MIPI DSI-2

General Info

• Overview

  MIPI DSI-2℠, initially published in January 2016, specifies the high-bandwidth link between host processors and displays. It helps systems designers deliver the ultra-high-definition (UHD) video experience that their customers seek, while minimizing power consumption, cost and complexity across far-reaching application spaces such as mobile, automotive and gaming. DSI-2 is highly scalable and flexible—capable of supporting any resolution and configurable with one or multiple data lanes, ultimately reducing design costs and time to market.

  Designers can use MIPI DSI-2 on three different physical layers: MIPI C-PHY, MIPI D-PHY and (for automotive or other longer-reach applications) MIPI A-PHY℠. The MIPI Display Command Set (DCS℠) specification offers a standardized command set for control functions and supply of data to DSI-2 displays.

• Capabilities

  MIPI DSI-2 supports rich visual experiences at the lowest power consumption across the gamut of display applications, from high-resolution (8K and beyond), high-frame-rate (up to 120 fps) video modes, to graphical user interface “command” modes and static modes. The newest version, DSI-2 v2.0, adopted in July 2021, can now support more than 6 gigapixels per second of uncompressed image content, based on coupling with the MIPI C-PHY^SM v2.0/v2.1 and MIPI D-PHY^SM v3.0 physical layer interfaces.

  A host of new features in DSI-2 v2.0 work together to dramatically improve display bandwidth, power savings and user experience. These include:

  • Video-to-command mode, which enables displays to seamlessly transition from highly immersive video modes of operation to less-intensive command modes for low-frame-rate GUI images, for better user experience, as well as system efficiency and reliability

  • Adaptive refresh panel, which enables a device display to retain images for variable, extended durations without fixed refreshes from the host processor, saving power without requiring a peripheral frame buffer

  • Latest VESA Display Stream Compression (VESA DSC) and VESA Display Compression-M (VDC-M) codecs, which provide between three to six times data compression while maintaining visually lossless viewing, to address numerous different display  bandwidth and power requirements

• Latest Release

  DSI-2 v2.0 is backward compatible with all previous versions of the specification.

  MIPI DSI-2 is developed by the MIPI Display Working Group.

  Note: The specification is available only to MIPI Alliance members. For information about MIPI Alliance membership, visit Join MIPI.

• Diagrams & Tables

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