Historically, in an analog TV or LCD, you had a minimum of two separate cable assemblies to output to a video device: an audio (Mono or Stereo with two cables) and a video cable (VGA RGB or S-Video).
With the development of high definition analog video came a demand for even more video cables, YCbCr (3x separate RCA connectors).
Eventually analog gave way to digital video signals, which led to the single DVI connector. So the cable count was reduced to two cable assemblies (DVI and Audio). But you still had two totally separate cables assemblies per device. Digital devices include: PC’s, camcorders, DVD player/recorders, tablet computers, and mobile phones.
Then came the invention of the HDMI connector, which joined the digital audio and video signals all into a single 19 pin connector. This greatly reduced the cable count which simplified the assembly process for consumer devices, along with a rackmount systems. The cable bundle or better known as the “hornets’ nest” was no more.
Today more and more manufacturers of these digital devices are standardizing on either the standard HDMI, Mini or Micro formats.
CP Technologies’ rackmount LCD products provide HDMI inputs as well as aRGB and DVI-D.