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leetgamer
09-03-2007, 03:28 PM
Does DVI support HD?

cheers :)

evilclive
11-03-2007, 11:05 AM
Officially no.

In order to have HD content, you need something called HDCP (High-Definition Content Protection), which is only implemented on HDMI (the High-Definition Multimedia Interface, i.e. the new type of connector on HD TVs). This is just to stop you copying your Blu-Ray disks.

What's supposed to happen is, if the system detects a lack of copy protection, it will reduce the resolution until it is no better than standard PAL or NTSC.

What's going to happen, now that the HD-DVD copy protection has been cracked, is people are going to convert their (or someone else's) HD disks into DivX format and write them to dual-layer DVD+R disks.

So, keep hold of a computer if you're going down this route. A Mac Mini might be nice and inobtrusive.

leetgamer
12-03-2007, 11:56 AM
Thanks for the info, was for my brother, i'll let him have a look at your informative post!

Steve_M
13-03-2007, 04:26 PM
Not sure if what you say is strictly correct. If you take a look at the specs for the Samsung 225BW and the latest 226BW 22inch widescreen monitors, these are quoted as being HDCP compliant but only have VGA and DVI inputs.

evilclive
15-03-2007, 07:49 PM
Not sure if what you say is strictly correct. If you take a look at the specs for the Samsung 225BW and the latest 226BW 22inch widescreen monitors, these are quoted as being HDCP compliant but only have VGA and DVI inputs.

That's a very sore point.

HDCP is a method of encrypting signals that pass down a cable. It's perfectly possible to send an unencrypted signal down the same cable, but if a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD disk has the Image Constraint Token (ICT) flag set, then the player will use HDCP to check that every device has this encryption properly enabled and authenticated.

If it detects a break in this chain of encryption, the player will automatically drop the screen resolution to 960x540 pixels: a bit higher than a standard NTSC broadcast, but much less than a HD TV is capable of displaying.

The HDCP standard was finalised some time after DVI came out, so there are many DVI devices that do not support HDCP. In contrast, HDCP is part of the HDMI standard, so all HDMI devices should support it.

If you are careful to buy just the latest DVI equipment, and make sure that it specifically says DVI/HDCP, not just DVI, then you'll be OK for high-definition.

In practice, there will be a lot of angry people throwing away DVI equipment that they thought would be HD-compatible, but won't do the job, simply because it doesn't implement HDCP.

y2krog2000
15-03-2007, 08:20 PM
I think it all depends on the size of the screen I know someone with one of these in their car and its supposed to be super high definition but I think thats only because its tiny but it uses VGA ttp://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=48224&C=Maplin&U=SearchTop&T=LCD%20TV&doy=15m3

evilclive
16-03-2007, 07:25 PM
I think it all depends on the size of the screen I know someone with one of these in their car and its supposed to be super high definition but I think thats only because its tiny but it uses VGA

I'd rather sort my socks than watch a Blu-Ray disk on an eight inch screen!

leetgamer
18-03-2007, 04:11 AM
Thanks for all the info guys.