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  1. Member vhelp's Avatar
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    Hay everybody

    I am confused about which DVI->HDMI cables to choose for use in my setup listed below.

    My video setup currently is:

    Monitor: 19" Westinghouse L1916HW, has DVI-D output -- Nov 2008
    Graphics card: ATI Radeon HD 3450, has DVI-I output -- Nov 2008
    HDTV 1: Hisense, USDigital USDTV DB-2010 -- Feb 2005
    HDTV 2: Pro Brand, Digital Stream HD3150Plus DTV receiver -- March 2005
    DVD Player: with HDMI output connection -- brand TBD, maybe Philips 5990 w/ usb

    The strange part of all these connections is this. My graphics card only offers DVI-I, while my monitor offers only DVI-D. So, naturally you see my confusion.. not to mention the high prices for these cables. And after comming back from various stores, I'm left more confused.

    Radio Shack: has a DVI-I -to- HDMI cable for $29 bucks. The cheaps of the lot, anywhere so far.
    On the package it states that it allows DVI-I and DVI-D -to- HDMI connection.

    The rest of the stores (CC, BestBuy) have DVI-I -to- HDMI cables and costs anywhere from $49 to $73 and
    higher.

    Wal-Mart has a Couple for $29, $39 and $49, but still not DVI-D -to- HDMI or they don't say anything other than DVI cables.

    Then, I've even seen a DVI -to- DVI cable for $21 at BestBuy. I was tempted to get, but then decided to hold off and wait till I do further research.

    Never the less, I'm not sure which is the cable to get for my Graphics card and Monitor mentioned.

    Thanks for any help on these cables,

    -vhelp 4932
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  2. Greetings Supreme2k's Avatar
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    check accstation and dealextreme.com

    I get most of my cables from those two. They are dirt cheap and work flawlessly.
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  3. DVD Ninja budz's Avatar
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    go to www.monoprice.com they've got the best prices for DVI-HDMI cables. i got mine from them and it works well.

    http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10231
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  4. I buy 6 to 10 foot DVI to HDMI cables from NewEgg.com for about US$10. Monoprice.com has them in that price range too.

    DVI-I includes analog video along with the digital video ("I" for integrated analog). A DVI-D cable can be plugged into the DVI-I connector -- there just won't be any pins on the cable connector to go into the holes in the device connector (ie, it won't route the analog video). A DVI to HDMI cable only connects the digital pins at each end (no analog in the HDMI spec).
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  5. Member edDV's Avatar
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    See ref.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface

    DVI-D is a subset of DVI-I which also has pins for analog VGA. A DVI-D to HDMI cable is all you need. The analog pins will be ignored. All HDTV use will be "single link". Generally there is no reason to buy "dual link" except for computer monitors that exceed 1920x1080 resolution.

    Another option is to buy a DVI-D to HDMI adapter plus a normal HDMI-HDMI cable.
    http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=dvi-d+to+hdmi+adapter&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid...ult#ps-sellers

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  6. Member vhelp's Avatar
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    **CORRECTION**

    oops!! I made a mistake in my brain. I don't need an DVI-D -to- HDMI for my HD 3450 -> monitor. Dauh!!
    I ment, that I need an DVI-I -to- DVI-D. Remember, my HD 3450 card is an DVI-I and my Monitor input is an DVI-D. But now, its being realized that I can use a DVI-I or DVI-D -to- DVI-D cable. I appoligise to you all for the confusion.

    However, (depending on how you look at it/or connect things) I will still need a DVI-D -to- HDMI cable if I want to connect my HDTV_receivers[HDMI] or DVD_Player[HDMI] to my [DVI-D]monitor. Gosh!!

    So, I am guessing that whatever the package states: DVI/DVI-I/DVI-D -to- HDMI, that they will all output the video to my monitor ??

    --> ATI Radeon HD 3450 [DVI-I/DVI-D] --> [DVI-D]monitor should work, I think.

    Am I correct so far ??

    -vhelp 4933
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  7. Member edDV's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by vhelp
    **CORRECTION**

    oops!! I made a mistake in my brain. I don't need an DVI-D -to- HDMI for my HD 3450 -> monitor. Dauh!!
    I ment, that I need an DVI-I -to- DVI-D. Remember, my HD 3450 card is an DVI-I and my Monitor input is an DVI-D. But now, its being realized that I can use a DVI-I or DVI-D -to- DVI-D cable. I appoligise to you all for the confusion.

    However, (depending on how you look at it/or connect things) I will still need a DVI-D -to- HDMI cable if I want to connect my HDTV_receivers[HDMI] or DVD_Player[HDMI] to my [DVI-D]monitor. Gosh!!

    So, I am guessing that whatever the package states: DVI/DVI-I/DVI-D -to- HDMI, that they will all output the video to my monitor ??

    --> ATI Radeon HD 3450 [DVI-I/DVI-D] --> [DVI-D]monitor should work, I think.

    Am I correct so far ??

    -vhelp 4933
    I'm somewhat confused but for your use DVI-D to DVI-D cables work (these have missing analog pins). Also DVI-I to DVI-I cables will work but the analog pins will be ignored. There is no reason to buy DVI-I to DVI-D or DVI-I to HDMI. The analog pins don't connect to anything.

    The only time DVD-I vs. DVI-D comes into play is when you want to get to VGA or the ATI Analog Component adapter.

    PS: A package that states: DVI/DVI-I/DVI-D -to- HDMI means all that is needed is DVI-D to HDMI. The marketing people put in "DVI/DVI-I/DVI-D" so you won't be confused. DVI-D is always a part of "DVI" and DVI-I".

