[kalv]

What is the purpose of HDMI ports on the monitor.... do they connect directly to the video card so everything, not only videos are on HD? or does the monitor's HDMI connect directly to a DVD/blu-ray player to view on the monitor.

[Couriant]

If it's an Input, which i suspect it is, then yes. You would need to look at the monitor manual to confirm.

[fairnooks]

Its just an alternative connection formfactor; if a video card has HDMI out you can use that connection or if you have a Blu-Ray player, same thing, allows you to use it with the monitor.

[kalv]

Yes my video card supports HDMI, and im planning to buy an LCD monitor that supports HDMI. So if I connect the two everything on my monitor will have better picture quality??? or is it just for HD videos only.

[fairnooks]

You will most likely get a monitor that supports either 1920x1080 (if its HDMI-based) or 1920x1200 (more traditional PC-based DVI resolution) native resolution. You probably want something in the 24-28 inch range for that resolution unless it is primarilly going to be used for video playback, then you can go smaller. If its also used as a computer screen often, you want a bigger screen or the text will be tiny tiny and you'll have to squint a lot or ramp up the size of everything to make it more visible.

The quality of HDMI is as good as DVI except HDMI is limited to 1920x1080 pixels. DVI is limited compared to HDMI in that it cannot carry an integrated audio channel.