What Are the Different Monitor Connection Types?

Monitor connection types are the ports and cables that carry video from a computer or other source to a display. Five cover almost every computer monitor: HDMI, DisplayPort and USB-C for current equipment, DVI for older digital equipment and VGA for analogue. Industrial, broadcast and security monitors often add SDI on BNC connectors and composite video.

The connections differ in whether they are analogue or digital, how much resolution they carry, whether they include audio, how far they reach and whether the plug locks. The right one depends on what both ends support and where the monitor is going. Most monitors have two or three inputs, so in practice the question is which of the shared ones to use and which cable to buy.

The table gives typical figures for each connection in its common current version, using standard passive cables.

Runs depend on cable quality and resolution. Active, fibre and extender systems go much further for every type.

For a new computer and monitor, the choice is usually between three digital connections.

DVI and VGA have largely left consumer equipment, but they remain common in industry because machines, controllers and computers stay in service for many years. DVI is digital and converts to HDMI with a passive adapter, while DVI-I also carries analogue video. VGA is analogue: it still works well at the XGA and SXGA resolutions of many industrial panels, but loses sharpness at full HD and over long cables. Most of our industrial monitors keep a VGA input alongside HDMI or DisplayPort for this reason, so they can replace a screen on a legacy machine without changing its controller.

Composite video, carried on a single BNC or RCA connector, survives on older analogue cameras and some vehicle and marine equipment. It is limited to standard definition.

Where video has to travel further than an HDMI or DisplayPort cable allows, or the connection must not work loose, industrial and broadcast monitors use SDI. It carries uncompressed digital video and embedded audio over 75 ohm coax, locked with a BNC bayonet connector, for around 100 m at 3G-SDI. Our SDI monitors show camera and switcher feeds at the operator’s position.

Not every screen has an external cable. Inside panel PCs, laptops and open frame display kits, the LCD panel connects to the computer board through an internal interface, usually eDP (embedded DisplayPort) on current designs or LVDS on older and longer-lived ones. These are never user-facing ports, but they matter when a board and panel are chosen together for an OEM product, because the board must offer the same interface, voltage and timing as the panel.

Start with the ports both ends share, then let the installation decide. A monitor on an office desk and the same monitor on a forklift or a ship’s bridge may need different connections, cables and fixings.

We specify the monitor inputs, cables and any extenders or KVM consoles to match your computers and installation, then configure and test the display as standard before it ships.