DVI Cables

What is a DVI Cable?

The Digital Visual Interface (DVI) is a video interface standard covering the transmission of video between a source device (such as a personal computer) as well as a display device. The DVI standard has achieved widespread acceptance in the PC industry, both in desktop PCs & monitors. Most contemporary retail desktop PCs & LCD monitors feature a DVI interface, & lots of other devices (such as projectors & consumer televisions) support DVI indirectly through HDMI, another video interface standard. Most laptops still have legacy VGA &, in some models, HDMI ports, but not displayport or DVI. DVI was developed by an industry consortium, the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG) to replace the "legacy analog technology" VGA connector standard. It is designed for carrying uncompressed digital video information to a display. It is partially compatible with the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) standard in digital mode (DVI-D), & VGA in analog mode (DVI-A). It is also still present in some consumer tv sets, despite having been superseded in this application by HDMI, another video interface standard.

HDMI audio support

Since 2008, PC manufacturers have gradually upgraded the PC's controller to support HDMI-output in addition to DVI. Due to electrical and pin compatibility between the DVI and HDMI, only a simple passive adapter (or DVI-D to HDMI cable) is necessary in order for the PC to output HDMI to a compatible HDMI-display (such as a television), and take advantage of HDMI features (such as audio output.)

DVI and HDMI compatibility

HDMI is a newer digital audio/video interface developed and promoted by the consumer electronics industry. Both DVI and HDMI share the same electrical specifications for the TMDS and VESA/DDC links. However, HDMI and DVI differ in several key ways. First, HDMI lacks analog VGA compatibility, as these signals are absent in the HDMI connector. Second, DVI is limited to the RGB color space, whereas HDMI supports both RGB and YCbCr. Finally, HDMI supports the transport of digital audio, in addition to digital video. An HDMI source differentiates between a legacy DVI display and an HDMI-capable display by reading the display's EDID block. ConnectZone stocks a variety of DVI and DVI-HDMI cables and can usually ship same day!