Maximum amount of monitors that can be connected simultaneously?

[qp6019352]

Apparently the maximum amount of monitors that can be connected through DisplayLink has been raised to 14 with DisplayLink Software 7.5M1 according to:

https://plugable.com/2014/03/10/atta...-with-usb-2-0/

Is 14 still the limitation with DisplayLink Software 8.x and Windows 10 1607 and above?

Or is it now unlimited with the new driver architecture?

Also, is there a limit on how many DisplayLink adapters can be daisy chained?

Let's say you would daisy chain several DisplayLink docking stations which each have 2 or 3 display outputs, would there be a limit on how many you could daisy chain? Daisy chaining five Dell D3100 would give 15 display outputs for example (since each Dell D3100 would provide three display outputs).

PS: The knowledge base does not seem to have an answer for it: https://support.displaylink.com/knowledgebase

[AlbanRampon]

Hello,
We still specify 6. DisplayLink never guaranteed 14. Plugable demonstrated it, probably because most think that more than 4 displays are impossible, they didn't specify it. If it can do 14, then it can do 6 comfortably was probably their reasoning. But to know what Plugable was thinking, please ask Plugable rather than DisplayLink. Their email is support at Plugable dot com.
In engineering unlimited never exists, ever! Suggesting the opposite would be ludicrous.
Your machine will stop enumeration of USB devices before most current CPU/GPU usually stop being able to handle the resolution. Today, the limitation tends to be the budget to buy monitors. The limitation is not on DisplayLink side.
More makes the test matrix unmanageable with the wide range of adapters, docks and monitors available in the market today.
They work, but we don't/can't routinely test them. Yet, when a bug is raised on unusually high number of displays, we will try and investigate as this forum history proves. See the last bug in the OS reported on Plugable adapters. MS fixed it after we explained the issue.
Daisy chain depth limitation is an host controller limitation so not up to us to characterise. A max depth of 4 is usually safe, but you'll have to check with your host controller spec. The limitation observed tends to be more on number of USB endpoints rather than devices.
Most people don't buy 15 monitors so why would we spend their money testing it at every release on every Windows build... We showed 3x Dell D6000 and 3x Targus docks to drive 6x4Kp60 (try that with TB3/alt mode, please and report to us all). That's more than everyone I've met at CES needed today.
Are you really going to buy that many pixels?

If you are truthfully looking at a solution then I'll be delighted to discuss your particular use case. If it's just to argue like the other thread you hijacked from the OP, I will obviously be less inclined to spend my personal free time on this as I focus my time on helping people.

What is your use case requiring many displays? Also can you tell what desktop resolution you're looking at with what platform? From these I can tell what's achievable.

Regards,
Alban

[qp6019352]

Thanks for the detailed response.

Sometimes there does not have to be a specific use case, sometimes it might just be "Can it be done?". Also, who said the hardware is not already available ? Obviously though, asking on the manufacturers forum as a first step obviously is easier than setting it up just to see if it works. If you would have said "not possible", then it would be a waste of time to do the setup in the first place.

Originally Posted by AlbanRampon

I will obviously be less inclined to spend my personal free time on this as I focus my time on helping people.

Sorry, since this appears to be the official DisplayLink forum and you seem to have an official DisplayLink employee account, it makes one assume you do this during your work time, not during your free time.

Anyway, isn't this topic interesting enough to be discussed?

It's also not the first time people have brought up this topic here. There were a few threads on this in the past as well (none of them went into a lot of length though).

Besides, as already mentioned, the DisplayLink knowledge base does not seem to have an article on it.

Originally Posted by AlbanRampon

We showed 3x Dell D6000 and 3x Targus docks to drive 6x4Kp60 [...] That's more than everyone I've met at CES needed today.

"Today" means 2017? In 2018 apparently it already was four docks and eight displays: https://youtu.be/XrUydBu35-s

Originally Posted by AlbanRampon

Hello,
We still specify 6. DisplayLink never guaranteed 14. Plugable demonstrated it, probably because most think that more than 4 displays are impossible, they didn't specify it. If it can do 14, then it can do 6 comfortably was probably their reasoning.

But then why did they write:

Originally Posted by https://plugable.com/2014/03/10/attaching-14-monitors-on-windows-8-1-with-usb-2-0/

[...] DisplayLink technology and the driver limit until now has been 6 USB attached monitors. Now, with the DisplayLink 7.5 M1 driver (and higher) and our Plugable USB graphics adapters and docks, this limit has been removed. 14 monitors via DisplayLink plus one to two additional via on-board PCIe graphics is the new limit. [...]

?

What was changed in DisplayLink Software 7.5M1?

The 7.5M1 readme does no longer seem to be available, but the 7.5M2 readme is available but does not seem to mention anything specific in having raised the limit:

http://assets.displaylink.com/live/d...ease-notes.txt

Originally Posted by AlbanRampon

Also can you tell what desktop resolution you're looking at

As much as possible. That's what this thread is about, to learn about the DisplayLink monitor/resolution/daisychain limits. As already hinted at above, let's assume procuring the hardware would not be a limit .

Originally Posted by AlbanRampon

with what platform?

MS Windows. But it would be interesting to know if there are different limits to what can be achieved with the MS Windows DisplayLink driver vs. the Linux DisplayLink driver.