Monitor has DVI-D, laptop has HDMI. Does it blend?

I just bought a 22" ASUS monitor for $210 AR. It has DVI-D and VGA inputs.

I am looking into buying an Asus M50Vm-B1. It has VGA and HDMI outputs.

I really don't want to use VGA, as it is an analog video format invented in 1987 (that's six years before the img tag was introduced to HTML). The question: since HDMI and DVI-D are both digital, can I just get a cheap cable that will connect HDMI --> DVI-D and give me a digitally rendered picture without any loss in quality?

Another question: HDMI has audio channels... If I use such a cable to connect a monitor, can I still use the headphone-out to put my audio through external speakers? Or will the HDMI override the audio out? That would be a problem...

Thanks for the help. And any opinions on the ASUS notebook as a multimedia computer (+ for light gaming)?

 

You should be fine. You can get a simple plug that adapts HDMI to DVI-D. As for audio, I'd be suprised if you couldn't do what you ask, but as it would be a laptop to laptop specific, I won't say for sure. But yeah, I'd bet it would be fine.

 

They make several HDMI to DVI cables......

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8426223&type=product&id=1181832625335

That is what I use to connect my DVI video card to my HDMI tv. No issues at all, but you will need to use a seperate cable to run the audio as well. You shouldn't have any problems running your audio outputs to external speakers.

 

And when you're ready to order, if you want an inexpensive cable, try Monoprice.com. They have very reasonable pricing for good quality cables.

 

just whatever you do, dont blend the dvi cables, they will get destroyed

Back on topic, VGA is perfectly clear under all circumstances, and actually in almost all cases analog is clearer than digital. I have played movies through vga and through dvi, and I really cant notice any difference. VGA is still vert viable.
I have some old systems with parllel and serial graphics, and those things can still be used, they are a bit slow and yeah their black and white but they can still be used.

K-TRON

 

That may be true for DVI-A, but if your monitor/TV takes DVI-D or HDMI natively and has an LCD display (or even if it doesn't sometimes), chances are the digital signal will look better. It is simply a matter of the fact that if you go over VGA, your PC is converting the signal to analog once, then the TV is converting analog to digital before processing and displaying the image again. Fewer translations means lower quality display at the end.

 

I second that. I got my optical cables & switch to connect my macbook and xbox 360 to my z 5500 from them. I would never buy cables from BB. I looked quickly and didn't see a cable that was HDMI to DVI but you can just get a hdmi cable, hdmi/dvi adapter, and a dvi cable and set it up that way. Probably under $10 compared to $60 for a cable from BB.

 

My personal experience with HDMI/DVI adapters is that the HDMI side tends to fall out too easily. HDMI is a great interface with respect to its transmission capabilities, but its physical cconnectivity bites.

Cheers,

 

I should point out at this point, that video HDMI and DVI-D are compatible, with a simple passive adapter to move the pins around from connector to connector.

Best,