timmiddleton Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 hi just wondering if there is really any difference between these abbreviations. thankstim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peternewman Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 They refer to the resolution of the video signal.VGA = 640 x 480SVGA = 800 x 600XGA = 1024 x 768UXGA = 1600 X 1200PN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryson Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 Yes, they are differences of resolution. VGA is Video Graphics Array. Introduced in 1987, supports resolutions of up to 640x480 pixels. SVGE is Super Video Graphics Array. It suported a resolution of 800x600 pixels. XGA is eXtended Graphics Array. It suports resolutions of up to 1024x768 pixels. SXGA is Super eXtended Graphics Array. It supports resolutions of up to 1280x1024 pixels. UXGA is Ultra eXtended Graphics Array. It offeres a resolution of up to 1600x1200 pixels. The specifications also include the number of simultanous colours that can be displayed, and from a pallette of which size, but thats a bit more complex and I'll leave that to someone more pedantic than myself. What you need to know is that the resolution and therefore many elements of picture quality will be better on a UXGA projector than an SXGA projector, which in turn will be better than a XGA projector, which will be better than a SVGA projector which will be better than a VGA projector. Can you tell us in which context you want to know? Perhaps we could help more. EDIT: That'll teach me to write an essay! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henny Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 not forgeting sxga =1280x1024 and all the daft 16:9 ones , wsvga, and so on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomLyall Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 Just to add to what peternewman said, there is also... SXGA - 1280 x 1024 [Edit] Always beaten... :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peternewman Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 Possibly something for a video FAQ? PN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhuson Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Also don't forget the days before VGA of the like of CGA. Can't remember the resoloution but remeber my first laptop had a CGA screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mostlyharmless Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Also don't forget the days before VGA of the like of CGA. Can't remember the resoloution but remeber my first laptop had a CGA screen.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Are there more pins on each type of lead as you go up, or are they all the same lead? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danburns Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Also don't forget the days before VGA of the like of CGA. Can't remember the resoloution but remeber my first laptop had a CGA screen.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Are there more pins on each type of lead as you go up, or are they all the same lead?<{POST_SNAPBACK}> They're all the same lead. And, for example, I can run my SXGA monitor at VGA, SVGA and XGA resolutions. It's usuallythe same with projectors. However the refresh rate may make certain monitors unhappy at higher resolutions. hth Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPete Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 Also don't forget the days before VGA of the like of CGA. Can't remember the resoloution but remeber my first laptop had a CGA screen.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Are there more pins on each type of lead as you go up, or are they all the same lead?<{POST_SNAPBACK}> They're all the same lead. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I think we can pretty much forget about CGA, EGA, etc. for resolutions and suchlike! Anything before VGA is pretty much redundant IMO! Also, anything before VGA (CGA, EGA & earlier) only had a 9-pin D-Sub plug - like a serial plug - whereas anything VGA > newer is predominantly a 15-pin D-Sub plug.From what I am aware though, most new systems/projectors have a DVI plug, enabling digital 2-way communication between devices. Anything about that though, I haven't the foggiest about! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 I think we can pretty much forget about CGA, EGA, etc. for resolutions and suchlike! Anything before VGA is pretty much redundant IMO!<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Unless you have an Arri Mirage LX desk! (CGA, the outer columns of channels fall off a VGA screen!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcT Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 Also don't forget the days before VGA of the like of CGA. Can't remember the resoloution but remeber my first laptop had a CGA screen.<{POST_SNAPBACK}> From memory CGA was 320x200 with 4 on-screen colours chosen from a fixed palette of 16. CGA & EGA monitors connected via a DB9 connector, whereas VGA and above are a DB15-HD. (I'll get me anorak...!) Someone mentioned DVI - which provides a digital connection for TFTs and projectors using a new connector. Use it if you can as you'll get a crisper image, and no sync issues. The Blue Room looks very nice on my 17" IIyama TFT via DVI. Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinnRoss Posted April 30, 2005 Share Posted April 30, 2005 DVI is lovely but pretty much useless to anyone who wants to use it in a serious projector set up for live theatre/music since its signal can't make it further than 10m without disentergrating, so you then have to use seriously expensive converter (£5,000min). Also most projectors can't handle the resolutions it is truly capable of (around 2048 x 1280). Only the very best DLP projectors at the moent can deliver this (Barco XLM H25). What is avaliable to most of is and best to stick to as a general standard is XGA or UXGA. Having said that my job is projection and we work mostly in VGA. This has been a potintless dribble about nothing. I apologise! Also don't forget the days before VGA of the like of CGA. Can't remember the resoloution but remeber my first laptop had a CGA screen.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Are there more pins on each type of lead as you go up, or are they all the same lead?<{POST_SNAPBACK}> They're all the same lead. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I think we can pretty much forget about CGA, EGA, etc. for resolutions and suchlike! Anything before VGA is pretty much redundant IMO! Also, anything before VGA (CGA, EGA & earlier) only had a 9-pin D-Sub plug - like a serial plug - whereas anything VGA > newer is predominantly a 15-pin D-Sub plug.From what I am aware though, most new systems/projectors have a DVI plug, enabling digital 2-way communication between devices. Anything about that though, I haven't the foggiest about! :P<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryson Posted April 30, 2005 Share Posted April 30, 2005 (£5,000min) Just for a moment, I thought you meant £5,000 a minute, and then the penny dropped... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben... Posted April 30, 2005 Share Posted April 30, 2005 One other thing to watch out for is that the VGA/SVGA/XGA etc. terms are mostly used in the projector / AV part of the world. In IT-land they tend to quote 'resolution', or just call everything SVGA*. This can lead to some confusion when an IT person is given the job of booking the projector... Even when talking to AV people, it can be worth quoting pixel dimensions for everything above 1024x768, to avoid misunderstandings. Ooh, and also the DVI connector includes analogue video as well, so don't assume that a DVI interconnect means that you're using digital :unsure: * - footnote. This is because, historically, VGA (max standard res 640x480, 16 colours) was created by IBM. IBM's next standard was XGA at 1024x768, 256 colours. Most of the rest of the PC industry ignored this, and extended VGA as SVGA, initially at 800x600. The independent PC manufacturers were going to create SXGA at 1024x768, but before they got round to that the video card manufacturers started making SVGA cards that did 1024x768 and upwards. Since about 1999 most new cards can achieve resolutions up to >1600x1200, and they tend to just get called video cards. Anyway, the projector people merrily ignore most of this history, and appropriate the labels into a nice simple scheme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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