An earlier attempt to promulgate an updated standard to the analog VGA connector was made by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) in 1994 and 1995, with the Enhanced Video Connector (EVC), which was intended to consolidate cables between the computer and monitor. [3] [4] EVC used a 35-pin Molex MicroCross connector and carried analog video (input and output), analog stereo audio (input and output), and data (via USB and FireWire). At the same time, with the increasing availability of digital flat-panel displays, the priority shifted to digital video transmission, which would remove the extra analog/digital conversion steps required for VGA and EVC; [5] :5–6 the EVC connector was reused by VESA, [6] which released the P&D standard in 1997. [3] P&D offered single-link TMDS digital video with, as an option, analog video output and data (USB and FireWire), using a 35-pin MicroCross connector similar to EVC; the analog audio and video input lines from EVC were repurposed to carry digital video for P&D. [5] :4 [7] :§1.3.3

Unified Display Interface (UDI) was proposed by Intel to replace both DVI and HDMI, but was deprecated in favor of DisplayPort. If a depth greater than 24 bits per pixel is desired, the least significant bits are sent on the second link. To promote interoperability between DVI-D and HDMI devices, HDMI source components and displays support DVI-D signalling. For example, an HDMI display can be driven by a DVI-D source because HDMI and DVI-D both define an overlapping minimum set of supported resolutions and frame buffer formats.One of the purposes of DVI stream encoding is to provide a DC-balanced output that reduces decoding errors. This goal is achieved by using 10-bit symbols for 8-bit or less characters and using the extra bits for the DC balancing. MicroCross DVI Connector System: Digital Visual Interface Standard" (PDF). Molex. December 2000 . Retrieved 31 January 2023. Like other ways of transmitting video, there are two different regions: the active region, where pixel data is sent, and the control region, where synchronization signals are sent. The active region is encoded using transition-minimized differential signaling, where the control region is encoded with a fixed 8b/10b encoding. As the two schemes yield different 10-bit symbols, a receiver can fully differentiate between active and control regions.

The Best DVI Cable for 144hz | The Technology Land". thetechnologyland.com. 2019-08-21 . Retrieved 2022-07-14. a b Manchester, Gary (1999). The VESA Digital Flat Panel (DFP) Standard: A White Paper (PDF) (Report). VESA Marketing Committee. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 12, 2016. Manchester, Gary (October 7, 1996). "Molex PnD intellectual property letter" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 22, 2003. DVI is limited to the RGB color model while HDMI also supports YCbCr 4:4:4 and YCbCr 4:2:2 color spaces, which are generally not used for computer graphics. MicroCross DVI (Digital Visual Interface) Connector System" (PDF). Molex. November 1999 . Retrieved 31 January 2023.DVI is the only widespread video standard that includes analog and digital transmission in the same connector. [13] Competing standards are exclusively digital: these include a system using low-voltage differential signaling ( LVDS), known by its proprietary names FPD-Link (flat-panel display) and FLATLINK; and its successors, the LVDS Display Interface (LDI) and OpenLDI. Thunderbolt: an interface that has the same form factor as Mini DisplayPort (in version 1 and 2) or USB-C (in version 3 and 4) but combines PCI Express (PCIe) and DisplayPort (DP) into one serial signal, permitting the connection of PCIe devices in addition to video displays. It provides DC power as well.

Intel Newsrom – Leading PC Companies Move to All Digital Display Technology, Phasing out Analog (8. December 2010)DVI made its way into products starting in 1999. One of the first DVI monitors was Apple's original Cinema Display, which launched in 1999. Because P&D was a physically large, expensive connector, a consortium of companies developed the DFP standard (1999), which was focused solely on digital video transmission using a 20-pin micro ribbon connector and omitted the analog video and data capabilities of P&D. [4] :3 [5] :4 DVI instead chose to strip just the data functions from P&D, using a 29-pin MicroCross connector to carry digital and analog video. [8] Critically, DVI allows dual-link TMDS signals, [9] meaning it supports higher resolutions than the single-link P&D and DFP connectors, which led to its successful adoption as an industry standard. Compatibility of DVI with P&D and DFP is accomplished typically through passive adapters that provide appropriate physical interfaces, as all three standards use the same DDC/EDID handshaking protocols and TMDS digital video signals. [10] :§1.3.7 These days, HDMI is much more common than DVI. That’s especially true on laptops, where HDMI’s smaller connector is much more likely to make an appearance due to its space-saving design. You’re likely to find it on computers, TVs, monitors, games consoles and a variety of other hardware types.

Generalized Timing Formula (GTF) is a VESA standard which can easily be calculated with the Linux gtf utility. Coordinated Video Timings-Reduced Blanking (CVT-RB) is a VESA standard which offers reduced horizontal and vertical blanking for non-CRT based displays. [15] Digital data encoding [ edit ] HDMI plugs are far more compact than their DVI equivalents, allowing them to be used in smaller devices (Image credit: Rankie)High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), a forward-compatible standard that also includes digital audio transmission In addition to digital, some DVI connectors also have pins that pass an analog signal, which can be used to connect an analog monitor. The analog pins are the four that surround the flat blade on a DVI-I or DVI-A connector. A VGA monitor, for example, can be connected to a video source with DVI-I through the use of a passive adapter. Since the analog pins are directly compatible with VGA signaling, passive adapters are simple and cheap to produce, providing a cost-effective solution to support VGA on DVI. The long flat pin on a DVI-I connector is wider than the same pin on a DVI-D connector, so even if the four analog pins were manually removed, it still wouldn't be possible to connect a male DVI-I to a female DVI-D. It is possible, however, to join a male DVI-D connector with a female DVI-I connector. [12]