DVI to HDMI?

imamosher

imamosher

imamosher

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HI guys, I am running a 4870 and will be watching blu rays on the tv with it...I just wanted to know does the VGA cable I am using at the moment carry an HD signal or is that not possible or if I use a DVI to HDMI adapter and a HDMI cable will that then carry the HD signal to tv.

Basically how do I get a full HD signal from the card to the TV.

thanks
 
a dvi-hdmi adapter would support 1920x1080, that wont carry the sound though but i'm sure you have speakers or something you could plug your pc into :)
 
You should be able to just use your DVI-HDMI dongle that should have came with the 4870 and plug the TV in that way.. DVI and HDMI are closely related, so you won't have any problems carrying an HD signal :)

EDIT: @MonkeyKing: Actually, IIRC the 4870 should allow you to carry sound through a DVI port that has the dongle on it. It's a special design built into their cards so that those who want audio over HDMI but only have DVI on their cards dont lose out :)
 
VGA and HDMI aren't compatible, but DVI to HDMI works fine.

DVI has both digital and analog signals, VGA has only analog, HDMI has only digital.
 
Unfortunately I cant find the adapter anywhere so I will have to grab myself another one :mad:

Great to know that it will carry a true HD signal though.

Much appreciated.
 
Alex74 said:
EDIT: @Monkeyking: Actually, IIRC the 4870 should allow you to carry sound through a DVI port that has the dongle on it. It's a special design built into their cards so that those who want audio over HDMI but only have DVI on their cards dont lose out :)
Click to expand...

you learn something new everyday :D
 
what quality signal would the standard vga cable be able to carry, will there be a large difference if using the HDMI cable?
 
Some people will swear blind theres no difference, but for me theres no contest. Even a basic quality HDMI cable will give a perfect picture, whereas you need top quality cables to get a perfect analog picture at high res.
 
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I believe it's mainly resolution and refresh rate bound, as VGA/DVI simply do not offer the raw bandwidth of HDMI.

VGA however is susceptible to electronic interference, being an analog signal. I believe that is the cause of the quality difference, as technically they both get the exact same pixel data.
 
Stonedofmoo said:
Some people will swear blind theres no difference, but for me theres no contest. Even a basic quality HDMI cable will give a perfect picture, whereas you need top quality cables to get a perfect analog picture at high res.
Click to expand...


I'll agree with you here, have my PC and parents plugged into same monitor (Mine through DVI-D and there's through VGA) and the DVI picture is noticeably sharper, the VGA seems to make everything appear hazy and slightly blurred. Not sure if a better cable would improve the picture, the one used is el cheapo that came free with their old screen (Cibox brand.) This is all at 1920x1200 btw.
 
DVI and HDMI don't have any quality difference though, they're both digital signals.
It's just maximum resolution and refresh rate, so for example for a 120Hz monitor you'd need a dual link DVI since that has twice the bandwidth, or HDMI.

The discussion above is referring to DVI vs VGA, but there exist no VGA to HDMI adaptors since it's a completely different technology. (At least not without a small chipset)
 
Appologies, didn't mean to confuse you haha. I was comparing VGA to DVI/HDMI where there IS a difference, however as Strawberry says:


Strawberry said:
DVI and HDMI don't have any quality difference though, they're both digital signals.
Click to expand...


So you won't notice any difference between DVI and HDMI (Other than perhaps HDMI carrying audio, although I am inexperienced with this so will leave that explanation to someone who has the knowledge.)
 
Well the reason I asked this question is because I am using a 720p tv at the moment. The signal is being carried fromt he card to the TV via a DVI - VGA adapter then into the tv.

I wanted to know if there was going to be a benefit of rather using a DVI to HDMI adapter and viewing it that way, I thought surely that would give a clearer pic?
 
no, in fact in that case it would probably be worse. with VGA you can at least run the tv at native resolution (1366x768 or 1360x768 if 1366 isnt available) - with hdmi you cant do that, it'll be either 720p (1280x720) or 1080i/p (1920x1080) that your tv will accept meanign the tv will either scale the signal up, or scale it down. native is always preferred :)
 
imamosher said:
What about for game playing does the above still apply?
Click to expand...

it's less noticeable with gaming and films, but it'll be a straight slap in the face-noticeable on the desktop :)

imamosher said:
why will the card not put out a HD signal?
Click to expand...

trueHD is one of the two HD codecs availavble over hdmi - Dolby TrueHD and DTS:Master, neither of which the 4xxx series cards will output over hdmi. the card will, however, output LPCM which is basically what TrueHD and DTS:M become once they are decoded.

It's a bit of a muddle really but it doesnt matter all that much, you'll still get 7.1 LPCM surround sound.
 
hmmm, ok So as I understand it, having the HDMI cable wont make much difference playing games or watching films?

But will make a difference to the desktop?
 
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