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I was reading this before work this morning, it woke me up in a hurry, even before I could get to my cup of coffee:


The D-Sub port that provides analogue VGA connectivity on PCs might have been around for a very long time, but it looks like its days are numbered at last: AMD, Dell, Intel, Lenovo, LG Display, and Samsung have issued a joint statement pledging to ditch the port in favour of newer, digital outputs.

The companies, which represent both PC and display manufacturers, have declared that they hold the intention of phasing out support for VGA output in favour of HDMI and the increasingly popular DisplayPort interfaces.

Further, Intel and AMD - both manufacturers of graphics chips for both mainstream and embedded applications - have put a deadline on their plans: by 2015, VGA and LVDS will no longer be supported in any of their products.

Eric Mentzer, Intel's vice president of strategy, claimed in a statement that 'modern digital display interfaces like DisplayPort and HDMI enhance the consumer visual PC experience by immersing them with higher resolutions and deeper colours - all at lower power - to enhance battery life for laptops.'

In a rare show of solidarity, AMD's Eric Demers agreed, stating that 'legacy interfaces such as VGA, DVI and LVDS have not kept pace, and newer standards such as DisplayPort and HDMI clearly provide the best connectivity options moving forward.'

As Demers' comments show, AMD believes that even the digital DVI connection isn't good enough for modern requirements, confirming that AMD's graphics division sees that 'DisplayPort 1.2 is the future interface for PC monitors, along with HDMI 1.4a for TV connectivity.'

While most consumers won't be put out by the lack of LVDS - Low Voltage Differential Signalling - support, the loss of VGA is the end of an era.

LINK to story.

HDMI also incorporates digital rights management hardware so I smell a rat. I suspect they are just plugging the last hole pirates can use once all of the consumer electronics switch to HDMI. PCs are rapidly becoming the front end for your TV. If you tried to watch an "unauthorized" movie or video, it would not get through.
The open question is what is authorized and who does the authorizing?

This is the thing Greg,
I personally think the on-going upgrading of screen technology is nearing it's end.
I mean, exactly how much "better" do screen resolutions have to get?
Let's face it, from the day we're born, our eyesight is slowly degrading, wether we like it or not.
At my age, I can't say I can really see any great difference in picture quality between my DV-I monitor and the other one that uses HDMI.

I however do share your concerns about DRM, I feel it gives a certain few too much "say" over what we can and cannot watch/listen to and how much we are going to pay for the perceived privilege.