Is there any visible difference between DVI and VGA?

Question

I use an LCD monitor hooked up through VGA and haven't really noticed any difference when compared to a monitor using DVI. Is this just my own perception or is there really very little difference between the Analog and Digital connections.

Answer 1

There used to be. When LCDs first came out and I mean first came out back in the late 90s, all they offered were VGA connections, the problem with this was that the Digital to Analog converters in these monitors weren't so great and this lead to "pixel jitter" in which in appeared that pixels would well... jitter on the display. Some were better than others but most early LCD monitors had this problem.

DVI (Digital Video Interface) was made to provide a digital signal to the monitor thus eliminating the need for the Digital to Analog converter but the monitors, all monitors have them because most monitors with a DVI connection also offer a VGA connection in case you don't have a Digital connection.

However the Digital to Analog converters of today are much more sophisticated than the days of old, they are more like tiny processors than a DAC and the pixel jitter problem has been eliminated.

DVI still provides a superior signal, any graphic artist or video designer will use a DVI connection for a LCD as it seems to provide better color accuracy. But then again, LCDs can't compete with monitors as far as color accuracy CRTs are still superior so in most video or art labs you will find at least some CRT monitors.

The lesson is, if you have a DVI connection, take advantage of it.

Answer 2

There isn't that much of a difference between the two, picture quality is primarily affected by things like response time, colour depth, and resolution. You'd only really notice a big difference if there was something wrong with the VGA port on your graphics card (in which case other things are likely to be going wrong with the card anyway, and you'd probably need a new one).

A similar analogy is the use of the PCI-E interface with modern graphics cards, it doesn't have that much of an advantage over AGP, yet. But in the future, we may see a big difference between VGA and DVI, with the arrival of HD LCD Monitors.

Hope this helps :)

Answer 3

Ive noticed the same. When I first got it all I had was analog and the digi cable was still in the mail. Changing them out didn't do anything that I can see but there may be some graphic features I havent used.