Welcome to another post in the series by Nick Locke, of Nicab Ltd,
who has
over 15 years experience in the electronics manufacturing industry
specialising in interconnection cable assembly.
Further to my previous Blogs on connectors, I now bring you my simple guide to DVI Connectors.
Do you find DVI Connector types confusing and over complicated? Well you're not alone.
Most people find the connectors confusing for examples DVI-I and DVI-D then you can have Single Link or Dual Link. It is no wonder that people have trouble knowing what cables to by to connect to their monitors.
My handy guide will instantly enable you to know what cable type to use and what you need to know when deciding what connectors to specify.
Further to my previous Blogs on connectors, I now bring you my simple guide to DVI Connectors.
Do you find DVI Connector types confusing and over complicated? Well you're not alone.
Most people find the connectors confusing for examples DVI-I and DVI-D then you can have Single Link or Dual Link. It is no wonder that people have trouble knowing what cables to by to connect to their monitors.
My handy guide will instantly enable you to know what cable type to use and what you need to know when deciding what connectors to specify.
The DVI [Digital Visual Interface] is a standard for high-speed, high-resolution digital displays. Because the connector is primarily designed for Digital Images you may not be able to get it to work with your old PC that only has a SVGA output.
Here are the common DVI types:
What are single and dual links?
The Digital formats are available in DVI-D Single-Link and Dual-Link as well as DVI-I Single-Link and Dual-Link format connectors. These DVI cables send information using a digital information format called TMDS (transition minimized differential signaling).
Single link cables use one TMDS 165Mhz transmitter, while dual links use two. The dual link DVI pins effectively double the power of transmission and provide an increase of speed and signal quality; i.e. a DVI single link 60-Hz LCD can display a resolution of 1920 x 1200, while a DVI dual link can display a resolution of 2560 x 1600.
So what connectors do I need?
In short the simple way of looking at it is if you have a DVI port on your PC you need DVI-D if you have a SVGA connector on your PC and DVI connector then you need DVI-I if your monitor supports DVI-I. If you are using screen over 19" you will need Dual Link for the extra bandwidth. To tell what type of DVI connector you have here is a picture to help you identify:
At his point some of you may still be confused, and that's ok it takes time to learn all of this and unless like us you work with it every day it's not until you need to use DVI you ever think about it. That's why we are always happy to talk through the options to avoid getting the wrong cable.
Previous Only Connect entries:
* Only Connect: A Thunderbolt of innovation
* Only Connect: The golden principle of good design
* Only Connect: Common fiber connectors - a guide
* Only Connect: Product innovation - mixing signal
* Only Connect: IPC versus Greenpeace electronics scorecard
* Only Connect: Product innovation from Space
* Only Connect: Apple's MagSafe connector makes sense
* Only Connect: Coaxial connections guide
* Only Connect: Eco-gift for Christmas (Going Green #4)
* Only Connect: How to promote UK Manufacturing #3
* Only Connect: On using Ethernet connectors
* Only Connect: High-temp superconductors good news for renewable energy
* Only Connect: A positive mindset for winning government contracts
* Only Connect: A Top Ten of connector manufacturers
* Only Connect: Red toxic sludge points the way (Going Green #3)
* Only Connect: Handy Design Tips #4 - Explosion proof Ethernet
* Only Connect: We're changing the world into a better place, baby!
* Only Connect: Handy Design Tips #3 - The right wrong connector
* Only Connect: Proud of the Made In UK mark
* Only Connect: Handy Design Tips #1 - Colour
* Only Connect: Better promoting the value of UK manufacturing
Here are the common DVI types:
- DVI-D Digital only (single & dual link)
- DVI-A Analogue only
- DVI-I Digital and Analogue [RGB] (single & dual link)
What are single and dual links?
The Digital formats are available in DVI-D Single-Link and Dual-Link as well as DVI-I Single-Link and Dual-Link format connectors. These DVI cables send information using a digital information format called TMDS (transition minimized differential signaling).
Single link cables use one TMDS 165Mhz transmitter, while dual links use two. The dual link DVI pins effectively double the power of transmission and provide an increase of speed and signal quality; i.e. a DVI single link 60-Hz LCD can display a resolution of 1920 x 1200, while a DVI dual link can display a resolution of 2560 x 1600.
So what connectors do I need?
In short the simple way of looking at it is if you have a DVI port on your PC you need DVI-D if you have a SVGA connector on your PC and DVI connector then you need DVI-I if your monitor supports DVI-I. If you are using screen over 19" you will need Dual Link for the extra bandwidth. To tell what type of DVI connector you have here is a picture to help you identify:
At his point some of you may still be confused, and that's ok it takes time to learn all of this and unless like us you work with it every day it's not until you need to use DVI you ever think about it. That's why we are always happy to talk through the options to avoid getting the wrong cable.
Previous Only Connect entries:
* Only Connect: A Thunderbolt of innovation
* Only Connect: The golden principle of good design
* Only Connect: Common fiber connectors - a guide
* Only Connect: Product innovation - mixing signal
* Only Connect: IPC versus Greenpeace electronics scorecard
* Only Connect: Product innovation from Space
* Only Connect: Apple's MagSafe connector makes sense
* Only Connect: Coaxial connections guide
* Only Connect: Eco-gift for Christmas (Going Green #4)
* Only Connect: How to promote UK Manufacturing #3
* Only Connect: On using Ethernet connectors
* Only Connect: High-temp superconductors good news for renewable energy
* Only Connect: A positive mindset for winning government contracts
* Only Connect: A Top Ten of connector manufacturers
* Only Connect: Red toxic sludge points the way (Going Green #3)
* Only Connect: Handy Design Tips #4 - Explosion proof Ethernet
* Only Connect: We're changing the world into a better place, baby!
* Only Connect: Handy Design Tips #3 - The right wrong connector
* Only Connect: Proud of the Made In UK mark
* Only Connect: Handy Design Tips #1 - Colour
* Only Connect: Better promoting the value of UK manufacturing
