While technically true, there's no devices that do HDMI protocol over USB-C. Most USB-C adapters to HDMI have a built-in DP > HDMI converter. There was a standard for HDMI over USB, but no devices used it and it died: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/01/hdmi-to-usb-c-spec-a...

Pretty sure the Switch (1) Dock used a similar HDMI adapter. Even the PS4 had a DP > HDMI adapter internally for some reason.

DP has a HDMI compatibility mode that allows a DP output to output a HDMI signal, but at the wrong voltage. The external adapters are just level shifters to bring the signal voltages into compliance with HDMI, but their entirety passive devices.

> Even the PS4 had a DP > HDMI adapter internally for some reason.

DP is far more than just an external display protocol. Its biggest use case is internal display signals, so it’s used to power pretty much every laptop screen.

As a result standard PC hardware (which is what the PS4 is) has defacto support for DP, because is the standard display transport between embedded video components. As a result it’s a lot easier and cheaper to build a device that outputs DP, and then slap a HDMI converter on it, than it is to build a device that uses HDMI natively.

Isn't the reason dp has higher per pair throughout than hdmi giving you more bandwidth with less wires? (I'm not entirely sure though)