VGA Switch
Community Forums/General Help/VGA Switch
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| Does anyone have a device that lets them quickly switch between two vga inputs? (So basically, two vga out devices can share one screen). I could do with buying one but all I seem to find is this model, which looks iffy to me! http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/17470326/MHP-2-Way-Manual-VGA-Switch-15pin-Female-Connectors-Switchbox-2-Inputs-To-1-Output-Or-2-Outputs-with-1-Input/Product.html?_%24ja=tsid:11518|cat:17470326|prd:17470326 I don't need a full on KVM, so am wondering has anyone bought similar? Thanks -Chris |
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| I used something similar come years ago. It worked but had a delay about 5 seconds (guess it was trying to find out if resolution was different). |
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| i asked the same question some years ago and came to the conclusion that unless i want to spend a fortune on a really good one, i have to put up with some loss in VGA quality. I just bought a 17" TFT monitor off fleabay for £30 in the end. |
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| M@ITUO one is good, ive been using a two port one her, the thing is when me mac is fired up I get out of range till it actually gets in to OSX. |
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| I could do with buying one but all I seem to find is this model, which looks iffy to me! Those are ancient, but do work OK. In all seriousness though, there's a bazillion 'full' KVM's for more or less the same price that are digital. you don't have to use the mouse/keyboard connectors, after all... Only catch, is to make sure you get one with a manual switch button. Some of the cheaper ones require a keyboard combination to switch from one to the other which probably wouldn't work for you. Also, keep in mind that *any* switch it going to introduce a slight degradation in the signal quality. Try to use well-shielded cables , and keep the total cable length as short as you can to somewhat counteract it. Since VGA is an analog signal, it can be distorted easily by outside interference. That can lead to blurry images, ghosting, etc. |
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| Mine sucked, but it was at least 10 years old, and I think I had a dodgy cable, so I don't know if that was the norm. I suspect a loss in quality is the norm, as Gfk suggests, and I couldn't live with the ghosting I got. If you also happen to be in the market for a monitor, look for one that has multiple inputs, as that what I did to resolve this particular problem very recently, and it's great. (I needed HDMI and, ideally, DMI, and got the catchily-named Iiyama E2409HDS with both of those, plus VGA. I switch between them by holding a button on the front for a second.) Still, depending on your budget, that box *is* only a tenner... |
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| f you also happen to be in the market for a monitor, look for one that has multiple inputs, as that what I did to resolve this particular problem very recently, and it's great. (I needed HDMI and, ideally, DMI, and got the catchily-named Iiyama E2409HDS with both of those, plus VGA. I switch between them by holding a button on the front for a second.) Note that on some monitors, the multiple input may not necessarily work as you expect either... For example, my previous monitor was an Acer that had both DVI and VGA. I could hook up just DVI, and it worked fine. I could hook up just VGA, and it worked fine. I could hook up both at the same time, and DVI worked fine, but VGA signal would siwtch to black for a full second every ten seconds, while the monitor kept auto-detecting that there was also a digital connection plugged in -- making the VGA completely unusable unless I disconnected the DVI cable first. |
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| Thanks y'all :) I've bought one and will see how it turns out. I'm not too fussed about quality, I just need to be able to quickly switch between laptop and xbox. |
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| Don't underestimate how annoying a ghosted display can be, though. Being able to quickly switch between two flavors of crap still sucks. :-? |
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| ^^^ Yeah, what he said! |
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| Agreed. I bought a VGA extension lead off fleaBay once for about £2 (yeah, I know!), and it turned out to be as rubbish as you'd expect. Terrible ghosting and it went straight in the bin. Trust me - you won't want to put up with it when it happens. |
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| It is literally so I can see things running on the xbox, I'm not fussed about image quality at this stage (and will use a TV for any visual tests). |
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| Got the box, works fine and yeah there is some ghosting, stupid ghosts. |
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| try putting some grounded tin foil between the leads :D |
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