Dell Ultrasharp Wide 2009W VGA Vs. DVI
- VGA stands for Visual Graphics Array, and the technology debuted in 1987 to improve graphic displays on computer screens. It provided five separate signals to the monitor: individual color levels for red, green and blue and separate signals for vertical and horizontal synchronization. The original resolution was 640 by 480 pixels, but changes have incrementally increased resolution up to 3,840 by 2,400 pixels. Your Dell Ultrasharp 2009W has a maximum resolution of 1,680 by 1,050, so a video card in your computer with this resolution will operate it at maximum potential with VGA. Connect VGA via the 15-pin trapezoidal input port.
- Digital Visual Interface debuted in 1999 to provide a digital interface from computers to flat panel monitors. The format keeps color and synchronization signals separate, as does VGA, but sends the information in digital pulses rather than varying waveforms. DVI resolution also exceeds the the maximum resolution of your Dell Ultrasharp 2009W, leaving resolution not an issue for the input comparison between VGA and DVI. Connect DVI to the 24-pin DVI-D input port on your 2009W.
- Analog video signals travel in varying waveforms that have an infinite number of level changes that can be distorted as they go through electronic processes or travel in a cable. Circuits can reduce the distortion but can't eliminate it entirely. Digital video signals travel in finite codes made up of 1s and 0s. As long as a monitor's circuits can read the codes out of any distortion, it recreates new codes, thus eliminating all distortion. This results in clearer and sharper pictures.
- Although digital signals present clearer and sharper pictures to the screen, the encoding process in a video camera eliminates tiny bits of color information present in original images. Some viewers consider digital video photography unnatural and prefer the softer analog look. On the other hand, the clean lines from computer generated video get softened by the analog transmission process, and many users prefer to keep them in the digital format. Since your Dell Ultrasharp 2009W provides both options, you can use a computer video card with both and switch between the two for various applications.
