Question What determines analogue or digital: the panel or the controller board?

[thbsp]

Can an old LCD panel take an HDMI signal as an input if the controller board is set up to handle it? Or is there some sort of digital/analogue conversion problem that would make that impossible?
I have an old LCD panel from a torn down laptop that I'm trying to repurpose as a second monitor. My computer doesn't have D-SUB outputs so I'm looking at buying a controller board that has an HDMI port. If possible, I'd rather have a controller board with HDMI than have to buy all the cables and adapters needed to convert an HDMI output into a D-SUB input.

 

[kerberos_20]

lcd panels are all digital only
control board decides on monitor inputs

 

[thbsp]

Okay, that's what I thought.
If I can ask a follow-up question:
I had a controller board with three different inputs (D-SUB, DVI, HDMI), but I could only get a signal on the panel through the D-SUB input. That means it wasn't an issue of inherent compatibility, but just that the board was faulty or had the wrong firmware or something like that?