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VGA and DVI Ports To Be Phased Out Over Next 5 Years
angry tapir writes "Legacy VGA and DVI display ports are likely to be phased out in PCs over the next five years, according to a study by NPD In-Stat. Intel and Advanced Micro Devices are ending chipset support for VGA by 2015. The VGA interface was originally introduced in 1986 and DVI was introduced in 1999."
it gives me crystal-clear digital connection to my monitor, and unlike HDMI, it works every time without fail.
The one that was introduced 13 years later is being phased out at the same time as the one that was introduced thirty-six years ago? How odd.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
I suspect the driving force toward HDMI-only is anti piracy efforts in the form of mandatory HDCP on any new display hardware.
We've still got serial ports. There are still motherboards with a parallel port, for goodness sake. VGA ain't going away anytime soon.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
While I like DVI and have a monitor that uses it, going HDMI only is not a big deal. HDMI is just DVI plus a little extra, for audio, and the cost of that "little extra" is already negligible.
This means that a DVI-DVI, HDMI-HDMI, and DVI-HDMI cable are the same price. I spent $5 on one a few years back.
No difference! Unbunch your panties
I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
Lets hope that whatever follows has the same longevity as VGA. In a world where we've invented USB 3 times (USB, mini USB and micro USB) with non-compatible connectors in just 11 years, the future does not look as good.
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
One concern I have with HDMI are the connectors in PC's and how they are fairly easy to disconnect and damage. Also one of my HDMI cables became damaged because of a sharp angle. Sure there are adapters and alternative cables like these http://www.smarthome.com/81271/HDMI-Cable-with-Secure-Connection-Screw-in-Fastener-15-Feet/p.aspx , but they are not the standard. I've never really had a problem with screwing in VGA or DVI connectors except for the random stripped screw.
Namaste
I travel to give the occasional presentation and I think I've only seen one or two projectors in the past 5 years that had something other than a VGA input. This is probably why many business laptops still have VGA outputs at the expense of providing others like DisplayPort, DVI, or HDMI.
The other problem is that monitors and projectors long outlive their PC contemporaries. I've got a 20" Dell LCD that I purchased in 2003 that's still going strong today. It has VGA and DVI inputs, since only in the past few years have HDMI and DisplayPort become standard on monitors.
I'm rather partial to DisplayPort and Thunderbolt since the connectors are smaller and don't have pins that are easily bent, but these outputs aren't too common in laptops, unless you have a Mac.
It may be that many of you in the home market won't miss VGA, but in most corporate offices, VGA is the only common connection supported by the projectors in most conference rooms. While an adapter is an option, I suspect that laptops marketed to businesses will have VGA adapters for longer than the next five years as the refresh cycle for projectors is generally much longer than the refresh cycle for laptops.
Now I can pull video cable up the back of a workstation without it catching on every god damned cable, wire, footstool and purse in the remote vicinity.
And people complain that the Raspberry Pi (which is not even out the door yet) doesn't support VGA... sheesh.
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
HDMI sucks.
Why? not because of HDMI.... Because of the worthless HDCP that is designed to make life miserable.
HDCP keys, handshakes, etc all make hdmi distribution expensive. The low grade dog food stuff does not do Key caching and management.
And god help you if you want to do a hdmi matrix. the ONLY company that has one that works is Crestron. Their DM switchers are the ONLY choice for a 16X16 or larger Hdmi switching that works.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
DVI is HDMI without sound and video cards are not the best for sound and PC displays do not have more then 2 speakers any ways.
Does any PC display with HDMI have some kind of DD pass though or 5.1 or more analog out?
Video cards are as good for digital sound as anything. All they do is take the digital signal from your applications and send them digitally over HDMI. Barring driver bugs, it's just the same as any digital output on anything.
I think for DD pass-through a device has to support DD. I have my 360 connected to my TV and my TV connected to my surround sound and DD5.1 works fine. My TV doesn't support DTS though, so I have to connect my PS3 directly to my surround sound in order for that to work.
Nick
The sync of an HDMI cable isn't fast -- it's slow. So if you swap to a HDCP protected stream and then off of it, the monitor will flicker or sometimes, not come back at all. Then you need to reboot.
Just basically, it sucks. Read about HDMI handshake issues and you'll see what I mean.
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
Since DVI-D is just HDMI minus the audio, you can get cheap passive HDMI-to-DVI adapters. They work fine for connecting DVI monitors to HDMI video sources, or vice versa. No quality loss.
It's not that HDMI or DVI sucks... it's the HDCP that sucks.
Remove HDCP and digital video becomes a dream.
In fact that is the best thing to do, buy and install HDCP strippers at every source point and all switching and routing issues disappear.
But I cant do that, It's illegal in the usa. Soon you get to spend life in gitmo for even telling someone that such a device exists.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
DisplayPort can be converted to HDMI or single-link DVI with a cheap, passive adapter.
You can also convert it to VGA or dual-link DVI using active adapters (they show up to the computer as DisplayPort devices).