SVGA Cables: History and Benefits

Author: Jennifer Truong

SVGA standard has been popular since 1987 and it is found on several devices including PCs, medical equipment, industrial devices etc. Through this article, you will get to know more about how these cables came into existence and the kind of benefits are provided by it.

History of SVGA Cables

In the year 1987, IBM created VGA – which stands for Video Graphics Array. Although, it was considered to be standardized, it allowed only upto 250 colours at 320 X 200 resolutions. In the year 1990, IBM came up with Extended Graphics Array – XGA. Thereafter, it came up with XGA 2 which offered 16 million colours at a resolution of 800 X 600 pixels and 1024 X 768 resolution in 65.536 colours.

The Video Electronics Standards Association wasn’t happy with the resolution and colours of XGA cables and hence they created Super Video Graphics Array (SVGA) which was addressed as VESA BIOS Extension during its initial days. Irrespective of the resolution, these cables helped produce 16 million colours. Take a look at some of its benefits given below:

Compatible with all video devices

Even though several new versions of cables came after SVGA, its demand and utility never got affected. This is because it is compatible with all types of video equipment. If you want to connect your computer with a projector, you can use an SVGA port. Projectors that are less expensive mostly use SVGA ports. These connectors have 3 rows of 5 pins giving it the name "HD15" and are blue in colour. You might have to buy male to male cables 90% of the time as most of the devices have a female port.

Cost-effectiveness

SVGA monitor cables are quite cost-effective because several LCD screens and monitors use SVGA ports. HDTV also uses SVGA ports. All you need to do is go to one of the electronics store online and check out a latest LCD screen or a monitor. You will observe a port at the back for HDMI and SVGA. The same applies for a TV.

Superior Quality

SVGA is one of the best choices in cables as they are of high-quality. They are compatible with high resolution video cards and you will never face ghosting problems like you face with other mediocre cables. Also, some SVGA contains dual ferrites which filter out unnecessary interference. An SVGA cable having a 3.5mm mini stereo plug on each end can be plugged into the audio jack of a computer so that you can transmit audio along with the video.

SVGA can be used to connect the computer to your monitor, projector or an LCD screen. Thus, it has manifold uses. If you conduct some research online, you will find companies that offer double shielded SVGA cables which meet UL2919 specifications. Some people end up buying duplicate cables and regret at a later stage. So make sure you buy SVGA cables only from an ISO certified firms.