On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 08:24:21 -0400, Paul <
nos...@needed.com> wrote:
>micky wrote:
>> I hope I've used the right nomenclature everywhere.
>>
>> Is DVI sufficiently better than SVGA that a person who doesn't play
>> games, just reads and writes email and looks at rather ordinary
>> webpages, will notice the difference?
>
>I'm using VGA to an LCD monitor as I type this. I just zoomed in
>with my bionic eyeball, and I can't see anything to complain about.
>Back when I used the CRT instead of the LCD monitor, I used to get
>some ghosting along one edge of the picture. I don't seem to see that
>on my LCD. Maybe my bionic eyeball needs maintenance or something.
Good to hear.
>
>If the monitor resolution was 1920x1080, you might see a difference
>in the visual quality (DVI would be better). At least on my monitor,
>I don't see a problem at 1280x1024 with the VGA.
I should have checked, but I sure doubt it. Almost all of her
settings are the default.
>>
>> I think the DVI video card in my friend's computer is failing. (More
>> about that below**) and the monitor accepts both DVI and VGA input.
>>
>> So I could either remove the video card and rely on the onboard SVGA
>> video, and for 5 or 10 dollars buy a male-VGA to male-VGA cable and
>> just use SVGA. Or for more money, 20 to 30 dollars, I
>> could replace the DVI card. It's a 7-year old computer and she
>> doesn't want to spend much money. Will she notice the difference?
>> (She's paying for it and may well balk at 25 dollars.)
>>
>> She does watch movies from the internet, but she uses a smart TV in a
>> different room from the computer. . Does the computer monitor matter
>> at all in such a setup? If she were to try to watch the movie on the
>> computer, would SVGA be good enough?
>
>What is a "smart TV" ? Is the TV streaming movies from some other
>computer ?
I've been trying to get that straight too, especially since she's
trying to talk me into buying one**.
>You'll need to be a bit more specific - even a make and
>model number for the TV, would provide some hints as to how it works.
>If it doesn't support streaming, then we know the TV isn't that smart.
I'm sure it streams, from a wireless router. That's a LAN, right?
But I figure it must be able to show what's stored on the computer
also.
>Can you see how the smart TV is connected, what wiring it uses ?
>Is it just a LAN based thing ? Or is there actually some kind of
>video cable running to that TV set ?
>
>>
>> **She has a monitor that goes dark for a second or two or four,
>> sometimes failrly often, and other times it works fine. She hasnt'
>> figured out a pattern to it. I've used the computer and it really is
>> annoying and should be fixed. .
>>
>> Another friend of hers switched monitors and decided the monitor is
>> not the problem. I don't like taking his word for this, but my only
>> spare monitor is a CRT and it's too heavy to drag over to her house.
>> So I will take his word.
>
>
>Going dark for a second or two, could be the video card driver
>recovering from a problem. Is there anything of note in Event
>Viewer ? Maybe there are some error messages waiting for you.
I should have looked at that too. Didn't think of it. I will do so.
>I'm a fan of booting alternate OSes. I'd use my Ubuntu USB key,
>boot the computer, and see if the picture remains stable. If
>it was the monitor, using the different OS, I would expect
>to continue seeing the outage. If it is a video driver issue,
>the frequency of blackouts might change. Or, disappear completely
>(due to differing thermal profile, cooler running etc).
I think I have some CD's with Ubuntu, and I have Hiram's whatever on
CD with some abridged form of Windows.
>
>Also, now that I think of it, check to see if the cooling fan
>on the Quadro is dead! It might have stopped spinning, and the
>card could be overheating. You could try GPUZ, and check the
>temperature. The card may have a passive heatsink, in which case
>there's no fan to worry about. Every once in a while, someone
>comes here with a card, where the fan melted. And that's why
>the video card is so unstable.
I should have thought of this too, and the diagnosis method.
Although, the second time I used it, yesterday, it had been off for 30
minutes, and the blacking out started right away and got better after
5 minutes. So it's probably not heat.
>
>
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/
>
>>
>> The possible problems, counting only parts I can replace, are the thin
>> screen Samsung 522A200B monitor and the video card, right?
>
>I'm not getting a hit in my search engine, for 522A200B.
>Is there a hyphen in there somewhere ? Could you spiff up
>that number for me ?
Can't read my own handwriting. S22A200B Sorry
Here's the manual.
http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201105/20110514175003125/BN46-00079A-03Eng.pdf
For some reason that probably doesn't apply to you, the last 3 pdf
files, from different domains, I've downloaded and which opened in
Firefox, only about 5 pages would show. I had to then, from the icon
at the top of the FF pdf page download the file to my computer, and
then I could read the entire pdf.
When the cable is DVI-D (with a wide flat "pin" but no other holes or
pins at one end) and the Y-connector that it connects to (or the new
DVI card) is DVI-I (with 4 pin holes and something that just looks
like a line in the picture, but might be a slot) , will the cable plug
into the Y-connector. Is the line between the 2 rows of 2 pins
actually a slot?
THIS SEEEMS TO BE THE ANSWER:
http://www.hisdigital.com/un/news_show-74.rhtml
"The long flat pin on a DVI-I connector is wider than the same pin on
a DVI-D connector, so it is not possible to connect a male DVI-I to a
female DVI-D by removing the 4 analog pins. It is possible, however,
to connect a male DVI-D cable to a female DVI-I connector. Many flat
panel LCD monitors have only the DVI-D connection so that a DVI-D male
to DVI-D male cable will suffice when connecting the monitor to a
computer's DVI-I female connector."
