Nintendo Switch on monitor?

[Flowey]

So yeah, I've inspected a few spec sheets out there regarding the Switch, I haven't seen any actual physical dimensions or number of ports listed anywhere, so I was wondering if, let's say, all the switch has in term of video ports is a regular HDMI port. Would it be possible to somehow play the switch on my PC monitor with the PC still connected to the monitor or would I need to uplug the monito from the PC first and then connect it to the Switch via the HDMI port? I'm thinking it should work cause, shit, a monitor is just a smaller television, right?

 

IM SO FUKING HYPED FOR ZELDA

 

Anyways, thx y'all!

[Mooshi]

If the monitor has more than 1 hdmi or if your monitor is connected via dvi or dp, connect to switch via hdmi on monitor and switch output--MAGIC. 

[spellmanuk]

if you have more than one hdmi then yeah dont even need to unplug your pc i have my xbox one plugged into a monitor and it works fine

[Elerek]

If you're using hdmi for your pc you could get a hdmi switch (traditional switch, not the console  ) and use that to switch from pc to Switch... This is confusing.

[Elerek]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817399166&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-KVM+(Keyboard+-+Video+-+Mouse)+Switches-_-N82E16817399166&gclid=CIn12cm2ptECFRc2gQodY-0NJg&gclsrc=aw.ds

[EunSoo]

It would be the exact same condition for any hdmi device. So yeah, you would need to unplug your PC to plug in your switch if you only have one hdmi port on your monitor. Or you could get a HDMI switcher so you can just push a button for convenience

[Flowey]

So basically I don't even need to unplug my PC from the monitor? I thought since the PC is connected to the monitor, well, PC would Display and Switch wouldn't be able to do so since, y'know, PC is already using the monitor to display it's own shite.

[typographie]

At the moment your information is as good as anyone else's, but I'm sure it's just a standard HDMI port. At worst you may need a cheap dongle to go from HDMI to DVI or HDMI to DisplayPort, but I don't see why there'd be any issue using it with a computer monitor. That's how I intend to use it as well.

 

As said above, many monitors today have multiple inputs. But even if yours doesn't, you'd only need to unplug it from your PC and plug it into the Switch. A bit inconvenient, but I think that's the worst-case scenario.

[Flowey]

1 minute ago, typographie said:

At the moment your information is as good as anyone else's, but I'm sure it's just a standard HDMI port. At worst you may need a cheap dongle to go from HDMI to DVI or HDMI to DisplayPort, but I don't see why there'd be any issue using it with a computer monitor. That's how I intend to use it as well.

 

As said above, many monitors today have multiple inputs. But even if yours doesn't, you'd only need to unplug it from your PC and plug it into the Switch. A bit inconvenient, but I think that's the worst-case scenario.

yeah I do have multiple ports, I'm using a DisplayPort or whatever the name is, and I thought that having multiple devices wanting to display on the same monitor would cause conflict and the monitor wouldn't display shit

[ivan134]

No it won't be an issue unless you have the weirdest monitor ever created. Just switch inputs when you need to. If you don't know how to, check your manual.

[skywake]

There might even be more options. According to the patents filed for the Switch the only port on the unit itself is a USB type C port. The dock appears to be basically a USB Type C expansion dock engineered to easily connect with the Switch. If what's in the patent ends up being what we get then the dock does this:

 

USB Type C -> Display Port -> HDMI

                    -> USB 3.0

                    -> USB 3.0

                    -> USB 2.0

                    <- DC Power

 

So there might be a lot of options available. You can get dongles that convert USB Type C to display port, ones that go to HDMI or VGA. Ones that basically do what the Switch dock does anyway. There are ones that have Gigabit Ethernet ports on them and I wouldn't be too surprised if they also work. Nothing is guaranteed but I'm pretty sure that there will be all sorts of options.

[Mira Yurizaki]

7 hours ago, skywake said:

There might even be more options. According to the patents filed for the Switch the only port on the unit itself is a USB type C port. The dock appears to be basically a USB Type C expansion dock engineered to easily connect with the Switch. If what's in the patent ends up being what we get then the dock does this:

 

USB Type C -> Display Port -> HDMI

                    -> USB 3.0

                    -> USB 3.0

                    -> USB 2.0

                    <- DC Power

 

So there might be a lot of options available. You can get dongles that convert USB Type C to display port, ones that go to HDMI or VGA. Ones that basically do what the Switch dock does anyway. There are ones that have Gigabit Ethernet ports on them and I wouldn't be too surprised if they also work. Nothing is guaranteed but I'm pretty sure that there will be all sorts of options.

USB Type C is not guaranteed to support alternate data streams.

 

As an example, a lot of Z170 boards with a USB Type C port use ASMedia's 1142 USB 3.1 controller, which only supports USB functionality: http://www.asmedia.com.tw/eng/e_show_products.php?item=161&cate_index=160

 

Welcome to the world of trying to unify the connector without making everything mandatory.

[skywake]

11 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

USB Type C is not guaranteed to support alternate data streams.

 

As an example, a lot of Z170 boards with a USB Type C port use ASMedia's 1142 USB 3.1 controller, which only supports USB functionality: http://www.asmedia.com.tw/eng/e_show_products.php?item=161&cate_index=160

 

Welcome to the world of trying to unify the connector without making everything mandatory.

