DVI-DL Switchers (Belkin Flip DVI KVM Switch)

[jeffreyk]

I've been searching the MacRumors forums and the subject of Dual Link DVI switchers hasn't come up recently (as far as I've been able to tell), and seeing I'm within a week or so to buying my new/first Mac Pro I thought I'd post something here to see if I can get some fresh input on the subject.

Has anyone had experience with the Belkin Flip DVI-KVM Switch?

I'm currently a PC owner with a custom fluid-cooled computer and when I make the switch to Mac I will retain my custom PC for solely gaming and I'll be using my Mac for pretty much everything other than gaming. I'm not a big gamer but like to play games every so often.

I really want to keep my new Mac as "Microsoft Free" as possible so I really prefer to not go the Parallels/VMFusion/Boot Camp route (I'd rather spend the extra costs on upgrading and improving my upcoming Mac).

Thanks in advance for all your help.

 

[ox4dboy]

Did you have any luck with the Belkin Flip KVM switch?

I am having no luck getting it to work - following Belkin's set up instructions. Initially I got it working, but my large monitor had a bunch of green horizontal lines running through it - some sort of interference.

Now it is not working at all - the large monitor says "No input signal" and then goes to sleep when trying to get a G5 to work with a MacBook Pro.

I noticed the remote switch's light is out - as if the remote is dead?

 

[MTI]

I pretty much gave up with the Belkin VGA Flip . . . tried using it between a PC and a Mac, but the havoc it caused with the different video resolutions wasn't worth it.

 

[TransientMole]

I too tried the Belkin Flip on my 30" Dell, it was nothing but problems. I would get green static and horizontal lines - they would progressively get worse the longer you left it on. I came to the conclusion after reading countless forums that lack of HDCP support on the flip was causing these issues.

Some folks, especially at lower resolutions or single-link DVI said they had success with the flip, but It was just a headache for me.

I gave in, returned it, and got a IOGEAR GCS1782, which is a 2 port dual-DVI switch, HDCP compatible, and about $70 more than the flip (Which was still more than I wanted to pay, but hey - you get what you pay for). This switch is wonderful. Works great, it doesnt "Disconnect" the USB when you switch like the Flip did, and it also has a USB 2.0 hub that you can switch as well, along with the ability to swicth 7.1 sound. I am very happy with the IOGEAR.

Systems :

Macbook Pro 15" 2.66GHz 9400M/9600M GT (2009 unibody)
Custom PC i7 965EE w/ NVidia 280GTX
Sidewinder X6 Keyboard / Logitech MX Revolution Mouse
Dell 30" 2007WFP @ 2560x1600

 

[jeffreyk]

I guess I should have updated the status of my situation when I finally got my Mac Pro up and running. In my OP, I was going to have a dual PC/Mac system for my gaming (PC) and everything else/productivity (Mac) purposes; but when I got my Mac Pro up and running I made the decision to solely go with my Mac OS and forgo any PC connectivity. If I was going to make the leap I wanted to have a clean break from PCs to my...cue the heavenly angelic music...glorious Mac Pro system. I'm so glad I did that as I don't miss die-hard FPS gaming too much at all like I thought I would. I found a new addiction in Peggle but that's for another thread completely.