Ahead of CES 2024, the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) has just announced an update to its Adaptive-Sync Display Compliance Test Specification (Adaptive-Sync Display CTS) targeted towards the growing prevalence of gaming-focused displays being introduced onto the market. The standard references front-of-screen performance of variable refresh rate displays.
According to VESA, Adaptive-Sync Display version 1.1a provides updated testing procedures and logo support for these “Dual Mode” displays that can operate at multiple maximum refresh rates depending on resolution.
The new optional testing and logo support allows display OEMs with qualifying hardware to certify their products at two different sets of resolution and refresh rate such as 4K/144Hz and 1080p/280Hz.
All requirements of the Adaptive-Sync Display CTS, 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, must be met at both tested resolutions, including a minimum of 144Hz at maximum resolution, and a minimum of 1080p vertical resolution when tested in the reduced resolution/maximum refresh rate mode.
Adaptive-Sync Display v1.1a includes an update that allows display OEMs to achieve a higher AdaptiveSync Display refresh rate certification for displays that can be “overclocked,” referencing a higher-performance mode that exists outside of normal factory settings.
These changes will be further reflected in the new logo, which will allow display OEMs to feature the VESA Certified AdaptiveSync Dual Mode logo on their certified products to represent certification at two speeds and resolutions. The left will highlight the display’s max certified refresh rate at max native vertical resolution, and the right will highlight the alternative refresh rate ad vertical resolution.
All products that have successfully undergone certification to the prior v1.1 spec are still certified under the latest update.
According to VESA, the overclocked mode must support Adaptive-Sync-enabled GPUs in a non-proprietary manner, and the display must pass all the rigorous Adaptive-Sync Display compliance tests in both its factory default mode, and in the overclocking mode.
Both the dual mode and overclocking changes to the Adaptive-Sync Display CTS v1.1a only apply to the VESA Certified AdaptiveSync Display logo program; they do not apply to the VESA Certified MediaSync Display logo program.
“Until recently, most displays did not have the ability to operate at different refresh rates when the resolution is reduced,” notes Roland Wooster, chairman of the VESA Display Performance Metrics Task Group, explaining that, as a result, “Users interested in both high-performance gaming as well content creation, photography, or video editing, have often been faced with a difficult choice between purchasing a display with low latency and high refresh rates, or one with higher resolution.”
Today, this ever-growing audience of content creators and gaming enthusiasts has given rise to a multitude of Dual Mode displays that cater to these needs, however, and this, Wooster notes, has led to VESA adjusting its certification to meet the needs of the changing display landscape.
