For those out there running an LCD monitor, can anyone comment on the difference in picture output quality between DVI and analog output? I'm running on analog right now and it seems perfectly fine to me, but I was checking up on some websites and they say the difference is night and day. Is it that noticeable?

 

At high resolutions I think it is, if you have the choice of DVI or analog there's no question which you should choose.

 

you'll notice it more if you do alot of gaming... As xizor said, if you got it..use it

 

Well digital is better than analog of course.

But like others have said, it really depends on what you do, and what you're looking at. If you look at a lot of images, do video/image editing, and/or do a lot of gaming you will probably notice the difference. If you're just surfing the web all day, I'm not sure you will be able to tell as much.

It really just depends on the way you are. I know people who can't really tell the difference between picture qualities, while there are others who can instantly recognize high resolution pictures and notice any imperfections. Would those people be called "Videophiles" ? lol...What's the equivalent of an audiophile?

 

You can run DVI both as analog and digital -- it's up to your video card which one it is able to run. Digital DVI only runs at 60Hz, but is much better than analog. There's no flicker and the graphics are much sharper. If you have the option for a digital input DVI, get yourself a good video card that offers it and use it.

BTW, you have to set the video in Windows for digital, too.

 

Thanks for the responses guys.

I'm running a 16ms response time 17" NEC on analog with an ATI Radeon 8xxx right now, and haven't noticed any flicker or ghosting at all. I was thinking about getting another one as they're on sale right now, but wondering if I should get something with DVI instead. I've played games and viewed photos on this monitor, and really have no complaints. I wonder if the quality of the monitor and video card also contribute to a difference between DVI and analog?

 

Yea, higher res its better. Since the DVI is digital, no signal degridation like with analog.

 

If you have both analog and DVI outputs on your GFX card and have a LCD monitor that accepts both, try swapping them. You notice that analog can get a little fuzzy at places and you'll need to adjust your monitor. DVI however doesn't need that adjustment and has never caused a resolution problem for me.

 

If you have a digital display you should use a digital input. The analog input is double converting the signal. The native signal is digital so if you use the analog input on the monitor then your signal path is like this:

Digital source --> analog for transmission --> digital display

There's no reason for that middle section. You lose some signal quality with every conversion you make.

 

DVI is purely digital, so it's more immune to losses in the cabling, while losses in the analog cable (signal) can be viewed on the monitor. For example, pictures will be dimmer that they should if there are losses in the analog RGB cable. If the losses are not distributed evenly on all RGB channels, you might even get colors that are slightly incorrect, or worse, interference. This is probably more important for graphic artists and the such. You should judged for yourself: go into a store and view from the same monitor the DVI input, then switch to an analog input, and see if you can tell the difference. For me, it's almost like night and day...DVI inputs on my LCD monitor is super bright and vibrant compared to the analog input

 

I have dual 17" LCD panels on my work computer, with a dual-head nVidia card. One monitor uses DVI, the other analog VGA. I can't see any difference at all and I'm really really picky about visual-detail stuff. I know DVI is supposed to be better, but on my setup, I just don't see it.

 

If you want really good pic go the old school CRT way.