ya, it can be, then whats the point in opting for an hdmi monitor?
hdmi has only advantage of audio + video and video quality is same as DVI. If you are not going to connect ny speakers to monitor, normal DVI should be as good as hdmi. And most monitors wont allow to connect a 5.1 or 7.1, just a headphone jack.[which isnt the case with HDTV with hdmi which has multichannel optical, toslink/co-axial out for uncompromised audio to a good quality home theater speakers.]
So, i think hdmi on monitors are jst waste of money, as DVI is there which gives same video quality.