Technology

Definition

In a constantly changing industry, DVI is the next major attempt at an all-in-one, standardized, universal connector for audio/video applications. Featuring a modern design and backed by the biggest names in the electronic industry, DVI is set to finally unify all digital media components with a single cable, remote, and interface.
DVI is built with a 5 Gbps bandwidth limit, over twice that of HDTV (which runs at 2.2 Gbps), and is built forwards-compatible by offering unallocated pipeline for future technologies. The connectors are sliding contact (like FireWire and USB) instead of screw-on (like DVI), and are not nearly as bulky as most current video interfaces.

The screaming bandwidth of HDMI is structured around delivering the highest-quality digital video and audio throughout your entertainment center. Capable of all international frequencies and resolutions, the HDMI cable will replace all analog signals (i.e. S-Video, Component, Composite, and Coaxial), as well as HDTV digital signals (i.e. DVI, P&D, DFP), with absolutely no compromise in quality.
Additionally, HDMI is capable of carrying up to 8 channels of digital-audio, replacing the old analog connections (RCA, 3.5mm) as well as optical formats (SPDIF, Toslink).

VIDEO INTERFACES

Video Graphics Array (VGA) is an analog computer display standard first marketed in 1987 by IBM. While it has been obsolete for some time, it was the last graphical standard that the majority of manufacturers decided to follow, making it the lowest common denominator that all PC graphics hardware supports prior to a device-specific driver being loaded. For example, the Microsoft Windows splash screen appears while the machine is still operating in VGA mode, which is the reason that this screen always appears in reduced resolution and color depth.

The term VGA is often used to refer to a resolution of 640×480, regardless of the hardware that produces the picture. It may also refer to the 15-pin D-subminiature VGA connector which is still widely used to carry analog video signals of all resolutions.

VGA was officially superseded by IBM's XGA standard, but in reality it was superseded by numerous extensions to VGA made by clone manufacturers that came to be known as "Super VGA".

A Male DVI-I Plug
The DVI interface uses a digital protocol in which the desired brightness of pixels is transmitted as binary data. When the display is driven at its native resolution, all it has to do is read each number and apply that brightness to the appropriate pixel. In this way, each pixel in the output buffer of the source device corresponds directly to one pixel in the display device, whereas with an analog signal the appearance of each pixel may be affected by its adjacent pixels as well as by electrical noise and other forms of analog distortion.
Previous standards such as the analog VGA were designed for CRT-based devices and thus did not use discrete time. As the analog source transmits each horizontal line of the image, it varies its output voltage to represent the desired brightness. In a CRT device, this is used to vary the intensity of the scanning beam as it moves across the screen.