HDMI Vs DVI

[waheed]

Recently, I upgraded my ageing 4 year old 17" LCD monitor to a 24" BenQ FP241W after reading reviews on the net.

HDMI/HDCP was not a deciding factor when choosing a 24" LCD, but came as a bonus.

Nevertheless, my graphics card blew out on me (long story) and I just purchased a new card today. I decided to go for one with HDMI port since I had a HDMI monitor.

I went for the Asus EN7600GT/HDTI/256M graphics card (bad choice since the fan is loud)

My monitor supports 1920 X 1200 pixels and this works fine using DVI.

However, when using HDMI, all I get is 1920 X 1080 pixels maximum. The icons on the screen look stretched at this resolution. I using the latest drivers from the Nvidia site.

How can I output 1920 X 1200 via HDMI (other than the fact I can use DVI).

[edDV]

Recently, I upgraded my ageing 4 year old 17" LCD monitor to a 24" BenQ FP241W after reading reviews on the net.

HDMI/HDCP was not a deciding factor when choosing a 24" LCD, but came as a bonus.

Nevertheless, my graphics card blew out on me (long story) and I just purchased a new card today. I decided to go for one with HDMI port since I had a HDMI monitor.

I went for the Asus EN7600GT/HDTI/256M graphics card (bad choice since the fan is loud)

My monitor supports 1920 X 1200 pixels and this works fine using DVI.

However, when using HDMI, all I get is 1920 X 1080 pixels maximum. The icons on the screen look stretched at this resolution. I using the latest drivers from the Nvidia site.

How can I output 1920 X 1200 via HDMI (other than the fact I can use DVI).

Doesn't the Nvidia card allow 1920x1200 WUXGA?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WUXGA

1080p would show letterbox unless you hit "full screen" and let it V scale to 1920x1200.

Test 1080p playback with wmvhd 1080p (if your computer is fast enough).
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/musicandvideo/hdvideo/contentshowcase.aspx


PS: Type A HDMI may be limited to 1920x1080. WUXGA 1920x1200 may require the dual link version of HDMI that has more pins and requires a special dual link cable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI

[waheed]

Yes, the Nvidia allows 1920 X 1200 WUXGA, but it only works under DVI.

For HDMI, it wont let me go past 1920 X 1080 pixels under the display settings in control panel.

[edDV]

Does it allow use of dual link (Type B) HDMI? This is a wider connector.

[waheed]

No, Its uses Type A 19 Pins

[edDV]

I think HDMI Type A (19pin) is limited to 1920x1080.

[rallynavvie]

This is similar to that other post recently

Why would you use HDMI when really the only advantage it has over DVI is that it carries digital audio in the same cable as the digital video. Does that video card only have HDMI outs? Would a HDMI to DVI cable resolve the res limitations?

I didn't realize HDMI supported anything other than HD-standard signals like 480, 720, and 1080. Maybe try a driver tweak like RivaTuner that forces resolution settings?

[edDV]

The TV end of an HDMI cable may be limited to video resolutions but the display adapter end can also support VESA computer monitor resolutions.

I suspect waheed's new 1920X1200 WUXGA monitor came with a dual link DVI cable and his HDMI cable and display adapter HDMI connector are single link (19pin Type A). That limits his HDMI connection to 1920x1080.

[waheed]

Why would you use HDMI when really the only advantage it has over DVI is that it carries digital audio in the same cable as the digital video.

The HDMI on my GPU supports HDCP while the DVI does not. For future purposes, I can view Blu Ray/HD DVD over HDMI.

The Card has both HDMI and DVI and so does the monitor.

I guess I will stick to using DVI for 1920 X 1200 resolution.

[rallynavvie]

I'm curious about this since I'm looking to replace my aging CRT with a 24" widescreen LCD. It's the Dell model and has DVI, HDMI, and all the older video inputs on it as well. My second monitor currently is a 37" 1080p LCD TV which is running on the DVI connection from my video card and I was planning on using the other DVI port on my card for the new LCD.

I'd imagine that in the near future we'll have cracked HDCP for our PC BD/HD-DVD players and thus you'd be able to playback content-protected media over your DVI connection anyway.

[pfh]

Not sure but I thought there are sometimes differences between the 2 DVI ports. Depends on the card and perhaps the new 8800's from Nvidia don't have any differences.

[waheed]

I think the issue is with the monitor rather than the graphics card.

When using a HDMI to DVI cable (Output via HDMI from graphics card and Input via DVI to monitor), I can still get 1920 X 1200 resolution since the monitor is using DVI.

Also, when I output with DVI from the graphics card to input via HDMI on the monitor, I only get 1920 X 1080.

So its definitely that HDMI port (type A) that can only display at 1080 max, regardless of type of monitor, GPU etc...

This brings me to the conclusion that Type A 19 pin HDMI standard can only output a maximum resolution of 1920 X 1080 pixels. Any higher resolution would either require a dual output of the Type A HDMI, or use of Type B 29 Pin HDMI.

The same case is with the DVI standard too. I have also found from google search that DVI only supports 1920 X 1200 pixels maximum (not a problem since this is the max my monitor supports). Any higher resolution would require a dual DVI output as is the case for 30" LCD monitors.

[yoda313]

I'd imagine that in the near future we'll have cracked HDCP for our PC BD/HD-DVD players and thus you'd be able to playback content-protected media over your DVI connection anyway.

Well they have indirectly - with the bluray/hddvd rippers the ripped files apparently can play full res unencrypted once you have them ripped to the harddrive. Now of course thats not great if you don't have gigs and gigs of free space to store all your next gen dvds......