HDMI is a newer digital audio/video interface developed and promoted by the consumer electronics industry. DVI and HDMI have the same electrical specifications for their TMDS and VESA/DDC twisted pairs. However HDMI and DVI differ in several key ways. a b Manchester, Gary (1999). The VESA Digital Flat Panel (DFP) Standard: A White Paper (PDF) (Report). VESA Marketing Committee. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 12, 2016.

High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), a forward-compatible standard that also includes digital audio transmission In some cases, DVI can carry over audio when connected to a physical HDMI adapter. For more information about that, take a look at this article. If you have the option to use HDMI or another port liked Display Port, use those instead, DVI and VGA should only be used as a last resort because the quality isn’t the best. DisplayPort (a license-free standard proposed by VESA to succeed DVI that has optional DRM mechanisms) / Mini DisplayPort

Uses for DVI

VESA Plug and Display (P&D) Standard, Version 1" (PDF). Video Electronics Standards Association. June 11, 1997. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2003. DVI-I (integrated, combines digital and analog in the same connector; digital may be single or dual link) Kruegle, Herman (2006). "8". CCTV Surveillance: Analog and Digital Video Practices And Technology. Butterworth-Heinemann. p.268. ISBN 0-7506-7768-6.

Some DVD players, HDTV sets, and video projectors have DVI connectors that transmit an encrypted signal for copy protection using the High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) protocol. Computers can be connected to HDTV sets over DVI, but the graphics card must support HDCP to play content protected by digital rights management (DRM).

What is DVI?

Thunderbolt: an interface that has the same form factor as Mini DisplayPort (in version 1 and 2) or USB-C (in version 3 and 4) but combines PCI Express (PCIe) and DisplayPort (DP) into one serial signal, permitting the connection of PCIe devices in addition to video displays. It provides DC power as well. To promote interoperability between DVI-D and HDMI devices, HDMI source components and displays support DVI-D signalling. For example, an HDMI display can be driven by a DVI-D source because HDMI and DVI-D both define an overlapping minimum set of supported resolutions and frame buffer formats. IEEE 1394 was proposed by High-Definition Audio-Video Network Alliance ( HANA Alliance) for all cabling needs, including video, over coax or 1394 cable as a combined data stream. However, this interface does not have enough throughput to handle uncompressed HD video, so it is unsuitable for applications such as video games and interactive program guides. You can also convert VGA to DVI because DVI supports analog signals too. Do remember that only DVI-I supports both analog and digital, DVI-D only works with digital, so you’ll need an active adapter to convert that to another type of connector.

MicroCross DVI Connector System: Digital Visual Interface Standard" (PDF). Molex. December 2000 . Retrieved 31 January 2023. VGA (Video Graphics Array) is a hardware specification for display monitors and computers that allows a computer to display applications on a VGA-based monitor via a VGA cable. VGA technology is one of the oldest forms of display hardware in computing and is outfitted in virtually every computer system in the world. VGA uses analog signals but is compatible with most digital devices. While DVI technology has superseded VGA technology, both specifications are often included in personal computers, with VGA technology being much more common in laptop computers than desktop computers.

Digital video pixel data is transported using multiple TMDS twisted pairs. At the electrical level, these pairs are highly resistant to electrical noise and other forms of analog distortion.

Manchester, Gary (October 7, 1996). "Molex PnD intellectual property letter" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 22, 2003. DVI's digital video transmission format is based on panelLink, a serial format developed by Silicon Image that utilizes a high-speed serial link called transition minimized differential signaling (TMDS). DVI made its way into products starting in 1999. One of the first DVI monitors was Apple's original Cinema Display, which launched in 1999. An earlier attempt to promulgate an updated standard to the analog VGA connector was made by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) in 1994 and 1995, with the Enhanced Video Connector (EVC), which was intended to consolidate cables between the computer and monitor. [3] [4] EVC used a 35-pin Molex MicroCross connector and carried analog video (input and output), analog stereo audio (input and output), and data (via USB and FireWire). At the same time, with the increasing availability of digital flat-panel displays, the priority shifted to digital video transmission, which would remove the extra analog/digital conversion steps required for VGA and EVC; [5] :5–6 the EVC connector was reused by VESA, [6] which released the P&D standard in 1997. [3] P&D offered single-link TMDS digital video with, as an option, analog video output and data (USB and FireWire), using a 35-pin MicroCross connector similar to EVC; the analog audio and video input lines from EVC were repurposed to carry digital video for P&D. [5] :4 [7] :§1.3.3 To make it easier to understand, most graphics cards have at least one dual-link DVI port, single-link DVI-I is kind of dated.Some DVI-D sources use non-standard extensions to output HDMI signals including audio (e.g. ATI 3000-series and NVIDIA GTX 200-series). [17] Some multimedia displays use a DVI to HDMI adapter to input the HDMI signal with audio. Exact capabilities vary by video card specifications. a b "Digital Visual Interface Revision 1.0" (PDF). Digital Display Working Group. 2 April 1999 . Retrieved 31 January 2023. DVI-D single link has the same bandwidth as DVI-I single link, so the maximum resolution is the same at 1920×1200 at 60 Hz. a b "VESA Standards". Video Electronics Standards Association. Archived from the original on January 17, 1999.