Well sure, but the Switch does support the Display Port alt mode. Unless they've changed it since the patent. And as much as Nintendo loves custom stuff it really is USB type C (and the accessories confirm it is) and the dock does nothing but pass through a video signal. The patent says the dock does DP -> HDMI so that's probably what it is.

 

If it wasn't how does it connect to the TV? 

[Mira Yurizaki]

15 minutes ago, skywake said:

Well sure, but the Switch does support the Display Port alt mode. Unless they've changed it since the patent. And as much as Nintendo loves custom stuff it really is USB type C (and the accessories confirm it is) and the dock does nothing but pass through a video signal. The patent says the dock does DP -> HDMI so that's probably what it is.

 

If it wasn't how does it connect to the TV? 

That was a rumor sparked by some analyst.

 

Besides, if these are the actual patents, none of them mention DisplayPort: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1325344

[skywake]

21 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

That was a rumor sparked by some analyst.

 

Besides, if these are the actual patents, none of them mention DisplayPort: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1325344

I didn't read that rumour, I'm not speculating based on someone elses posts. I read the patents and got this from them directly. I didn't want to muddy this thread with this but since you don't believe me? Brace yourselves for for some technical legalese.

Quote

The main unit 2 includes a lower terminal 27. The lower terminal 27 is a terminal for allowing the main unit 2 to communicate with the cradle 5 to be described later. As shown in FIG. 3, the lower terminal 27 is provided on the lower side surface of the housing 11. The lower terminal 27 is connected to a terminal of the cradle 5 (a main body terminal 73 shown in FIG. 29) when the main unit 2 is attached to the cradle 5, the details of which will be described later. In the present embodiment, the lower terminal 27 is a USB connector (more specifically, a female-side connector).

 

As shown in FIG. 32, the cradle 5 includes a conversion section 131 and the monitor terminal 132. The conversion section 131 includes, for example, circuitry configured for performing video and sound conversion and is connected to the main body terminal 73 and the monitor terminal 132. The conversion section 131 converts a signal format regarding images (referred to also as video) and sound received from the main unit 2 into a format to be output to the TV 6. In the present embodiment, the main unit 2 outputs image and sound signals to the cradle 5 as a display port signal (i.e., a signal in accordance with the DisplayPort standard). In the present embodiment, communication based on the HDMI (registered trademark) standard is used for communication between the cradle 5 and the TV 6. That is, the monitor terminal 132 is an HDMI terminal, and the cradle 5 and the TV 6 are connected together by an HDMI cable. Thus, the conversion section 131 converts the display port signal (specifically, a signal representing video and sound) received from the main unit 2 via the main body terminal 73 into an HDMI signal. The converted HDMI signal is output to the TV 6 via the monitor terminal 132. 

 

 

2-> The Switch itself

27 & 73 -> "USB connector" (from accessories we know it's USB Type C, there are no other ports connecting to the dock)

5 -> Dock

133, 134 & 135 -> Power delivery

136 & 137 -> Powered USB Hub

132 -> HDMI port

131 -> DP to HDMI converter

 

So as I said in my first post....

USB Type C -> Display Port -> HDMI

                    -> USB 3.0

                    -> USB 3.0

                    -> USB 2.0

                    <- DC Power

[Mira Yurizaki]

I still wouldn't get your hopes up though for the ability to plug in a USB Type C to DisplayPort out of the box considering it's Nintendo. They may be using the protocol for convenience, but that doesn't mean they won't lock out generic converters.

 

Also there's a technical reason why they'd go with DisplayPort instead of straight HDMI, because USB Type-C doesn't allow any simultaneous data streams when in HDMI mode.

[Bleedingyamato]

13 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

USB Type C is not guaranteed to support alternate data streams.

 

As an example, a lot of Z170 boards with a USB Type C port use ASMedia's 1142 USB 3.1 controller, which only supports USB functionality: http://www.asmedia.com.tw/eng/e_show_products.php?item=161&cate_index=160

 

Welcome to the world of trying to unify the connector without making everything mandatory.

Is there a way to tell if my motherboard USB-C port uses that controller?

 

 

[skywake]

@M.Yurizaki

Nintendo are known for proprietary connectors but they don't go out of their way to make it difficult. Anyways, I'm not getting into an argument about what it is or isn't and whether what they're doing is "typical Nintendo" or not. I'm just quoting the known information about the Switch's video signal. From what we currently know it appears as though there video signal is coming from the USB Type C port on the base of the Switch. Which is more than likely using the Display Port alt-mode because it's carrying a Display Port signal. The USB Type C port also carries USB 3.0 and delivers power. All of this is part of the Display Port alt-mode. The Display Port signal is then converted to HDMI.

 

So I think it's more than likely that any accessory currently on the market that uses the DP USB Type C alt mode will be support. By default. Because I can't see Nintendo engineering a different alt-mode for USB Type C. If you want the cynical reason then lets just say I can't see them spending more than is necessary to get the result they want. They're not going to reduce their profit margin just to screw over the consumer. Call it a happy side-effect rather than Nintendo being consumer friendly.

 

Basically if the dock is following the already existing standard? It's technically already a mass market product. Both for the internals of the Switch itself and the components in the dock. Which will make it far easier for Nintendo to churn them out of a production line. Therefore greater profits.