VESA

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) is an international body, founded in the late 1980s by NEC Home Electronics and eight other video display adapter manufacturers. The initial goal was to produce a standard for 800x600 SVGA resolution video displays. Since then VESA has issued a number of standards, mostly relating to the function of video peripherals in IBM PC compatible computers.

Among VESA's standards:
* VESA Feature Connector (VFC), obsolete connector that was often present on older videocards, used as an 8-bit video bus to other devices
* VESA Advanced Feature Connector (VAFC), newer version of the above VFC that widens the 8-bit bus to either a 16-bit or 32-bit bus.
* VESA Local Bus (VLB), once used as a fast video bus (akin to the modern AGP).
* VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE), used for enabling standard support for advanced video modes (at high resolutions and color depths)
* Display Data Channel (DDC), allowing monitors to identify themselves to the video boards they're attached to. The format of the actual identification data is however called extended display identification data (EDID).
* VESA Display Power Management Signaling, which allows monitors to be queried on the types of power saving modes they support
* A number of standards relating to flat-panel screens, video connectors, video cable timings etc.
* Digital Packet Video Link
* Flat Panel Display Interface (FPDI), logical and electrical standard for flat panel display interfacing.
* Flat Display Mounting Interface (FDMI), which defines "VESA mounts"
* Generalized Timing Formula (GTF) video timings standard
* Coordinated Video Timings standard (CVT)
* VESA Video Interface Port (VIP), a digital video interface standard.
* DisplayPort Standard, a digital video interface standard.
* VESA Enhanced Video Connector - an obsolete standard for reducing the number of cables around computers.

Criticisms

Some have criticized the VESA for the prices charged for their publishing services, which some believe have limited the propagation of the VESA standards. [http://lkml.org/lkml/2000/1/26/28] According to Kendall Bennett, developer of VBE/AF standard, VESA Software Standards Committee was closed down as a result of such practice. Although nowadays VESA have hosted free standards, the collection rarely (if ever) include newly developed standards. Even for obsolete standards, the collection is incomplete. The secretive practices persist even when competing standard committees are offering their specifications free of charge. As of 2006, a document (even those offered freely by VESA) can cost hundreds of dollars, and the only way to get some of the older standards (assuming they are still on sale) is through those already having the printed versions.

VESA had been criticized for having a track record of developing unsuccessful digital interface standards. [http://digitimes.com/displays/a20051007PR200.html]

External links

* [http://www.vesa.org/ VESA website]
* [http://www.vesa.org/Standards/summaries.htm VESA standards page]