Viewfinity S9 - Does it support 10-bit color depth for Thunderbolt 4 and 5120 x 2880p @ 60Hz & RBG/YCbCr 4:4:4 (?)

[iokevins]

Per Subject, page 29 of the user manual (English) has section "Supported Resolutions for UHD Input Signals". The body copy reads, "Check the supported resolution for UHD input signals" and "Resolution..."5120 x 2880p (S9 series)".

So this seems to imply the following table data clarifies "Color Depth / Chroma Sampling" for the S9's 5120 x 2880p resolution at 60 Hz.

Under header "If Input Signal Plus is set to On" a table lists these supported resolutions for the given Color Depth / Chroma Sampling combinations:

• 8-bit color:
  • Yes: RGB 4:4:4
  • Yes: YCbCr 4:4:4
  • Yes: YCbCr 4:2:2
  • Yes: YCbCr 4:2:0
• 10-bit color:
  • No: RGB 4:4:4
  • No: YCbCr 4:4:4
  • Yes: YCbCr 4:2:2
  • Yes: YCbCr 4:2:0

How might I confirm what (if any) input signals--namely, Thunderbolt 4 or Mini DP--support 10-bit color depth with RGB/YCbCr 4:4:4 at 5120 x 2880p resolution at 60 Hz (?)

By my calculations, this requires a data rate of 27.72 Gbit/s:

https://linustechtips.com/topic/729232-guide-to-display-cables-adapters-v2/?section=calc&H=5120&V=28...

That is too much for the Mini DisplayPort (MiniDP or mDP) 1.4, which caps at 25.92 Gbit/s data rate--unless the s9 supports Display Stream Compression (DSC) (?) From my initial testing with a non-Thunderbolt, USBC DP 1.4 & DSC system (Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 2 (AMD)), the s9 does not seem to support DSC when it falls back to USBC DP Alt Mode...Radeon lists just 2 lanes of 8.1 Gbit/s in use and the system will not let me go higher than ~16.2 Gbit/s of data rate, or 4k60 10-bit & RGB 4:4:4 = 15.68 Gbit/s data rate.

However, the Thunderbolt 4 input signal should have access to two full DP 1.4 signals or 2 × 25.92 Gbit/s data rate = 51.84 Gbit/s--more than enough to drive 27.72 Gbit/s needed for full resolution & color depth.

Might the table possibly just be confusing because it only shows the lowest supported resolution between the Mini DP & Thunderbolt 4 signals, even though the TB 4 signal can go higher (?)

An aside (ignore if not interested): just to clarify as I am not sure it is documented widely, it appears toggling s9 menu option "Input Signal Plus" switches between DisplayPort HBR2 (Off, 5.4 Gbit/s per lane) & HBR3 (On, 8.1 Gbit/s per lane), per Radeon on my laptop.

[user1YmRdBi2RT]

Answer is NO

[iokevins]

Thank you; this post was about the Samsung 27" ViewFinity S9 Series 5K Computer Monitor. Might you have replied thinking it was asking about the Samsung Galaxy S9 (?)

[iokevins · Accepted solution]

It seems the Viewfinity S9 does support 5120 × 2880 at 60 Hz & 10-bit & RGB 4:4:4 via its Thunderbolt 4 port.

Test setup:

• Dell Precision 5570 laptop (Microsoft Windows 10) with 12th Gen Intel Core i9 and NVIDIA RTX A2000 graphics
• Tested with Iris Xe Graphics
• Cabled to Viewfinity S9 via respective Thunderbolt 4 ports
• HDR enabled
• Viewfinity S9 has Smart Monitor software version 1310 (latest)

Microsoft Windows 10 Settings screen "Advanced Display Settings":

• Color format: RGB (note: it seems 4:4:4; see below)
• Bit depth: 10-bit
• Resolution: 5120 × 2880
• Refresh rate: 60 Hz

To test chroma subsampling, I displayed the Rtings.com chroma subsampling test pattern image on the S9 in Windows Paint. The text seemed to look as it should in RGB/YCbCr 4:4:4. I did not see any artifacts which might indicate it was using YCbCr 4:2:0 or YCbCr 4:2:2, per reference images at the Rtings.com site:

https://www.rtings.com/tv/learn/chroma-subsampling

Note: I neglected to set Windows scaling to 100% as recommended; I will do so and report back if it changes the results.