HDMI to DisplayPort, any drawbacks?

[Diosoth]

I replaced my monitor with a Dell that has VGA, DVI and DisplayPort. My PC outputs VGA or HDMI, so I'm using an HDMI to DVI cable(previous monitor is VGA and DVI only). My only gripe with this cable is that the DVI end is hard to attach/remove. I can get HDMI-DisplayPort cables or adapters, this would be so much easier to deal with than trying to screw that DVI cable in place, but I need to know if outputting HDMI into the DisplayPort is going to cause any issues with picture quality.

I see either dedicated cables or converter boxes on eBay, converter box would be cheaper and I can use whatever HDMI cable I have on hand.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Hdmi is okay but unless you use a gold tipped high speed hdmi what is the point ?
There are cheap dvi to vga adapters and this is the most reliable connection.
Hdmi well they can be temperamental and seems they fail more than conventional dvi/ vga cables.

 

[dsperber]

Are you sure about HDMI->DP? This is the one direction of conversion that I believe requires an "active adapter" (quite expensive, relatively speaking). In other words you buy a "box" like this one, and plug one standard HDMI cable into its HDMI input connector from your graphics card, and then you plug a second DP cable into the box's second connector and on to the monitor.

I don't believe there are simple passive HDMI->DP cables, whereas there are conversion cables for all other types of 2-ended adaptation. DP in particular can only be connected to with a passive cable from a DP source. In contrast there are inexpensive 2-ended passive adapter cables to go from DP to DP/HDMI/DVI, and from DVI to HDMI/DVI, and from HDMI to HDMI/DVI. But going to DP requires either a DP source or an expensive active adapter box solution.

Note that having an HDMI source and going through an adapter box to DP on the monitor, you will be limited to 1920x1200 resolution... at least on that Startech adapter box.

 

[AddRAM]

I don`t see any problems with HDMI to DP.

hdmi to displayport cable - Newegg.com

 

[dsperber]

I don`t see any problems with HDMI to DP.

hdmi to displayport cable - Newegg.com

Look at what you're pointing to. These are NOT HDMI-to-DP cables. They are DP-to-HDMI cables, and they CANNOT BE USED TO ACCOMPLISH HDMI-TO-DP.

As I said previously, you can go from DVI to DVI/HDMI by simple passive cable, and you go from HDMI to DVI/HDMI by simple passive cable, and you can go from DP to DP/DVI/HDMI by simple passive cable. But you CANNOT go to DP by passive cable from any source other than from DP. You CANNOT go from DVI to DP, and you CANNOT go from HDMI to DP... using a simple passive cable.

To the best of my knowledge, you MUST USE AN ACTIVE CONVERTER to go from HDMI to DP, using that specific expensive Startech adapter gizmo. And you're limited to 1920x1200 on the display.

 

[ThrashZone]

Personally, I would have just gotten a monitor with an HDMI input (along with DVI of course) knowing I was going to use an HDMI input. I would return the monitor.

Yep always look at the connections a monitor has before buying is a good thing to do
I was looking into sharing monitors but I don't have any small display port cables
Need to add that on my to-do's or to-get list

 

[AddRAM]

When I did the search I put in HDMI to DP cable and that`s what came up, but if you can`t just flip the cable around then that`s another story, I did research it and came up 50/50 with yes you can, or no you can not use a passive cable.

The OP will have to buy a real video card then

Personally, I would have just gotten a monitor with an HDMI input (along with DVI of course) knowing I was going to use an HDMI input.

Just go HDMI to DVI then and call it a day, after all you only connect the cable 1 time, it should take 1 minute.

hdmi to dvi cable - Newegg.com

dsperber has done his homework He is correct, you can not go from HDMI to DP without using an expensive converter.

 

[rvcjew]

If your in the USA then definitely hit up monoprice for your cable. Even the 15 foot is a great price but shipping international sucks if you need that. https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=102&cp_id=10231&cs_id=1023104&p_id=2505&seq=1&format=2

 

[dsperber]

If your in the USA then definitely hit up monoprice for your cable. Even the 15 foot is a great price but shipping international sucks if you need that. https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=102&cp_id=10231&cs_id=1023104&p_id=2505&seq=1&format=2

This is getting very frustrating. Nobody seems to be reading what's been said on this post, and people are providing links to products that are absolutely wrong for the subject being discussed.

This latest mistake is an HDMI-to-DVI cable. What does that have to do with the discussion about DisplayPort input to a monitor? This cable from Monoprice that you're pointing to is completely irrelevant. The OP said he only had a DisplayPort input on his monitor, and didn't have the DVI option (otherwise your HDMI to DVI cable WOULD be appropriate).

