DVI vs HDMI

bushmins · 22 Mar 2011 at 11:28

Connecting my graphics card to my monitor. Is HDMI better, worse or the same as using DVI?

The advantage for me using HDMI is that its a much smaller cable.

!TIMMY! · 22 Mar 2011 at 11:31

They are both digital so I think they are the same really.

Lemin · 22 Mar 2011 at 11:33

Main plus is you get audio over hdmi, so less cables.

mattyfez · 22 Mar 2011 at 11:33

The same, except HDMI can carry audio also, which makes it more practical in some cases.

Just use whatever is more convenient.

ewarwoowar · 22 Mar 2011 at 11:33

Depends if you're running 120hz

Disco Boy · 22 Mar 2011 at 12:09

They carry the same video signal, so whichever you fancy - obviously if you want to carry audio via the same cable then go for HDMI.

Liampope · 22 Mar 2011 at 12:21

The signals are identical electrically. What may be different though is how your graphics gard and/or display behaves. TVs are the worst culprit, often applying scaling, horrible sharpening filters etc etc to a HDMI input. A GPU may also apply some scaling by default for HDMI (my 5850 did for some reason). Hopefully your monitor wont indulge in such behaviour. All this means is you may need to tweak some settings to get everything looking how it should - make sure your GPU is applying no scaling (aka underscan/overscan) and the same for the monitor (option often something like 1:1 pixel mapping). In my experience DVI inputs are free of this meddling.

[Olly] · 22 Mar 2011 at 12:55

When I got my Dell U2311h I tried both the DVI-D and the HDCP connectors and couldn't see a noticeable difference.

dl8860 · 22 Mar 2011 at 12:57

What about VGA? How does that compare to DVI and HDMI?

PhillyDee · 22 Mar 2011 at 13:02

VGA is analogue. I much prefer DVI. Its digital for a start! Much sharper.

Of course, I think you are asking which connection on your TV to use. Personally, neither. A TV as a monitor is really poor, and the quality of any connection is awful. In my experience anyway! I have used both the VGA and HDMI on the tv I have, and both are poor, but the HDMI was better.

Rexton · 22 Mar 2011 at 13:04

dl8860 said:
What about VGA? How does that compare to DVI and HDMI?

As the previous poster said, VGA is analogue, thus subjective to degradation in quality. HDMI and DVI are both of digital connections so shouldn't suffer from this.

[Olly] · 22 Mar 2011 at 13:06

You'll definitely notice a different between VGA and DVI/HDMI. The image quality will be a lot sharper on the digital connectors.

pinkpotato · 22 Mar 2011 at 13:07

Depends if your comparing dual link dvi to hdmi, both have advantages and disadvantages...

Liampope · 22 Mar 2011 at 13:32

PhillyDee said:
Of course, I think you are asking which connection on your TV to use. Personally, neither. A TV as a monitor is really poor, and the quality of any connection is awful. In my experience anyway! I have used both the VGA and HDMI on the tv I have, and both are poor, but the HDMI was better.

Not true in my experience. The picture on both my 1080p LG LCD TVs is excellent - barely any worse than my 'proper' monitor. That is only after I had sorted the issues I mentioned in my post above.

mikeyholt · 22 Mar 2011 at 13:39

It's this simple

Are you using speakers which aren't with your monitor?

Then DVI.

If you are using the speakers in your monitor then HDMI is fine.