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Definition: display standards


The hardware interfaces for computer monitors. The same display standard must be in the graphics card (display adapter) and the monitor, both of which very often support two or three technologies. For example, to accommodate early PCs, a VGA port is sometimes found in a monitor along with the more up-to-date HDMI and DisplayPort interfaces. Following are the standards since the advent of the IBM PC in 1981, and except for VGA, all of them send digital signals to the monitor. See screen resolution.

 Year            ---- Maximum -----
 Intro  Type     Resolution  Colors

 2008 DisplayPort 7680x4320   16M    D

 2002    HDMI     4096x2160   16M    D

 1999    DVI      2560x1600   16M    D

 1987    VGA      1920x1080   256+   A

 1984    EGA       640x200     16    D

 1981    CGA       640x200      2    D

   A = analog    D = digital




Graphics Card Outputs
These are the output ports on two graphics cards. The top card was available when DVI was becoming popular and VGA was still very prominent. The bottom card came out years later, and VGA was omitted.






Monitor Inputs
Monitors typically have several inputs to accommodate different generations of PCs.