4: blank-to-black setup
    • bit 3: separate syncs
    • bit 2: composite sync
    • bit 1: sync on green
    • bit 0: serration vsync
15h Width in cm, 0 for projectors
16h Height in cm, 0 for projectors
17h Gamma
18h Power Management support
  • bit 7: standby
  • bit 6: suspend
  • bit 5: active-off/low power
  • bit 4-3: display type.
    • 00=monochrome, 01=RGB colour, 10=non RGB multicolour, 11=undefined
  • bit 2: standard colour space (sRGB)
  • bit 1: preferred timing mode
  • bit 0: default GTF supported

Note: Little-endian

E-EDID

E-EDID = Enhanced Extended Display Identification Data Standard Up to 32kB of data.