Digital Video Cable Choices: DVI or HDMI?

You’ve narrowed down you choices to a couple great options. One uses HDMI, the other uses DVI. Or maybe your existing gear offers you the option. Should you use DVI or HDMI cable, and, what is the difference?

It’s All Digital, Baby

The first thing to keep in mind when comparing DVI and HDMI is that they are both digital. This is good because you preserve the digital signal from your source device to your TV, instead of incurring conversion errors at both ends, and digital signal is less susceptible to interference than analog. It also helps because we can compare apples to apples.

DVI

The top computer video interface, largely because of its backward compatibility. A DVI-A or -I cable can carry a converted analog signal from a graphics card to an older monitor, which made it a painless upgrade for most users. Of course the bandwidth for higher resolutions and digital clarity were also appreciated.

Bandwidth here refers to how many zeros and ones a connection can move in one second. That is how digital signals are sent, so we can just count the bits and bytes. We explain DVI bandwidth in detail here, as well as the several kinds of DVI cable. But, for this article’s purposes, just keep in mind that the latest DVI cable, a DVI Dual Link cable, carries almost as much bandwidth as HDMI can, and more than enough for normal 1080p HDTV or 1920x1200 computer monitors (at 60Hz refresh rate)

HDMI

If DVI can carry plenty of bandwidth, why a new set of cables? Well, where HDMI outshines DVI is more on the usability and features side. Most noticeably HDMI cables and ports are much smaller, which makes them easier to use, easier to build into a device, and they weigh less for use in portable devices. They also can carry CEC (Consumer Electronics Control signals, which can cut down on remotes or how much programming of them you have to do.

Remember that we are referring to HDMI 1.3 Category 2. If that sounds confusing, don’t worry it isn’t too bad. Like DVI, there are different types of HDMI, explained here. Previous versions or Category 1 cables can limit bandwidth, which is also explained in that link. The later versions are also able to support optional features (like True Color) manufacturers may include.