Video Adapters

In this video from ITFreeTraining, I will look at the different kinds of video adapters that are available. A video adapter will allow a connector to be changed from one type of connector to another or, to think of it another way, allow you to put a round peg into a square hole.

Download PowerPoint: https://itfreetraining.com/handouts/ap/2a87.pdf

VGA
To start with, I will look at the VGA connector. VGA uses an analog signal, so unless the signal is changed with a convertor you will need a device that supports analog. The DVI connector has analog pins to support VGA. For this reason, the signal does not need to be converted.

If you consider these two adapters, one converts DVI to VGA and the other VGA to DVI. Essentially, to do this, the correct pins on one side need to be connected to the correct pins on the other side.

In some cases, the DVI plug will not have the analog pins. If this is the case, an active adapter is required in order to convert the digital signal to an analog signal.

In a previous video, I covered the differences between a passive and an active adapter. An active adapter has more electronics in the adapter to convert and recreate a signal. Since, in this case, we are only remapping pins on connectors, we don’t need an active adapter. However, if you start having signal loss, you may want to consider an active adapter.

VGA to HDMI/DisplayPort
VGA is old technology and you won’t come across it too often. You may come across a case where you have an old VGA device that you need to connect to HDMI or DisplayPort. HDMI and DisplayPort do not support analog. For this reason, you won’t be able to connect passive adapters together like this. This won’t work unless the signal is converted from analog to digital.

It only takes one adapter or device to convert the signal. The problem is the video card under certain circumstances will only be able to output a digital signal where an analog signal is required at the other end. Passive adapters can’t convert digital signals to analog and thus an adapter is required that has the ability to convert the signal.

When you use multiple adapters together, it is unlikely that the video card or any another device will be able to output a signal that will work after being modified multiple times before it gets to the destination. Even if the signal is digital, converting from HDMI and DisplayPort requires signaling and a voltage change. Unless your adapter is designed to specifically to perform a complete signal conversion, the signal will get stopped before it gets to the destination. Passive adapters won’t be able to do this and not all active adapters will be able to do this.

Keep this in mind when buying cables. If the cable is a passive cable with different connectors on each end, unless there is a device in the chain that converts the signal, it may not work. Cable connections like DVI to VGA should work since the analog signal is carried on separate wires. However, HDMI to VGA don’t expect that to work as a signal conversion is required.

Only one device needs to convert the signal to digital to analog. So as long as the signal is converted somewhere, you can use those special cables that wouldn’t normally work. However, if you combine multiple cables and adapters of different types together don’t expect it to work. I have in many cases used a HDMI to DisplayPort cable and it won’t work with certain devices, so don’t expect old standards like VGA to work either.

To make it simple, if you plan to use VGA it should work if you just use the one basic adapter. If however you combine multiple adapters together it most likely won’t work. The newer connection use digital and thus more likely to cause problems and VGA is analog.

DVI to HDMI
Description too long for YouTube. Please see the following link for the rest of the description. https://itfreetraining.com/ap/2a87
References
“The Official CompTIA A+ Core Study Guide (Exam 220-1001)” Chapter 2 Position 3830 - 4142
“CompTIA A+ Certification exam guide. Tenth edition” Page 757
“VGA connector” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VGA_connector
“Digital Visual Interface” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface
“HDMI” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI
“DisplayPort” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort

Credits
Trainer: Austin Mason http://ITFreeTraining.com
Voice Talent: HP Lewis http://hplewis.com
Quality Assurance: Brett Batson http://www.pbb-proofreading.uk

Видео Video Adapters канала ITFreeTraining