How to get max. resolution on U2713HM with a laptop lacking DVI and DisplayPort?

HDMI was developed from the perspective of the video industry and has gone through a number of revisions starting at HDMI 1.0 and culminating with the current revision of HDMI 2.0 while the cables themselves have been defined over the various HDMI revisions as type A, C, D & E and can be either 'standard' or 'high speed'.

Of interest to resolution issues is revision HDMI 1.3 (and later) where the clock rate was increase from 165MHz which (supported 1080p & WUXGA (1920x1200) resolutions) to 340Mhz (supporting WQXGA (2560x1600) resolutions). Deep color was also supported from HDMI 1.3 onwards. In theory this allows resolutions up to WQXGA (2560x1600) over HDMI cable but this would imply that you need as a minimum HDMI 1.3 at both the PC and monitor with a 'high speed' HDMI cable connecting the devises, in theory...

Sadly not all parts of the HDMI specification are mandatory so the 'optional' parts (for example v1.3 deep color) can be excluded from a given design yet the product can still claim to support a given HDMI revision (v1.3). This has caused confusion for consumers and as a result, from 2012, any product with HDMI will not be allowed to state the HDMI revision on the packaging but must instead state the features that the product actually provides. Unfortunately the damage has been done since the consumer is already confused and it's now difficult to know what existing hardware capabilities are for a given HDMI revision because of this mess. Even today it is next to impossible to find out what the HDMI specs are, let alone what 'features' are optional or mandatory, and going forward and listing confusing features will not make it any better for consumers!

Also, HDMI is backward compatible with DVI (which has a number of types, DVI-D(digital), DVI-A(analog), DVI-I(analog & digital)) and Display Port (DP & DP++). Further complicating the issue is that DVI-D/I port can be either a 'single link' or a 'dual' link  port! And for high resolutions output, a dual link DVI-D/I port is required to drive a 2560x1440 display! Since HDMI is backwards compatible with DVI, you can always plug a DVI-HDMI 'dumb' adapter into a DVI port and then plug a HDMI cable into the adapter and monitor. I say dumb adapter because there is no electronics inside the adapter as it is simply a mechanical adapter, and as such it won't magically change a single link DVI port into a dual link DVI port that can drive a higher resolution display.

And if that is not enough, the Intel HD4000 may have capabilities that the PC manufacturer may not implement. A quick google search did not yield much in terms of the maximum resolution that HD4000 can drive but ASSUMING that HD4000 could drive a 4096x2160 (4K) display, the manufacturer MAY NOT IMPLEMENT this capability so your stuck with what they have designed into the PC/laptop motherboard or driver. Note that i'm not saying that the HD4000 can drive a 4K display, just that whatever the capabilities are, the manufacture may not have fully implemented them all. Also note that 4k displays are supported by HDMI 1.4 and onwards so it is definitely confusing why one can't get 2560x1440 via HDMI [:?]

Back to resolution issue, the problem may also be compounded as modern displays (sink) provide EDID information to the PC (source) over the cable connecting the devices. The EDID information contains the monitor's capabilities and it's preferred settings and if the PC is capable of supplying the preferred settings (resolution & refresh if able) it does so. Now Dell may have decided that 1920x1080p is all they will allow over HDMI v1.3 (which may or may not be allowed by the HDMI consortium depending on what is a mandatory or an optional feature of 1.3). Extron's EDID Manager allows you to see what the monitor is actually capable of displaying as designed by the manufacturer. This tool pulls the EDID info from the Windows registry which is where the graphics card saves the information and it may be helpful when fault finding such resolution issues. Obviously fetching the EDID directly from the monitor instead of the registry would be much better but i have not found any free tool that will allow it!

In the case of my U2711 connected via DP cable, the EDID 'full view tab' states:

(54-71) Detailed Descriptor #1: Prefered Detailed Timing (2560x1440 @ 60Hz)
Pixel Clock: 241.5 Mhz
Horizontal Image Size: 597 mm
Vertical Image Size: 336 mm
Refresh Mode: Non-interlaced
Normal Doisplay, Non Sterio
Horizontal:
 Active Timing: 2560 lines
 Blanking Time: 160 pixels
 Sync Offset: 48 pixels
 Sync Pulse Width: 32 pixels
 Boarder: 0 pixels
 Frequency: 88 khz
Vertical:
 Active Timing: 1440 lines
 Blanking Time: 41 lines
 Sunc Offset: 3 lines
 Sync Pulse Width: 5 lines
 Frequency: 88 khz
Digital Seperate, Horizontal Polarity (+), Vertical Polarity (-)
Modeline: "2560x1440" 241.500 2560 2608 2640 2720 1440 1443 1448 1481 +hsync -vsync

Note that my HP Z210 workstation uses a Nvidia Quadro 2000 graphics card which outputs a PC resolution of 2560x1440 @ 59Hz according to the Nvidia control panel. In my case i am using a DP between the monitor and workstation and all works OK without special fudges on my part.

However, it was not long ago that the monitor would not display the native resolution and i was forced to create a custom resolution via the Nvidia Control Panel. To create a custom resolution, 'i right click' the desktop and select 'Nvidia Control Panel', then select 'Change resolution' then click 'Customize...' and finally click 'Create Custom Resolution' and finally i specified

horizontal=2560,
verticle=1440,
refresh=60
color depth=32

and pressed 'test' and it all worked. The reason for needing to do this resolved itself and i have not needed to select this custom resolution since. Go figure!

So what YOU may need to do is check that you have a 'high speed' HDMI cable and make sure you are update with respect to the system BIOS (normally includes the VGA BIOS), Graphics card BIOS, Graphics card drivers, etc. Then run 'EDID manager' and see what is stated as the 'preferred' monitor timing.

So to put it bluntly, specs seem to mean little to the casual observer as it's a game of 'switch and bait' or 'vendor lock in' as the sales mentality says sell now and support will fix it. Support then says buying a 3rd party product may not work with out product and we can't help so buy ours instead (which you later find out has the same issue). It all makes a mockery of standards...  

If EDID does lists 2560x1440 as the preferred monitor timing when connected via HDMI (despite what resolution you are actually displaying) you know your monitor can support that preferred resolution. In this case try to set a custom resolution of 2560x1440 and if it does not work, then it is an issue with the HDMI circuitry that HP has designed and the likely hood is that you won't get above the 1080p limit that the laptop seems to be hitting.

If i ever get to use a HDMI cable with my workstation/U2711 combo and find out something concrete, i'll post the info.

Good luck.

Maximko,

I connected them via VGA port, but maximum resolution I could get on the monitor is 2048х1152 instead of 2560х1440.
* That is normal for the VGA.

Is there any possibility to get the maximum resolution for the U2713HM with this notebook lacking DVI and DisplayPort?
* No.

Why doesn't Dell indicate in specifications that maximum resolution is possible only through DisplayPort and DVI, so that the consumer learns that only when it comes to connecting monitor to computer?
* I have posed this question to the Displays team.

But I just wonder why HDMI on U2713HM does not support 2560x1440?
* The $699.99 U2713HM has HDMI 1.3 (1920x1080). The $999.99 U2713H has HDMI 1.4 (2560x1440).