DVI-D - Single? Dual? Connector Type?

Single or dual is essentially a function of the cable's capacity, not of the connector type. They're interchangeable, and you only need dual if you need to move a very high-resolution image. Nothing "puts out" single or dual, it simply puts out a resolution, and if the resolution is higher than [email protected], then you need to upgrade to a dual-link cable to see the full resolution. For most of us, that's obviously not necessary.


The bigger issue in your case might be the idea of paying Monster prices for a digital cable. I buy most of my cables (including all DVI cables) from Cable Wholesale , and they work flawlessly. Pacific Cable is also highly-regarded. If you only need a 2-meter run, even better deals can be had on Ebay. All these options for cables that work exactly like the Monster, at less than a quarter of the cost.

Thanks for the replies. I did end up buying a fairly cheap cable for my initial playing around tomorrow (half the price of a Monster from bestbuy, shipped overnight!) from DVIgear.


Having been using Svideo for so long, I'll be happy just to have THAT working form my HTPC, DVI will be a bonus if I get it working tomorrow.

What did I say that's incorrect?

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DanW is right. The source (video card) and sink (display) have to support dual-link in hardware and software and the connectors have to be dual-link. Cable alone is not enough.

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Agree.

I'm confused here... Are you saying there is such a thing as a video card or display that is capable of resolutions in excess of 2000 lines, but is NOT capable of communicating that image via a dual-link DVI cable? That makes no sense to me.

The IBM T221 display has a resolution of [email protected] and has no dual-link capability on the monitor itself.


As an analogy, you are sort of asking, "Don't all appliances that draw more than 2kW use 3-phase 480V?" No, not really. Everything in the chain has to be built to use 3-phase 480V.

I understand the "everything in the chain" bit, that's pretty elementary. But I've been speaking on the assumption that a manufacturer wouldn't build an extremely high resolution component with DVI, but then limit that DVI to work only within the boundaries of a single-link connection. Unless maybe dual-link wasn't part of the original DVI spec and we're talking about older components? Is that why that IBM monitor uses more cables, rather than higher-capacity cables, to move such a high-resolution image? I can't imagine any other reason.

The IBM T221 was designed before dual-link chips were available. Even with dual-link, you'll need 2 of them to drive it and no card has dual-dual-link even today. Instead, the T221 comes with 4 single-link DVI ports. The latest revision, the 9503DG5, comes with an external dual-link to 2x single-link converter box. nVidia tweaked its driver to support [email protected] over a combination of a dual-link and a single-link port on the Quadro FX 3000.


Silicon Image now makes some single-link transmitters and receivers that exceed the limit (and standard) of 165MHz pixel clock rate. They can go up to 220MHz.


Anyway, I think what DanW and I are trying to say is that you made a statement (and assumption) that's not 100% accurate and confusing to casual readers.

grot,


Hope this isn't too OT, but you might have the same problem's that I am having.

I also have a Toshiba 46H83 that I received about a month ago. Sweet TV. But I have not been able to get the DVI/HDCP input on the TV to display anything except the Windows XP bootup screens. (640x480) So I am assuming that it is working, of course, because it DOES display something, just not the actual GUI resolutions.


Coming from my Radeon 8500's DVI-I output, I am using a DVI-D single-link cable. PowerStrip is running the vid card at the required HD compatible resolutions from the included custom resolutions presets. From all the searching I have done I have not found anything to help.


Please let us know if you are able to get anything to work on yours when it arrives, and good luck!

Yes, wjchan, I get it... I'm not objecting, just trying to learn. All I know about this stuff is what I've read, and obviously, what I've read about DVI didn't quite tell the whole story.