So I'm good to go with a; card with a female connector, whether it's
DVI-D or DVI-I. Right? Since the calbe is DVI-D and certainly
male too.
Using the terminology from this page:
http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&tbm=isch&tbnid=NIcKIs_BW_2rmM:&imgrefurl=http://www.overclock.net/t/1351331/shimian-dvi-i-vs-dvi-d&docid=a_S2oxiktrByQM&imgurl=http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1244110/flags/LL&w=440&h=261&ei=9fTqUdTJA6n84APLqoGoAg&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:2,s:0,i:96&iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=173&tbnw=292&start=0&ndsp=10&tx=147&ty=61&biw=1152&bih=672
These 2 paragraphs were my first attempt at asking the question in the
paragraphs above. You can probably ignore these 3 paragraphs, unless
the question above was also incomprehensible. ;-)
You don't have to dl the file to answer this question. On page 15 or
so the file, it shows the DVI calbe, with a portion of it
that is a 3 x 8 array of pins, and next to that is one flat piece of
metal, a "very wide pin" or socket, at each end of the cable.
But when I looked at the cable it looked like that where it connected
to the monitor, but at the other end, where it connected to the
Y-connector, the Y connector had a 3x8 array and a 2x2 array. Now
I'm not sure I actually looked at the cable, and not just the
Y-connector. And I think I assumed it was 2x2 pins and not one wide
flat piece of metal.
-------------------
>> She has a Dell Optiplex 745, which, amazingly to me, comes in 4 sizes
>> with the same name and number.
>>
>> Mini-tower, desktop, small form factor, and Ultra-Small Form Factor
>>
>> She has the small form factor. It has two slots and the video
>> card is in the PCI-express slot.
>>
>> The current video card came with a cable splitter and I guess is
>> enough to run two monitors, but maybe because she has a smart tv?, I
>> don't think she'll ever use the second output. So can I just put in a
>> single output card? (I have examples of this, a low-profile PCI-E
>> card that will fit her computer, and sold under the Dell brand,, but I
>> tried to email them to myself from her house and she required a
>> password to send email!!! even though I could read her incoming mail
>> with no password!!! I hope she'll send me the email today. )
>
>The existing card could be a Quadro, with a DMS-59 connector on the
>faceplate.
Yes, that must be it.
> The Y cable makes up for the fact there isn't enough room
>on the faceplate, for two connectors.
Yew, I get it.
>You can get low profile video cards, with dual faceplates. This
>works OK, if you have a spare slot in that machine, where the faceplate
>can be fitted.
She doesn't need dual, I think. The computer came that way for some
reason. (I think her friend had used it before he gave it to her, or
maybe it was surplus at his job.)
>
>This $30 card, comes with three connectors on its regular sized faceplate.
>But it also includes two low profile faceplates. One faceplate has room
>for two connectors, the second faceplate has room for the VGA connector.
>The VGA connector is on a ribbon cable, which is how the thing can be flexible
>enough to be relocated. If the slot next to the video card was not
>occupied, you can put the second faceplate there.
Your guess is correct. The next slot is empty.
> Otherwise, you'd only
>be able to use the HDMI and the DVI on the primary faceplate. Using a
>DVI-I to VGA adapter, would allow getting at the VGA signals on the
>DVI-I connector.
>
>
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-150-655-16.jpg
>
>
http://products.xfxforce.com/en-us/Graphics_Cards/XFX_One_R-Series/ON-XFX1-PLS2
>\
> Output - DL-DVI-I : 1 <--- DL or Dual Link, means up to 2560x1600 via DVI,
> and VGA is available via "DVI-I to VGA adapter"
> Output - HDMI : 1
> Output - VGA : 1 <--- Connector fits on
> second low profile faceplate. Or, can be
> left dangling or unplugged.
>
>For $30, you would normally not get a "DVI-I to VGA adapter" included.
>The two thumbscrews, hold this in place on the DVI-I connector on the
>faceplate of the card. Then the VGA cable, plugs into the adapter.
>I have a few of these I got with other video cards, so I wouldn't have
>to buy one.
I understand.
Aha. Well, now I'll know what it is.
>
> Paul
** (OT: I would buy a smart tv if any of them had OUTput jacks for
the signal. But they seem to have only various kinds of INput
jacks, except for external speakers. Right now I have a DVDR with a
digital tuner (and a hard drive) and I use that to watch tv for the
whole house. 5 tv's connected by co-ax, with a couple signal
amplifers where too many splitters made the signal too weak*** so I
can watch the same thing even when I go from room to room.
If I could use a fancy tv to receive and detect tv signals from the
web, and then connect that to the DVDR and from there to the rest of
the house, that would be great, but like I say, there are no output
jacks. So the alternative is to buy several smart tvs and at 5 or
600 apiece that's a lot of money. )
***Actually, every two splitters, I need a signal amp. I've been
running these amps constantly for 30 years I don't think either has
failed,
Reference for me, from the webpage for the card you suggested.
"This card [The XFX One R-Series graphics card] will do it all from
playing games, to watching HD and Blu-Ray movies in 3D, to editing
photos and videos, to just improving your overall everyday
productivity by speeding up your applications from word processors to
spreadsheets. This card truly is the one card that does it all. "
ON-XFX1-PLS2