Good afternoon hardware junkies,

 

 

I have just upgraded my GPU from a Radeon 7850 to a EVGA GTX 980Ti. I gotta say, best investment I have made on this 3 year old computer. (i5-3550, 8gb RAM). I am faced with a question though, I have a monitor (Samsung) that is capable of both DVI and HDMI. I am currently using HDMI, is there any advantage of moving to DVI? I have an extra one of those cables laying around. Thanks in advance for your input.

 

 

I recently looked this up; in terms of video signal, no difference - both are digital. HDMI can transmit audio as well, but no difference in picture quality.

Fair enough, unless the ability to transfer audio (Which my monitor is NOT capable of) used extra memory, I will stick with HDMI.

I also looked at this last week (because I also am thinking about getting a 980Ti) and the main difference is that the HDMI connector is easier to accidentally pull out: DVI you can screw into place.  :wink: I currently use DVI and so I will keep on using it but 'from the inside' they are the exact same: both digital. The HDMI simply is smaller and a bit more convenient to use and it's being supported more and more on various devices, more so than DVI.

 

BTW I also read that contrary to old analog cables there is no real difference between cheap and very expensive HDMI cables. No need for gold plating or whatever: you should only buy more expensive HDMI cables if you need for instance angled connectors or if the cable needs to be longer than 12-18 feet. For regular use a cheap HDMI cable will do just fine.

That goes for all cables carrying a digital signal over a few metres (e.g. HDMI, DVI, S/PDIF Coaxial), a cheap cable will generally be just fine (providing the connectors are study enough). Digital either works or it doesn't, so long as it's still possible to discern what's a 0 and what's a 1 the receiving electronics will decode it the same.

 

It's a complete rip-off when shops try selling a $65 HDMI cable with a new LCD TV saying it will improve the picture quality, it makes no difference! Gold-plated optical cables are in the same rip-off scam...

 

There's a rather funny post at https://www.avforums.com/threads/digital-coaxial-cable-can-i-just-use-a-standard-phono.761090/#post-7090559 where a wire coat hanger and crocodile clips were used connect some very expensive digital hi-fi equipment and the decoder still reported zero errors!

Digital either works or it doesn't...

True.

 

Digital transmission over cables is actually a complex analog signal at high frequencies. So long as the digital signal can produce a coherent corrected stream of values at the receiving end it's going to appear to work. But doesn't mean to say it's not struggling with drop out, interference, or crosstalk pushing its limits. Gold contacts prevent tarnishing.

Gold contacts prevent tarnishing.

I'm fine with gold-plated contacts generally, I understand the benefits of them and I use them. My point was gold contacts are pointless on optical audio cables, since there's no electricity going through them so tarnishing doesn't matter; my S/PDIF TOS-Link optical audio cable has plastic ends, there's probably no metal in it!

 

It looks like http://s3.showmecables.com/images/catalog/product/Python-Component-Cable-With-Toslink-25-145-1.jpg yet you see many toslink cables with fully gold plated connectors! I suppose metal plugs could make them a little sturdier and thus align better when under strain, but then again that sort of load shouldn't be present.

...gold contacts are pointless on optical audio cables...

Do they do that? I never gave it any thought. I wouldn't say that tarnishing requires contacts carrying current. I suppose it's possible in some environments the TOS-Link plug won't pull out easily after a certain period in harsh conditions.

 

For those interested, generally TOS-Link is used after the DRM decode; so for example, we use an HDMI cable from BluRay player to Monitor, and then TOS-Link from Monitor to DAC to receive sound from DRM protected sources.

If you're using HDMI you may want to read up on this to make sure you get the best image quality:

https://pcmonitors.info/articles/correcting-hdmi-colour-on-nvidia-and-amd-gpus/

 

Personally I'm still using DVI, mostly because that's the only type of display cable I have lying around.

If you're using HDMI you may want to read up on this to make sure you get the best image quality:

https://pcmonitors.info/articles/correcting-hdmi-colour-on-nvidia-and-amd-gpus/

 

Personally I'm still using DVI, mostly because that's the only type of display cable I have lying around.

 

Great link! Improved my secondary computer's display thru HDMI in a big way. Thanks!

If only I'd seen that link four years ago! I've recently switched from HDMI back to VGA (as I'm using a proper monitor now instead of a television), but at least I know for the future now.

If you're using HDMI you may want to read up on this to make sure you get the best image quality:

https://pcmonitors.info/articles/correcting-hdmi-colour-on-nvidia-and-amd-gpus/

 

Personally I'm still using DVI, mostly because that's the only type of display cable I have lying around.

 

Interesting...! Glad I am using DVI then.  :wink:

With DVI-I there are extra pins around the spade pin on one end that carry RGB analog, so a DVI-I to VGA converter can be used in that socket for older screens. DVI-D only carries digital data (picture and sound), and DVI-A only carries RGB.

 

Just adding to what I said earlier about the TOS-Link; With the example of the DVD/BluRay player connected to the TV, at the back of most recent TVs there's a TOS-Link output. This output's DRM decoded sound (Digitial Rights Management). Some DVDs and BluRays on regular players don't allow sound directly out on the digital coax from the player due to not DRM decoded, only on HDMI. Instead the sound on the HDMI is sent out the TV TOS-Link, maybe to an external amplifier or DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) or HiFi. On the PC you may find the motherboard sound or GPU does not have a TOS-Link output and an add-in sound card might be required if an external DAC/Amplifier is to be used for watching BlueRay when the digital sound output is desired. Seems a small point but might come up on someone's equipment gathering agenda.