MadCityGuy
Member
I'm hoping someone can point me to a very basic primer that will answer some of these questions. I'm confused about some really basic concepts.
Way, way back in the days of the early PC we had CGA video cards which were then replaced by EGA video cards. These were a digital format, and there was a lot of hoopla when IBM announced VGA, which was an analog format. Soon IBM had XGA on their 8514s, and vendors came out with various versions of SVGA in different formats. (Different resolutions, different number of bits for each pixel yielding different numbers of colors, etc.) It SORT of made sense to me back then. Using analog technology TVs use three electron beams to activate phosphorus dots to give us images; why not use the same technology for computer CRTs?
However, recently it sounds like we're looking at digital formats again because it's less work and more accurate to send digital signals than analog ones (DVI, for example). At the same time we're moving into digital television (DTV).
Anyway, this whole situation has me terrifically confused. For example, I have an ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon with a DVI interface --- and a dongle that converts the signal to VGA. Huh? Isn't DVI digital and VGA analog? I have a Dell LCD monitor with two cables, one that has a DVI connector on the end and the other that has a VGA connector. What is going on? Is the LCD monitor actually digital or analog?
Also, on another computer, I have a GEForce 2 MX400 with a VGA interface and a SVHS interface. When I run my SVHS cable to my TV my resolution is nothing to write home about. But when I connect that sme SVHS cable to my Hauppage WinTV-D card in the same PC I get a crystal clear DTV picture.
Can someone make sense of all of this stuff for me? I thought I used to understand the difference between analog and digital but now I things are fuzzier than ever. For example, when I plug my analog phone in the back of my ISDN router, is my dial tone carried over the ISDN circuit as a digital signal converted back to analog for my analog handset, or am I getting some analog bandwidth carved out between my router and the CO? I'm sorry these are such basic questions but help!!!
Way, way back in the days of the early PC we had CGA video cards which were then replaced by EGA video cards. These were a digital format, and there was a lot of hoopla when IBM announced VGA, which was an analog format. Soon IBM had XGA on their 8514s, and vendors came out with various versions of SVGA in different formats. (Different resolutions, different number of bits for each pixel yielding different numbers of colors, etc.) It SORT of made sense to me back then. Using analog technology TVs use three electron beams to activate phosphorus dots to give us images; why not use the same technology for computer CRTs?
However, recently it sounds like we're looking at digital formats again because it's less work and more accurate to send digital signals than analog ones (DVI, for example). At the same time we're moving into digital television (DTV).
Anyway, this whole situation has me terrifically confused. For example, I have an ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon with a DVI interface --- and a dongle that converts the signal to VGA. Huh? Isn't DVI digital and VGA analog? I have a Dell LCD monitor with two cables, one that has a DVI connector on the end and the other that has a VGA connector. What is going on? Is the LCD monitor actually digital or analog?
Also, on another computer, I have a GEForce 2 MX400 with a VGA interface and a SVHS interface. When I run my SVHS cable to my TV my resolution is nothing to write home about. But when I connect that sme SVHS cable to my Hauppage WinTV-D card in the same PC I get a crystal clear DTV picture.
Can someone make sense of all of this stuff for me? I thought I used to understand the difference between analog and digital but now I things are fuzzier than ever. For example, when I plug my analog phone in the back of my ISDN router, is my dial tone carried over the ISDN circuit as a digital signal converted back to analog for my analog handset, or am I getting some analog bandwidth carved out between my router and the CO? I'm sorry these are such basic questions but help!!!
