Quality difference between VGA and HDMI

pickarooney

I got a new monitor the other and plugged in the HDMI cable to hook it up to my graphics card. It looks fine, but for some reason there is no overlay using this cable - video files all display as blank, black screen (except Flash, Flash looks OK).

So I switched to a VGA cable in the meantime until I can find a solution and I have to say I can see no difference at all. Fair enough, I never got to see what HD video looks like in HDMI to compare but it really does look perfect with the VGA conenctor.

Can people generally see much of a difference, if any, between cable types?
I could get a DVI cable and adaptor and test that but I'm beginning to wonder if it's not all a cod.

Viper_JB

Essentially - resolutionwise there is no difference just a different form factor and HDMI can transport sound as well as video over a much smaller cable very handy as it's easier to run and not as bulky as a VGA or even DVI which can also transport sound, soon there will be a new version of HDMI released which in theory should be able to support much higher resolutions and stuff like 3D TV but as always with these things, seeing is believing.

On the blank video files I'd try messing around with the gfx card settings I'm pretty sure having the HDMI set as your primary display output requires a bit of tweaking to get everything just right.

Overheal

Viper_JB wrote: »

Essentially - resolutionwise there is no difference just a different form factor and HDMI can transport sound as well as video over a much smaller cable very handy as it's easier to run and not as bulky as a VGA or even DVI which can also transport sound, soon there will be a new version of HDMI released which in theory should be able to support much higher resolutions and stuff like 3D TV but as always with these things, seeing is believing.

On the blank video files I'd try messing around with the gfx card settings I'm pretty sure having the HDMI set as your primary display output requires a bit of tweaking to get everything just right.

Thats a little misleading.

The VGA signal is analog. DVI and HDMI are Digital. You need a decent quality cable and signal to get the same picture out of VGA as you do HDMI. Even a $2 HDMI Cable will carry an excellent picture. On a poor cable, a VGA connected monitor may fuzz and flicker.

Resolution Wise its hard to find many differences. Then you have 5.1 Sound. Newer versions have 7.1 Sound and 3d Capability.

Bob_Harris

Overheal wrote: »

Thats a little misleading.

The VGA signal is analog. DVI and HDMI are Digital. You need a decent quality cable and signal to get the same picture out of VGA as you do HDMI. Even a $2 HDMI Cable will carry an excellent picture. On a poor cable, a VGA connected monitor may fuzz and flicker.

That's a little misleading.

On a €3 VGA cable I had no quality problems at all.

Komplett-Tech: Ryan

Technicially a VGA cable will support a resolution of 2048 x 1536 @85hz. DVI is 2560 x 1600 @60hz and HDMI is 2560 x 1600 @75hz or 4096 × 2160 @24hz.

Personally, i can see no difference in a HD video using any of the cables @ 1080p.

Viper_JB

Overheal wrote: »

Thats a little misleading.

The VGA signal is analog. DVI and HDMI are Digital. You need a decent quality cable and signal to get the same picture out of VGA as you do HDMI. Even a $2 HDMI Cable will carry an excellent picture. On a poor cable, a VGA connected monitor may fuzz and flicker.

Resolution Wise its hard to find many differences. Then you have 5.1 Sound. Newer versions have 7.1 Sound and 3d Capability.

Point conceded, however side by side two of the same monitors outputting at the same resolution both using progressive scan but using different cables, pixel for pixel there's no difference.

Overheal

Correct. Theres no point in upgrading to HDMI for the Sake of HDMI, unless your goal is to Hook up an HDMI Set that has no VGA or DVI, etc.

Your Overlay problems OP sound like a driver issue with the card more than anything else.

marco_polo

HDMI is a large improvement over the analog TV standards, but VGA has also always offered much superior quality to S-Video, Coaxial, composite etc.

The quality difference between the two is minimal really