One last time, I will try to express the bottom line here: DisplayPort input to monitors can only be fed via simple passive cable from DisplayPort output from graphics cards. That's the law. DisplayPort input is different from other digital video connections which work fine using passive 2-ended adapter cables, in that DISPLAYPORT INPUT CANNOT BE CONNECTED TO PASSIVELY VIA SIMPLE CABLE FROM ANYTHING OTHER THAN A GENUINE DISPLAYPORT OUTPUT FROM A GRAPHICS CARD.

The one exception here is that if you use an ACTIVE ADAPTER, such as the StarTech gizmo I pointed to long ago, you now CAN go from HDMI output on your graphics card to the HDMI input of the ACTIVE ADAPTER. And then you can go from the DisplayPort output of the ACTIVE ADAPTER to the DisplayPort input of the monitor. That is the ONLY WAY YOU CAN GO FROM HDMI OUTPUT ON A GRAPHICS CARD TO DISPLAYPORT INPUT ON A MONITOR.

Again, DisplayPort-to-HDMI 2-ended adapter cables ARE NOT REVERSIBLE!!! These ARE NOT 2-WAY bi-directional, and you cannot just use them to go from HDMI to DisplayPort by connecting them to the appropriate two connectors on the two devices. THIS DOESN'T WORK!!! They only can be used to go from DisplayPort to HDMI, not from HDMI to DisplayPort.

Please... this subject has now been discussed to death, I hope. Upgrade your monitor, or upgrade your graphics card, if you don't have a proper pair of connectors. Specifically if you have a modern graphics card with at least DisplayPort output, well now you can use an inexpensive 2-ended passive cable to connect to anything you want on the monitor: DisplayPort, HDMI or DVI. Because DisplayPort as a source connector can be "adapted via 2-ended passive cable" to any of these three choices as a target connector... because that is the design of DisplayPort.

But DisplayPort was also designed to NEVER BE FED FROM ANYTHING BUT DISPLAYPORT!! And that's what the expensive active adapter does, i.e. makes it true that the source to the monitor via that cable from the adapter is actually DisplayPort even though the true input coming from the graphics card to the adapter was actually HDMI.

 

[AddRAM]

Re read his paragraph, it most certainly does say he has a dvi input.

1st sentence

And he`s already using hdmi to dvi so you are correct in saying this has been discussed enough.

Using the DP input will gain him nothing, 1080p is 1080p

His only gripe was about the DVI connector, which I don`t understand, it takes no longer then 20 seconds to hook up 1 time.

Just ordered my new monitor and will be using Display Port already have a sweet DP cable for it.

AOC G2460PG 24" G-SYNC 3D-Ready Ultimate Performance Gaming Monitor 1ms (GTG) 144hz DisplayPort Widescreen LED Backlight - Newegg.com

And I agree... he needs a real video card

 

[dsperber]

Oops... my mistake. You're right. It's been so long now that I thought the question was strictly about HDMI-to-DP. I had completely forgotten that the reason for the OP question was that the [one-time] DVI connection was difficult, given the size of the DVI connector on the monitor.

I actually am sympathetic to the topic, as my own Eizo monitors have a set of input connectors which are VERTICAL, along an inset edge in the back of the monitors which is also rather tight. In fact I can't really tighten the two fastening screws with fingers, I have to get a screwdriver and turn them using the slots in the screws. Yes, it's a bit inconvenient.

But if you do this one-time only, and you just lay the monitor down flat on its screen (I usually lay it on a towel so as to avoid accidental damage), well now it's now so bad to insert the DVI connector in what now is a horizontal direction, as well as using the screwdriver to tighten it in.

Nevertheless, my Eizo monitors don't have DP inputs. They only have DVI and HDMI (along with VGA which I wouldn't use). So I use a straight DVI-to-DVI from one output of my EVGA GTX 750ti SC card to go to DVI input of one monitor, and a DP-to-DVI cable from the DP output of the card to DVI input of the other monitor.

Anyway, thanks for correcting me, that OP actually DID have DVI available and was in fact currently using it. I'd just stay with it since there's no advantage to even trying to use DP on the monitor, unless it has speakers that you're trying to make use of, and which is supported by a DP connection but not a DVI connection (assuming the StarTech active adapter can pass audio through the adapter).

 

[rvcjew]

And he`s already using hdmi to dvi so you are correct in saying this has been discussed enough.

Ah, I read it as the OP was using VGA at the moment and wanted to get a better cable and since he already has hdmi out I figured best was the cable I linked. My bad.