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Are you getting the most out of your DVI port?

October 16th, 2007 Leave a comment Go to comments

Did you know there are five types of DVI connectors? I didn't. DVI-D dual link, DVI-D single link, DVI-I dual link, DVI-I single link, and DVI-A. Of course, I learned this the hard way, and I bet most people still haven't. I don't have much previous experience with DVI, but now that I have a Macbook Pro and an HDTV, I wanted to connect it at 1080p once I realized I could (using an HDMI port on the TV, not the VGA connection.)

I thought it would be as simple as going and picking up an HDMI to DVI cable. Not even close. After I picked one up at a local shop and brought it home, I realized it was "missing" pins. It would function still, but not at its full potential. I wondered about this and hit up Wikipedia, and sure enough, there are multiple types of DVI connections.

After shopping at five different stores (including the Apple Store and the Mac Store) I realized that nobody actually sells DVI-D or DVI-I dual link cables (or even adapters) which is what is required for 1080p. I had to go down to Fry's in Wilsonville and finally was able to pick one up. 15 feet for $24.99, actually much cheaper than most of the single link options at all the other stores (and those were shorter cables, too.)

Sure enough, DVI-D dual link saves the day. I can now use the Macbook at full 1080p on my 47" Vizio GV47LF, although I have to say the text is pretty small. Using Front Row and watching movie trailers through it using all 47" is pretty neat though.

Categories: Consumerism, Toys
  1. Josh Bancroft
    October 22nd, 2007 at 20:03 | #1
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    Now get Perian (free) on the Mac, which will let Quicktime (and by extension, Front Row) play DivX/Xvid encoded video. You know, all that nice HD content available on BitTorrent. Drop the files or an alias pointer in the "Movies" folder in your home directory (that's where Front Row looks for video content), and enjoy something more than just movie trailers. 😉

  2. r.
    March 9th, 2009 at 16:02 | #2
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    1080p does not require Dual-Link, and the current HDMI standard does not support dual-link at all. You may have just had a bum cable initially (this happened to me, and replacing with a second cable of the same type fixed things), but all those extra pins for the second link on the dvi end of your cable are not connected to anything (I have a similar cable). Hope that helps!

  3. mike
    March 9th, 2009 at 16:15 | #3
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    Odd, from what it seemed like it was required. Well, if I am wrong I apologize to everyone. At the time it seemed like the only fix. 😛

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