connecting full HD monitor with VGA cables? Any quality loss issues?

Question

connecting full HD monitor with VGA cables? Any quality loss issues?

Hey all,

I bought a full 1080p HD monitor. I was very surprised to only find one connection on the back - a VGA. I was fully expecting to find a DVI connection since it is a full HD unit.

Anyways, I've ordered an apple mini-VGA adaptor. I was just wondering, surely my screen won't be showing Full HD quality if its connected with VGA?

I'm pretty sure I will loose some quality, but I was just wondering if someone can tell me to what extent. For example, if I play a DVD on my macbook and watch it on the new 1080p monitor, will i notice any higher picture quality compared to my macbook's screen?

I also bought a VGA-HDMI cable for using it with my 360, will I be still missing out on the main HD benefits?

And what about if I some day get a Blu-Ray player and connect it via VGA, I presume, yet again, I wont be using the screens capabilities to its fullest. I find the lack of any other connection on it to be very bizarre !

Many thanks,
Steve.

Message was edited by: skeletal_wreck

Message was edited by: skeletal_wreck

Macbook 2ghz Core 2 Duo 2gb RAM 120gb Hard Drive, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Oct 31, 2009 10:17 AM

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Answer 1

JasonFear

Level 5

4,965 points

Oct 31, 2009 2:14 PM in response to skeletal_wreck

Hi skeletal_wreck,

I gotta be honest, I've never seen a "full HD" monitor or TV with only a VGA input. Matter of fact, I don't think I've ever run across one without HDMI. I'm sure they exist... but certainly not common. Anyway, VGA can definitely support 1080p (1920x1080). However, VGA cannot carry sound like HDMI. So with that being said you'll need a separate audio connection from your machine to the TV. Some HD TVs will only accept external audio via HDMI, but as your TV doesn't have HDMI I'd imagine this won't be an issue.

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Answer 2

Nov 1, 2009 4:43 AM in response to JasonFear

Yea, I've never came across it either, I am pretty sure I was more surprised than you are! I had looked up pictures of the same model of monitor that DID have HDMI sockets. So I had went ahead and bought those cables for it. Then when I received the monitor, it was just a VGA socket, with a metal plate next to it covering what should be the DVI port, STRANGE!

Anyways, I am very glad to hear VGA will support 1080p, although I am still not 100% convinced there will not be some quality loss.

As for the audio issue, I found a cable which is HDMI to VGA and RCA. I am hoping this will solve the problem with carrying audio. Thanks.

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