Friday, March 28, 2008

DVI-I to DVI-D Cable or DVI-D to DVI-D Cable?


Maybe I can clarify a little. DVI-A (Analog) and DVI-D (Digital) both use the same connector but diffrent pins to transmit the signal. A DVI-I cable is a DVI cable with both the analog and digital pins. (so if you plug it into an analog device it will function as a DVI-A cable, vis versa if you plug it into a digital device it will function as a DVI-D cable). DVI-A and SVGA are one and the same, just a diffrent connector type. Most video cards (if not all at this point) have DVI-I connectors on them giving you the choice to use either analog or digital (you choose by pluging in either an analog or digital cable). This leaves most people thining a DVI-I cable will be the right cable since it does everything, but in reality it doesn't always work this way. Lots of Digital devices will not leave the pin holes for the DVI-A connection (I assume this is to make sure the user uses the proper cable). So while in theory a DVI-I should work, in real life it will not. This is why we reccomend customers buy the proper cable for the application rather than a "one size" fits all. Hope this clears up some confusion. You can always take a look at http://www.dvihdmicables.com/ - Lots of good info there. DVI-D to DVI-D is the cable to use.

Single Link or Dual Link DVI Cable

Most people know that DVI-D cables two in two flavors. Single Link and Dual Link, but most don't have any idea what the difference is so I'll start there. Single and Dual link cables are exactly the same with the exception that the Dual link cable has twice the pins to transmit data on. Single link can support bandwidths of 25-165 MHz while dual link can support bandwidths up to 330 MHz So at this point we can see Dual Link cables can transmit twice as much data, but what good does this do you? Most people have the common misconception that more bandwidth means a better cable, but that is not true by any means (especially with DVI, you want to get the RIGHT cable for the application, not the one with the higher price tag, which most people associate as better). This is actually a way to figure out which cable you need. You will start with the target resolution, in this case the customer expects to use 2016 X 1680 and we will assume at 60Hz (pretty much standard). Now that we know the desired resolution we need to figure out how much bandwidth is required. This is actually simpler than most people think. Horizontal Resolution times Vertical resolution times Frequency will result in the required bandwidth. So in this case; 2016 x 1680 x 60Hz = 203,212,800.00 Hz or (203MHz) Bandwidth Required As you can see this is very high resolution, and it requires a lot of bandwidth. So this customer needs a dual link cable since we know if the resolution require more than 165MHz you need a dual link. On the hand let’s take a look at a more common resolution that people think they NEED a dual link cable for. 1600 x 1200 x 60Hz = 115,200,000 Hz (115MHz) Bandwidth Required Single Link will work here. 1920 x 1080 x 60 Hz (1080p HDTV Resolution) = 124,416,000 (124 MHz) Bandwidth Required. Single Link will work here too! Here you can see even the most fancy HDTV you can buy only require Single Link! Despite what some people think. What I find more interesting is that the refresh rate really requires some bandwidth. Lets revisit one of the above resolutions again but change the refresh rate to one that is more common with PC's 1600 x 1200 x 75 Hz = 144,000,000 (144MHz). Believe it or not this requires a Dual Link cable as well. So next time you go to order a DVI-D cable and are not sure which you need (single or dual link) just remember. Horizontal Resolution times Vertical Resolution times Refresh Rate = required Bandwidth.

DVI-I Dual Link to HDMI?

Customer Question - "Hello. I'm trying to connect my LCD HDTV to my computer, so that I can use the TV as my monitor. The problem I'm having is figuring out what kind of cable I need. I know I need the HDMI to go into my TV, but I can't seem to find a cable that has DVI-I Dual Link on the other end. Do I need to link or is that optional? I'm kind of confused . I'm using DVD-I Dual Link going into my computer now from my LCD monitor." This is a very common customer question. While it may seem quite confusing the answer is rather simple. When the video card manufacturers produce video cards they want to make sure the video card will work with as many displays as possible. Since there are such a wide variety of displays availble now days most video cards ship with a DVI-I connection. This DVI-I (intergrated both analog and digital) connection will allow you to connect a analog SVGA (with adapter) or analog DVI-A cable to the port to support most analog monitor types. The DVI-I connection also allows you connect digital devices using the DVI-d cable or HDMI (with adapter). The DVI-D to HDMI connection is always a single link connection. So while you may have a DVI-I connector on the video you really need a DVI-D Single link to HDMI or DVI-D Cable to connect your pc to your HDTV via a HDMI or DVI port.

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