DVI is the only widespread video standard that includes analog and digital transmission in the same connector. But DVI and VGA are a lot more than a jumble of letters, they are specific types of connections that can make a huge impact on your picture quality. Your PC could have any number of ports but some of the most common include HDMI, DisplayPort™, DVI, USB, and VGA ports. The active region is encoded using transition-minimized differential signaling, where the control region is encoded with a fixed 8b/10b encoding. In single link mode, the maximum TMDS clock frequency is 165MHz, which supports a maximum resolution of 2.

DVI-D is used for direct digital connections between the source of the video and the computer monitor. This new addition to the Extron range of Switchers enables the switching of USB devices between three AV source inputs sent to the output display. If the computer is turned off, it cannot transmit a signal and causes the "no input signal" message. The EDID block contains the display's identification, color characteristics (such as gamma value), and table of supported video modes.When it comes to display and picture quality, DVI and HDMI use the same system for digital video signals.

panelLink uses a high-speed serial link referred to as Transition Minimized Differential Signaling (TMDS). DVI provide one TMDS clock pair and 3 TMDS data pairs in single link mode or 6 TMDS data pairs in dual link mode. That means that every pixel of every frame is sent to the display, which might provide optimum quality (analogous to a raw camera image), but it does limit resolution and/or framerate because of the sheer amount of processing required. Note that DVI does not support HDCP encryption by default, so it cannot be used to play full HD Blu-ray or other HD content.

You turn over the monitor to see what kind of connections it offers and you realize it only has an HDMI port. ratio can make clock recovery difficult, as phase-locked loops, if used, need to work over a large frequency range. Another less common version is dual-link (or DVI-DL), which has a second internal connection for delivering data and can be used for high-resolution displays up to 2560×1600/60Hz. Unlike HDMI, which can pass both video and audio signals, DVI is designed to pass video signals only.

Because HDMI is a more recent technology than VGA, an HDMI to VGA converter is a great addition you can use to connect a newer laptop or desktop PC to a more dated monitor or display. There are two separate 9-pin sets (rows of 6) for a single-link cable, whereas a 24-pin set (rows of 8) is a dual-link cable. In such cases, the HDMI input may be labeled HDMI/DVI, and the analog audio inputs are also labeled DVI. However, a male DVI-I cable will not fit in a female DVI-D connector due to its additional analog pins. It’s not that new technology will always win straight away, it’s that millions of consumers and businesses are running legacy equipment and they need to be able to connect things together.

This active VGA adapter will work with any DVI-D device – such as the graphics card connector of a desktop or laptop.

Now that you have read this article, you have an idea of what cable or connector you should purchase for your devices. The digital DVI-D or DVI-I version is compatible with an HDMI connection – so you can get DVI to HDMI cables or adapters if your AV equipment requires a connection like this.There are two types of DisplayPort connectors (standard and mini), so make sure you use the appropriate adapter. HDMI and DisplayPort connectors can support DVI-D video signals through an adapter, but DVI-D cannot support the additional features that HDMI and DisplayPort possess, such as integrated audio and CEC control. Due to VGA being the dominant connector for analog monitors and DVI as a standard for digital signals, DVI-A connectors are quite rare; instead, DVI-I and DVI-D connectors are more common.