When buying a monitor for your PC , you may find that it has a couple of extra features that we generally don’t pay much attention to, but that can be very interesting once you know what they do: we are talking about PIP technologies. and PBP , and in this article we are going to tell you what they are for and how you can use them on your monitor.
Generally, when we go to buy a monitor we look at its size in inches, its resolution and its response time and refresh rate; If you are looking for a high-performance monitor, you will also notice if it has HDR or if it has adaptive frequency technology such as FreeSync or G-Sync, but PIP and PBP technologies can go quite unnoticed, at least initially. Let’s see what they do and what they can bring you, especially if your monitor already has them and you don’t use them because you don’t know what they do.
What are PIP and PBP technologies in a monitor?
Both monitor technologies have to do with monitors that have several video inputs, and that have in a certain way the possibility of using several simultaneously. But before getting into the matter, let’s see what each of them is individually.
Definition of PiP
PiP stands for Picture in Picture, or picture within picture. With this name you will already imagine that we necessarily have a main and a secondary image, the secondary being within the main one.
Thus, PiP technology allows a monitor to be used to have a primary image that occupies the entire screen and a secondary image, obviously from another of its video inputs, in a small box that is generally configurable from the monitor’s OSD (not from software, but from the monitor itself) both in position and size, although the latter is not available on all monitors.
Of course, not all monitors allow you to configure the PiP mode and there are some models, especially old or low-end, that although they have the technology only allow one mode of operation (which is generally with a small box in the lower right corner of display) and do not support any configuration. However, on more modern and / or higher-end monitors, this feature is usually always configurable.
Definition of PbP
For its part, PbP comes from the English Picture by Picture or image by image. In this case we also have two simultaneous video inputs but among which there is not a main one but both are used at the same time, splitting the screen in half as was done in the past in two-player console games.
Like PiP, PbP technology is or usually is configurable, so that we can choose which video inputs of the monitor we want to use (in the case that it has more than two) and in what way we want the screen to behave, such as for example the aspect ratio. Some monitors actually allow two-thirds of the screen to be occupied by one video signal and the remaining third by the other, rather than both occupying the same. You have to be careful with the compatibility of resolutions and aspect ratio of video sources, as it could cause problems.
Fundamental differences between PIP and PBP
As you will already suppose by looking at the definitions of both technologies, the fundamental difference is that with PbP we have two equal and simultaneous images, each occupying half of the screen, while with PiP we will always have a main image that occupies the entire screen and a secondary image in a small box.
Another fundamental difference is that with PiP you cannot select the audio source if the monitor has speakers and it supports it, that is, the audio that the monitor will output will always be that of the image selected as primary and never from the high school. On the contrary, with PbP this is configurable, always from the monitor menu.
Just as there are differences, there are also similarities. To begin with, both technologies are obviously only compatible with a monitor that has several video inputs, and also these video inputs must necessarily be digital (which today limits it to HDMI, DisplayPort and USB-C). In addition, it must be taken into account that there are many monitor models compatible with PiP technology but not with PbP and vice versa, and although it is strange, a monitor does not necessarily have to be compatible with both.
Finally, you should also know that because a monitor has several video inputs it does not necessarily have to be compatible with one or both technologies; If you want to know if your monitor is compatible with PiP, PbP or both, you should consult it in its technical specifications.
What can these features be used for?
As we said at the beginning, these characteristics usually go unnoticed and especially if the user of the monitor does not know that it has them. However, they can be very useful for many users to do things like:
- Have two PCs connected to the same monitor. This is especially useful if the monitor is ultra wide, since that additional width will allow to have almost two complete monitors using PbP technology, being able for example to work in one and monitor parameters in another.
- It can also be used to, for example, work on a computer while watching the mobile screen in a small corner using PiP, thus always having your screen visible.
- You can have a PC and a console on the same monitor and at the same time, for example to play a game on the console while keeping an eye on Discord or a streaming software such as Open Broadcaster Software.
- It can be used to watch a video recording in a small way while you take notes on the main screen.
