Make sure the video cable is securely plugged into your external display or TV. On the other end, make sure the video cable is securely plugged into the adapter.

More often than not, if you’re connecting something to a television, HDMI will be your best, and likely only, bet. Most PC monitors will also include an HDMI input. The good news, where it comes to 1.4 versus 2, is that you don’t need to rush out and buy new cables. To take advantage of the 2.0 specyou just need both devices on each end of the cable to be 2-compatible. Any HDMI cable will do, and we’ve already seen that there’s no difference in HDMI cable quality. The MHL Alternate Mode lets you project video and play audio on an external display that supports MHL. Most motherboards and dedicated graphics cards will have multiple outputs. You can use a combination of these to output to multiple monitors. So if you have HDMI and DVI outputs, connect one monitor using HDMI and the other using DVI. As mentioned above, if you’re using DisplayPort and your graphics card or device supports Multi-Stream Transport, you can daisy-chain DisplayPort and USB-C monitors, too. This USB port doesn't support DisplayPort or Thunderbolt or MHL. Plug the USB device into a different USB port on your PC. Disconnect the adapter from your Surface, and then reconnect it. If that doesn’t work, disconnect the video cable from your adapter, and then reconnect it.The device or dongle you connected to has new features for USB-C that your PC (or phone) doesn’t support. The last USB device you connected to this computer malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it. The DisplayPort Alternate Mode lets you project video and play audio on an external display that supports DisplayPort. Choose HDMI 2 if DisplayPort isn’t available or if you require audio over 144Hz (as DVI doesn’t support audio) Most monitors will have a range of different inputs available, and your PC or laptop will also use different outputs, so it can be difficult to decide which is the best connection to use.

Your PC is providing power to other devices, so it has temporarily limited the power it provides to the device you just connected to. Under most circumstances, you can get away with using whichever cable you have lying around – and whatever works – but if you have more specific needs, such as carrying audio, displaying a higher resolution or outputting a higher refresh rate for gaming, you’ll need to be more discerning with your choice of cable. Unplug the video cable from your display, and then unplug the other end of the cable from the adapter. Until HDMI 2.0 became a standard, DisplayPort had it beat when it came to high resolutions. DisplayPort 1.2 has long been able to carry 3,840 x 2,160-resolution video at 60fps (or a refresh rate of 60Hz) and is the most common DisplayPort specification on most consumer monitors and devices now. This has 17.28Gbits/sec of bandwidth.

We explain the difference between every display connection available and help you decide which is best for you

If you want to combine the graphics outputs of your motherboard and your dedicated graphics card, this can be possible with certain Intel processors. This uses a “hybrid multi-monitor” mode but will be dependent on the chipset and possibly the motherboard used. You might also need to upgrade the BIOS to get it working. Intel lists the following chipsets as compatible in this hybrid mode: Hybrid multi-monitor support is officially supported with Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers for systems using the Intel Q45/G41/G45 and GM45/GL40/GS45 chipsets, or later. How to get 144Hz: Which cable is needed for 144Hz? USB Type-C has a new feature called Alternate Modes. If your USB-C cable has this feature, you can connect to non-USB devices that support the same Alternate Mode. For example, if your USB-C cable has the Thunderbolt Alternate Mode, you can connect to Thunderbolt devices. There's no setting to turn on—your device automatically uses the appropriate mode if it's supported. Make sure the USB-C connector on the adapter is securely plugged into the USB-C port on your Surface. The reason that bandwidth becomes important is due to the advent of 4K content. Due to the limited bandwidth of HDMI 1.4, only 24fps was possible at 4K resolution (3,840 x 2,160). Now, thanks to the extra bandwidth available in the 2.0spec, up to 60fps at 4K resolution is possible. This also allows you to view 144Hz at 1080p (1,920 x 1,080) through a HDMI 2.0 connection. Make sure the device or dongle is connected to the USB-C port on your PC (or phone) that supports the correct Alternate Mode. For example, a DisplayPort Alternate Mode adapter should be connected to the USB-C port on your PC (or phone) that supports DisplayPort Alternate Mode.