Question about DVI-D and DVI-I

Cptn. Foo Foo · 06-18-2004, 07:10 AM

Hey...wondering if anyone can contribute their $0.02 on this.

- I have a friend with a nice Sony widescreen TV and it has a DVI-D input connector at the back
- we have a GF4 video card with a DVI-I connector at the back
- we have located a DVI-D 10 foot cable at Futureshop
- we are wondering if we can hook up the TV to the card using the DVI-D cable

The reason we aren't sure if this is possible is because of these pictures of DVI connectors we found on the internet...

DVI-I socket (this is what is on the video card)

DVI-D socket (this is what is on the TV)

Another picture showing more differences (we understand the single/dual link part of DVI)

You will notice in the 2nd picture the DVI-D connector has openings for two vertical flat pins to the left of the common flat pin. But in the 3rd picture the DVI-D connector doesn't have these two vertical flat pins. And the DVI-I connector does not even have openings for these 2 vertical flat pins.

We cannot remember if the 10 foot cable we found has these two vertical flat pins or not. We will go back and check sometime tomorrow probably. But if the cable does have them we are wondering if we could just use some needle-nose pliers and break them off at one end of the cable (the end going into the video card). But of course we don't want to try that if it wouldnt matter. The cable is expensive naturally.

Anyone have any words of wisdom here? Thx in advance

Joe · 06-18-2004, 11:12 AM

DVI-I is Dual Mode - Analog and Digital. DVI-D is pure Digital, and can connect to any DVI-I connector since its just missing the analog pins. But DVI-I Connector cant connect to a purely DVI-D connector since it has 4 more pins.
I wouldnt worry about the flat pins... probably just ground pins.

Cptn. Foo Foo · 06-19-2004, 03:19 AM

Well we went back to future shop and looked at the cable. It did not have the vertical flat pins. All it had was the horizontal flat pin...which was fine.

So my friend bought the cable and we tried it out. It works fine

We got his Sony bigscreen running 1920x1080 (HDTV resolution) and played some games and watched some Sopranos

And thanks Joe for the $0.02

06-18-2004, 07:10 AM	#1
Cptn. Foo Foo Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Posts: 95	Question about DVI-D and DVI-I Hey...wondering if anyone can contribute their $0.02 on this. - I have a friend with a nice Sony widescreen TV and it has a DVI-D input connector at the back - we have a GF4 video card with a DVI-I connector at the back - we have located a DVI-D 10 foot cable at Futureshop - we are wondering if we can hook up the TV to the card using the DVI-D cable The reason we aren't sure if this is possible is because of these pictures of DVI connectors we found on the internet... DVI-I socket (this is what is on the video card) DVI-D socket (this is what is on the TV) Another picture showing more differences (we understand the single/dual link part of DVI) You will notice in the 2nd picture the DVI-D connector has openings for two vertical flat pins to the left of the common flat pin. But in the 3rd picture the DVI-D connector doesn't have these two vertical flat pins. And the DVI-I connector does not even have openings for these 2 vertical flat pins. We cannot remember if the 10 foot cable we found has these two vertical flat pins or not. We will go back and check sometime tomorrow probably. But if the cable does have them we are wondering if we could just use some needle-nose pliers and break them off at one end of the cable (the end going into the video card). But of course we don't want to try that if it wouldnt matter. The cable is expensive naturally. Anyone have any words of wisdom here? Thx in advance

06-18-2004, 11:12 AM	#2
Joe The Pro/Life Support System Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 4,041	DVI-I is Dual Mode - Analog and Digital. DVI-D is pure Digital, and can connect to any DVI-I connector since its just missing the analog pins. But DVI-I Connector cant connect to a purely DVI-D connector since it has 4 more pins. I wouldnt worry about the flat pins... probably just ground pins. __________________ Joe - I only take this hat off for one thing... ProCooling archive curator and dusty skeleton.

06-19-2004, 03:19 AM	#3
Cptn. Foo Foo Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Posts: 95	Well we went back to future shop and looked at the cable. It did not have the vertical flat pins. All it had was the horizontal flat pin...which was fine. So my friend bought the cable and we tried it out. It works fine We got his Sony bigscreen running 1920x1080 (HDTV resolution) and played some games and watched some Sopranos And thanks Joe for the $0.02

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