DVI cable? HDMI? What is better?

[thetruth]

I have a DVI cable that came with my 280gtx. Is there a difference b/w it and another DVI?

Is hdmi better than DVI? My card doesn't have hdmi but my monitor has that input.

 

[Seraphic]

Only use HDMI if your monitor has speakers and you plan to use it for audio.
If not, just use DVI. However, when I tried HDMI with my 3870, it has color issues (looked strange), so I just stick with DVI.

 

[Hammer[NS]]

In terms of video signal, there should be no material difference providing the cables are equal quality and the distance / run of cable is short. You can get a DVI to HDMI adapter easily (many video cards include them now) if you want to use the HDMI input for other reasons.

 

[Blazestorm]

They're identical in terms of video... just HDMI has standards for audio to be included over the same cable...

DVI could do the same thing, just no devices are speced to accept an audio input (or send one) over DVI so it's only used for video.

You can get a DVI to HDMI cable if you want to make it simple, it will just send a video signal and no audio to the monitor though. Unless you setup the SPDIF / 2 pin pass-thru which is a bit of a pain on Nvidia cards.

 

[evilsofa]

The only difference between connecting a monitor to a PC with HDMI instead of DVI is that the monitor may or may not have EDID issues with HDMI, but as far as the video quality goes, they are the same.

The quality of a DVI cable doesn't matter unless the cable is very long, like 50 feet. DVI either works with 100% picture quality or doesn't work at all, and at 50 feet, the signal gets weak enough without an amplifier that a poor quality cable might start flickering on and off.

There are a few nutballs who have placeboed themselves into thinking one DVI cable looks better than another because they don't understand what digital means. Arguing with them is like arguing with a flat-earther.

 

[obobski]

There are a few nutballs who have placeboed themselves into thinking one DVI cable looks better than another because they don't understand what digital means. Arguing with them is like arguing with a flat-earther.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! +1

yeah, the only reason I prefer DVI is that it more securely mounts to [device] (they're called screws ), but aside from that little personal tick, there is no real difference between the two

honestly I'd just go with whatever is "native", for example if DVI to DVI is possible, do that, if you have a monitor that only has HDMI for its digital input (a number of Hanns-G monitors are like this), go with the DVI to HDMI cable it came with, if HDMI is on both sides (like a Hanns-G and some graphics cards with HDMI out), go with HDMI cables, if DVI and HDMI are both available, go with whatever you have cables for

the reason I say go with whatever is "native" is to remove adapters from the equation, not because they'll somehow destroy the signal, but because sometimes the extra weight can either make the cable very easy to knock loose, or can wear the jack/connector out after enough time (from straining it due to the weight)

 

[Spaceman_Spiff]

the reason I say go with whatever is "native" is to remove adapters from the equation, not because they'll somehow destroy the signal, but because sometimes the extra weight can either make the cable very easy to knock loose, or can wear the jack/connector out after enough time (from straining it due to the weight)

The only dvi-hdmi cables I've ever seen just have a dvi plug on one end and an hdmi one on the other, there's no adapter whatsoever.

 

[vengence]

There are a few nutballs who have placeboed themselves into thinking one DVI cable looks better than another because they don't understand what digital means. Arguing with them is like arguing with a flat-earther.

I had a friend tell me once he heard a difference in higher sampling music files. I asked him where he heard the differences. He told me he heard it in the bass. Some people just fail at placebos.