a blog by Peter Leonard
Was researching HDTV the other day when I came across a page on the different varieties of DVI (Digital Video Interface) connections that exist. Most people have seen these in the context of high-end LCD or Plasma computer monitors, but they can also occur in HDTV sets and high-resolution sources such as DSS and Digital Cable boxes.
What shocked me was the sheer number of physical variations - normally, when an electrical interconnect is designed, you define one plug and let all sorts of different 'traffic' travel over it. Thus a USB cable could carry data for a scanner, or a digital audio device, or even a mouse. Or, as another example, SCART (a common European a/v cable) carries a variety of audio and video signals bidirectionally, depending if you're using a device which can send and recieve signals, like a VCR, or only send them, like a DVD player. In each case, it's the same physical pinout and the same cable plug.
No such poverty of morphological imagination constrained the dreams of the DVI task force! Behold their creation(s) in all their multiplicity!
Now, imagine you walk into Radio Shack and ask for a DVI cable -- what are the odds they'll have what you need, let alone know what you're talking about? I'm a big fan of HDTV (I'll probably take the plunge when I move into my new house) but this may be one 'standard' that is destined to fail -- deservedly.