HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI, VGA or Component Video… which is better?

The different types of video connectors available on the market are not a seven-headed beast. Although they all serve the same purpose, each one provides different image quality and resolutions, so we decided to demystify and explain which types of video connectors are most suitable for each use, but first, feel that here comes the story…

Video streaming, from Analog to Digital

The first type of video connector to appear was the Radio Frequency transmission, better known as RF and equipped the first televisions, VCRs and video game consoles, such as the Atari 2600 to the Super Nintendo (SNES), and its most remarkable thing is that to see the image generated by the device you had to tune your TV to channel 3 or 4.

After RF came the Composite Video, which uses an RCA plug and is very common in TVs, DVDs and is identified by the “video in” and “video out” connectors in yellow color and is accompanied by two more RCA connectors for audio, one white and one red as in the image below. It is one of the most popular types and is still widely used. To understand the importance of this connector, we can take as an example the Xbox 360 video game from Microsoft, still produced and marketed, which has this connector.

HDMI DisplayPort DVI VGA and Component Video, Understand hassle free.

Component Video

Another commonly used standard is the Component video, which uses a special RCA plug type. It achieves high image resolutions being one of the preferred connectors for those who work with video editing, for example, and is also widely used in cable TVs. Unlike composite video, which uses a single cable for video, component video uses three cables, one for luminance, a sort of black and white image, or image scope, and two for colors, which are Y, Pb, and pr respectively. Note in the image below a slingbox 350, device that we have already made review, the Composite Video connections on the left, and the Component Video connections highlighted.

VGA connector

The standard S-video is worth a brief mention as it was designed to be better than composite video, but was soon replaced by other connectors such as VGA (Video Graphics Array), which uses the D-Sub plug, the old blue monitor tube plug. If you need to connect your notebook to the TV to watch a movie and your notebook does not have the connector HDMI, VGA is a good option.

If you want, for example, to connect a notebook that has a VGA video output to a second monitor or a TV, it is possible, just connect one end of the cable to the VGA output of the TV and the other to the notebook. Then just select the option to duplicate or extend screen on your notebook. To do this in Windows just click on the buttons start + P and select Double, to reproduce the same image on both screens or Extend to have a second monitor.

DVI connector

So far all connectors work with analog video signal, so their image quality is not that superior. but the format DVI (Digital video interface) was the first to transmit digital video signal, having the advantage of allowing resolutions from 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) to 2048 x 1536 (QXGA), its disadvantage is the various types of DVI connectors. As it is a transition connector between analog and digital it can transmit both types of signal, but the connectors are different. In all, there are DVI-A that still uses an analog connection, DVI-D, which transmits the digital signal and is the best known, and DVI-I that can transmit both analog and digital signals.

DVI is still found on some PC video cards and monitors, but that's all. You won't find a DVI input on your TV, for example, as it has been replaced by HDMI.

HDMI connector

The HDMI (HDMI) is the hottest thing ever, found in most current electronic devices such as Smart TVs, Video Games, Blu-Ray Players and even cell phones like the Nokia N8, which was one of the first to bring a mini-HDMI port attached, and Tablets like the Lumia 2520.

O HDMI along with DisplayPort (which we will talk about shortly) are the best options for transmitting video because they are easy to access and transmit the video and audio signal without the need for separate cables for audio as is the case with previous connectors.

HDMI is already in its 2.0 version, and it already allows the transmission of 4K videos, in addition to supporting up to 32 channels of uncompressed audio, in addition to the Dolby TrueHD Audio standard, which promises to reproduce the audio with 100 percent fidelity. in 7.1 channels, 3D video, Ethernet network and the micro HDMI connector.

To use 3D video, Ethernet networking and 4K you need an HDMI 1.4 port or higher.

HDMI has Type A connectors, which is the largest and most common, and Type C, which is mini-HDMI, and Type D or micro-HDMI, which is very common in Tablets. It is worth remembering that there is also the MHL which is nothing more than a micro-USB and HDMI port at the same time, we have already talked about it here at SMT, Learn more.

DisplayPort connector

O DisplayPort It is a connector similar to HDMI, as it can also transmit video and audio digitally and simultaneously, the difference is that it has a greater acceptance and use in computers, unlike the HDMI that is used in most devices.

O DisplayPort is the video connector used on Apple computers such as MacBooks and iMacs and has been renamed by the company as Thunderbolt. Its disadvantage compared to HDMI is that HDMI is used in many electronic devices, thus having compatibility with more devices.

It is also possible to use an output DisplayPort MacBook and connect it to a TV with HDMI, using an adapter, which is sold separately.

And what will come soon?

In the future we will also be able to use a USB port to transmit video at high speed, were you curious? know more in this article which speaks of the union of efforts of several companies to standardize an output DisplayPort USB format compatible type-C. Also check the text of the website Hardware Club, used as a reference for this publication.