    Back in the mil days we used to call this lingo "sailor proofing". Imagine that the text has to be understood by the most hungover sailor after shore leave. Or, not necessarily understood but intent on preventing the drunk sailor from doing great damage.

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  8. Do all DVI-D female connectors have holes for the analog pins? That would be the only case where you couldn't use a DVI-I cable on a DVI-D device -- when there are no holes in the device's connector for the analog pins on the cable.
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  9. Member edDV's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by jagabo
    Do all DVI-D female connectors have holes for the analog pins? That would be the only case where you couldn't use a DVI-I cable on a DVI-D device -- when there are no holes in the device's connector for the analog pins on the cable.
    I think so. Pins are depopulated or unconnected at the male end. Display cards and monitors have female connectors with holes for all possible pins..

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  10. Member vhelp's Avatar
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    Please, let me try and clarify my situation. Also, I am *new* to DVI/HDMI format, so this is my first time dealing with this area, hence the confusion on my part.

    I recently purchased a widescreen 19" Westinghouse LCD monitor, and shortly thereafter I purchased the
    ATI Radeon HD 3450 graphics card. Currently, I am using the VGA connectors since all I have at the moment is your standard VGA cables.

    The monitor has these two inputs: VGA and DVI-D
    And the HD 3450 graphics card has two outputs: VGA and DVI-I

    Notice the I and D have different meaning. At least to me, they were, but I didn't know exactly the difference at the time till jagabo posted his response--thanks. These are expensive equipment and I just didn't want to go out and purchase the wrong cables, etc., and find that I damaged something in the process, less someone chimes in and says, "you should have done some research, first"

    Anyway. I wanted to try the DVI option of these devices to see if there would be any noticable difference in picture quality--be it the on the TEXT side or VIDEO side, though I figure that the TEXT (webpages, documents, etc) would be no difference. But I was wondering if on the VIDEO side, would it be noticeably different in terms of better picture quality, or else my huntch that the two devices would output in different color spaces (internal stuff) that would give (me) the sense of noticable difference when in reality there is none. For now, I just can't seem to believe entirely that there is a great difference in quality..maybe slightly, maybe not. I don't know. But I was wondering and considering DVI just in case there is, though the prices (in the stores) were slowing my progress some.

    After posting a few questions here, I learnt (came to realize) that the two, DVI-I/D are similar and prob safe to use either of the two, depending on the cable layout available, and that basically, it doesn't matter which one I use in my situation/equipment. Moving on.

    So, now I'm at a point where I feel safe to (possibly) pick up an DVI-I cable at Radio Shack if just to try it out and see for myself if there is truely noticeable difference. Please, don't give me this YCbCr/YPbPr crap I'm just trying to figure this out for my equipment and whether it is worth the hype or not, not to mention how bad my color levels and gamma range is already on this equipment (HD 3450 and Monitor) these two equip are a headache to get right. Currently I'm a bit disapointed because on my older equipment (15" monitor) and my ATI Rage Fury Pro graphics card, the color levels and gama was perfect, and my dvd movies were, too. Now, with this new monitor, everything is different, and I'm left frustrsted, and I can't seem to get the same performance out of these equipments, at least back to my 15" monitor and rage fury pro status. So I'm here asking a bunch of dumb questions in hope to find the answers or else compremise on a few points.

    But maybe..

    1. there a some noticeable difference when connecting my HDTV reciever -to- my monitor.
    2. dvd player (Upsamplers, and HDMI connectors) -to- my monitor may show noticeable difference.
    3. something I haven't considered, yet.


    Other than that, I'm hanging in there

    -vhelp 4934
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  11. Member edDV's Avatar
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    Listen, DVI-I has VGA and DVI-D pins on the same connector. You can go DVI-I to VGA (analog RGBHV) or you can go DVI-I to DVI-D (digital RGB or digital YCbCr). You can even do both at once with a DVI-I to DVI-D/VGA splitter cable and dual monitor support at the display card.



    So that takes care of the display card to monitor no? I think you will see sharper text using DVI-D at monitor native resolution. 60Hz refresh is OK for LCD monitors.

    Q1: Better connection for HD receiver to your monitor is HDMI to DVI-D. The monitor probably has no deinterlace capability or crappy if it does, so use 720p and let the monitor scale. Let us know what happens. The Hisense probably is limited to 480p/720p/1080i out. Your monitor probably won't understand 1080i. If the Hisense outputs VGA, that might be a better choice. Experiment.

    I'm assuming the Hisense is old enough not to demand HDCP. If the Westinghouse monitor doesn't support HDCP, you are potentially screwed for any HD tuner to DVI-D connection. Again experiment.

    Q2: DVD player HDMI out to monitor DVI-D may work if HDCP is not required. 720p is the most likely best bet. It will work if the Westinghouse supports HDCP. Try 480p next. Some upscaling DVD players always demand HDCP handshake over HDMI. Others demand HDCP handshake only for copy protected DVD discs.

    Q3: Lack of HDCP support on the monitor may preclude tuner or DVD player connection. Next issues if all that works; black levels and aspect ratios.
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  12. You are more likely to see differences between VGA and DVI/HDMI with text or graphics than with standard definition video -- or any video that's not the resolution of your display.

    Here's one type of image that causes problems with analog cables:



    You should see alternating thin horizontal black and white lines on the left and vertical lines on the right. You may or may not be able to distinguish the checkerboard pattern in the middle. It might appear as gray. But you should not see any moire or flickering in that image if the system is set up properly.

    The quality of the analog section of monitors varies. Some models skimp on the VGA section assuming you'll be using DVI. You will see a larger difference between the two in that case.

    Run the monitor test program from this site:

    http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=960

    It's designed more for CRT monitors but many of the tests are good for LCD displays too.
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