PDA

View Full Version : LCD Monitor (Wide-Screen)_DVI Configuration Blues


mark4man
03-31-2008, 12:56 PM
People...

Finally sold my old CRT Monitor; & went shopping last night for a new 22" LCD wide-screen [to go w/ the new ADK workstation located in my (music) project studio]. Really looking forward to using SONAR on a wide-screen, w/ top-flite detail & clarity.

Trouble is...the pin configuration on the DVI output of my graphics card is different than that of the DVI inputs on every monitor I looked at (at both Best Buy & Circuit City). The graphics card as installed by the mfg. (ADK)...as listed on my quality control checklist (which came packed w/ the machine) is noted as a 'GeForce 8400GS 256 MB Video Card'. Yet the manual that also came w/ the machine is an 'XFX' manual. [This was the first item that threw me off, as I have always been under the assumption that the GeForce series of video cards were mfg.'d by nVidia Corp.

So the DVI pin configuration problem is as follows:

The OUTPUT port from my graphics card has the typical 3 rows of 8 pins to the left...w/ a 4 pin corner quad surrounding a central horizontal slot, on the right.

The INPUT on all of the monitors I checked out last night, have the same 3 rows of 8 pins on the left...but only have a center horizontal slot on the right (i.e., missing the set of 4 pins surrounding that slot).

One sales kid (for lack of a better term), told me that the cables sold in the store (which all match the configuration on their monitors) would work...that it was a "universal" cable, of sorts. A second sales youth told me I would need to go to an electronics distributor & get a precise match (???~!@#$%^&*???).

I have a support request in to ADK...but in the meantime...can anyone here offer any insight as to how I should proceed? I would very much like to go directly from work today...to Best Buy; & grab one of these monitors…since, right now...I have no monitor...& need one quickly to keep working on my upcoming CD.

Thanks very much,


mark4man

mjc
03-31-2008, 01:25 PM
XFX, eVGA and a host of others all manufacture nVidia chipset graphics cards.

As far as I know, XFX follows the industry standards for the pin configuration for its cards, so a standard cable should work.

mark4man
03-31-2008, 10:05 PM
Yeah...

Good job I didn't listen to the sales dude (& purchase a separate DVI cable from the store)...as one was already in the box.

I'm disappointed w/ the graphic & font quality thus far, tho. Maybe it's something I haven't initiated on my end yet (falling asleep w/ the manual tonite, for that very reason)...but...the quality of the digital picture doesn't look as crisp & detailed as it did in the store. There, it looked like a "high definition" picture...there was no squaring off of, for example, any radius area of text. And photos (in the store) looked so real...it was just amazing.

[O, BTW...I went w/ an LG W2252TQ 22" LCD]...but I hope I can get it looking better than it does now.

Thanks,

mark4man

mjc
04-01-2008, 02:03 AM
With LCD monitors, there is a 'native resolution'. You need to run it at that resolution for things to look best...

mark4man
04-01-2008, 10:53 AM
OK mjc...

Will heed that info.

But...I know what I did wrong.

At Circuit City, I looked at a Hewlett-Packard 24" LCD wide-screen w/ some type of new screen technology, whereby the screen surface is coated w/ a glossy substance...making it look like a CRT. The other thing that gets accomplished w/ this technology is...the linear portions of screen fonts (&...any jagged looking graphic or font) are smoothed...so as to give the illusion of finer detail & clarity. The 24" HP I looked at in Circuit City was the monitor that looked like it was "high-def".

But I really wanted a 22"; & a call to an overzealous sales girl at Best Buy confirmed that they had such an animal. Of course, when I got there...for some mysterious reason...it couldn't be found. So...the LG looked the nicest of the regular LCDs; & I went w/ that.

Tonite...I'm goin' back & get a 22" HP, w/ the glossy screen.

Thanks very much for all your help,

mark4man

johnny_quest
04-01-2008, 10:23 PM
this might help
http://www.daimi.au.dk/~rvinge/pc/kabler/images/dvi_config.jpg

mark4man
04-03-2008, 09:45 PM
jeziz...!!!...

Got this thing adjusted correctly...at it's recommended native resolution...& the picture is the most stunningly gorgeous thing I think I've ever seen. No poop...this is magnificent.

Plus...when I use the native res...it utilizes the full width of the wide screen !!! There's so much extra real estate now (associated w/ the audio track areas, for example)...I don't know how to act.

holy molely...I think this was the right move at the right time. wow, man...thanks to anyone & everyone (& anybody who'll listen, for that matter...I don't care...I'm elated beyond belief) !!!

'Till next time,


MF