Understanding Video Technologies

How do you know you have the right type of monitor for your computer? Not any cable will fit in any computer. The monitor has to match the connection type your computer has.

The most common is VGA. These are the blue-ended 15 pin cable connections. Most every computer has one of these and most every monitor has one of these. It's the lowest-quality and cheapest type available. You can get a flat screen LCD monitor in VGA for 100$ now! CRT's are even cheaper.

If you want to step up your viewing pleasure, you can opt for a DVI (digital video interface). There are three types:

• DVI-A A cable and device analog only connector
• DVI-D A cabble and device digital only connector
• DVI-I A cable connector that is a universal (digital OR analog)  connector

DVI cables vary in pin number but they have more than 15. :) The benefit from using DVI instead of VGA is increased resolution. Your video card must support DVI and your monitor must also support DVI. I was thinking about buying a monitor that is on sale, but I noticed it didn't support a DVI connection so I passed.

HDMI (High definition multimedia interface) is a step up from DVI because it also carries audio and is all digital! Image wise it is the same as DVI. The HDMI connector looks much different than a DVI or VGA connector. It is compatible with DVI so you can buy adapters that convert between the two types. 

• Type A has 19 pins
• Type B has 29 pins
• Type C has 19 pins for portable devices

Component Video is an analog technology, but a digital version is available in high-end hardware. It uses RCA connectors on your sound card. The three connectors are single-pin male connectors.

S-video is a 7 pin connection. The port will often be labeled with a little picture of a TV.

So how do you know which to buy? It depends on what you want to do with the monitor. If you just want to use the monitor just for your computer work and don't care about super mega great video, then a VGA is fine. Most people buy this for their home office computers. It makes sense because it's cheap.  If you are going to be hooking the monitor up with other devices such as a blue-ray player and watching movies, you have to decide if sound is important. If you need both sound and video to be super awesome, HDMI is the way to go. If you need picture to be awesome because you already have a great sound system hooked up to your computer, then DVI.  Before you buy components that will be part of a system, let your vendor know exactly what you have and what you want to do.

Or you can just buy a VGA for work! ;)