Sorry if this has been posted before.

I'm getting a Pansonic plasma monitor and will have to add terminal boards as it only comes with component, composite and PC inputs.

Since this is a pure monitor and I will be using my own sound system what good would an HDMI input do me? I mean HDMI carries the video and audio signal, right?

And since I'll only be needing the video input, wouldn't a DVI source carry the video signal as well as the HDMI source?

Thanks

You don't need HDMI as DVI and HDMI video are identical. What is wrong with using component cables, btw? Most times there is no noticable difference in picture quality between hdmi/dvi or component.

Whilst DVI and HDMI are electrically very similar - there are implementation differences in some cases.

AIUI it is not uncommon to find DVI inputs that are 4:4:4 RGB only, whereas many HDMI implementations also accept YCrCb at 4:2:2 and 4:4:4. This isn't a blanket catch-all - but there can be differences between accepted video standard types.

If you are looking at DVI - make sure that you also have HDCP support - as not all DVI inputs are HDCP compatible - whereas I've not heard of any non-HDCP HDMI implementations.

In some implementations HDMI/DVI support 1080p inputs whereas on the same display analogue component inputs may only support up to 1080i resolutions. (This can be an issue for gamers)

You don't need HDMI as DVI and HDMI video are identical. What is wrong with using component cables, btw? Most times there is no noticable difference in picture quality between hdmi/dvi or component.

I am using component in my BR LCD TV and you are correct, there is very little difference between that and the HDMI or DVI.

I like the fact that the DVI and HDMI is only one cable vs 3 for component.

Both work great :)

we feed our Panasonic monitor at work with the DVI module and a Samsung SIR-t451 HDTV tuner. We also use component for DVD and VGA for computer hook ups. The only thing HDMI will help with is the smaller cable plug size if you are feeding the source cables thru the wall. Other than that, there is not much difference. We did run the typical L/R (red-white) audio cables along with the DVI cable