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G5 dual VGA?

C

cmx08

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 20, 2004
138
0
Canada, GMA
what's the difference about ADC and DVI?
is it DVI apple brand or a better quality?
is it necessary for the apple 100$ swich for DVI-ADC?
saw a cable that changes ADC to DVI or VGA
is the quality bad if I use this type of short cables? just like the DVI to VGA that comes with the Al 15".
what about using the ADC to VGA? or use ADC to DVI and DVI to VGA (both short cables)?

Can I use the DVI connecting and use DVI to VGA instead of using the ADC since i don't have an apple display or I must use the ADC as the primary.
 
DAMN! That's a lot of questions for one post! Okay, let's see here. ADC is DVI + power + USB. That's why there are ADC -> DVI extractors, and DVI -> ADC converters. I'm not exactly sure how DVI relates to VGA, but I know you can easily find DVI -> VGA adaptors, heck, they even ship with the 15" and 17" PowerBooks. There is an ADC -> VGA extractor or two (I know Belkin makes one), so you could do dual VGA if you want. You can have either one as a primary or secondary, it really only determines which monitor your desktop icons, dock, and menu bar are set on.
 
Your questions can all be answered if you know what ADC actually is.

ADC is an Apple specific connector that combines three things:

1) Power for the monitor.
2) A DVI-D digital signal.
3) A VGA analog signal.

Note that most standard DVI connectors include both digital and analog (VGA) signals, but they do not include power.

For this reason, yes, you do need an expensive adapter to go from DVI to ADC, because you need to supply power as well. On the other hand, going from ADC to DVI or VGA is easy and not so expensive ($20 or $30), since all you have to do is change the shape of the connector and send the right wires out. Same goes for converting DVI to VGA--just a change of the connector shape to only send the analog signal out, so they're cheap.

And, to answer your overall question: a new G5 will work out of the box with any type of monitor.

If you have an ADC monitor, plug it into the ADC port. If you have a DVI monitor, plug it into the DVI port, and that works fine too, with or without an ADC monitor. And if you have a VGA monitor, the G5 comes with a DVI-VGA adapter, so all you've got to do is use that and you can use a VGA monitor as the primary (or only) monitor. That's what I did when I first got my G5.

If you want to use two VGA monitors, you're going to have to buy an ADC to VGA adapter; I don't think Apple sells these, but you can get one for a few bucks from several companies. Do a quick search, or try a local Mac shop, and you should find one easily enough.

If you want an even more creative setup, I now have two monitors: a 19" VGA CRT, and my TV. I bought a DVI-Video adapter for $20 from Apple, so I can use my TV as a second monitor; I bought a ADC-VGA adapter for $30 from Griffin, which I'm using to drive my main monitor. Works perfectly.
 
Hi,

I bought a ADC-VGA adapter for $30 from Griffin, which I'm using to drive my main monitor. Works perfectly.
Click to expand...

I have a dual monitor setup on my G5, using two adapters to hook up VGA monitors. The ADC-VGA adapter is the Dr Bott one, however, I have issues with refresh rates. I can only run my monitors (19" Sun branded CRT and 15" generic LCD) at 1024 x 768, the LCD is that resolution anyway so that's fine but the 19" CRT will only run at 1024 x 768 AND have a decent refresh rate that I can work with, otherwise it's just too flickery.

Has anyone else experienced these issues? Is it because my monitors are generic? would it work better with Apple or Apple-friendly makes?
I have tried swapping over the monitors onto different adapters, i.e. 19" on DVI-VGA, 15" on ADC-VGA and vice versa but it doesn't make any difference.

Any ideas???

Cheers,

Rick
 
Hm, that's an odd problem, although I've heard of similar things.

I'm running a relatively generic KDS 19" monitor at 1280X1024 at 100Hz refresh, and it's worked just fine off of both the DVI port with the included Apple adapter, and the ADC port with an adapter from Griffin.

Either your adapter is funky, or your monitors don't correctly identify themselves.

Two questions: Does your Mac recognize the monitors when you look at either the menubar extra or under Colorsync? Mine shows up with the correct name and model number, but if yours does not perhaps it's not identifying itself.

The other thing to try is to use the "unsupported settings" option or whatever it's called (not at home right now), that should let you override the recommended settings. If that doesn't work there is, I think, shareware that'll let you set unsupported resolutions and refresh rates.
 
Hi,
Thanks for that info Makosuke, I'll check it out tomorrow when I'm in my studio and see what it says.

Maybe I can override it, it'll be great if I can, 1024 x 768 on a 19" monitor is a bit C H U N K Y ! ! !

Rick
 
Hi,
Hmm, I've checked out my monitors at work and they are being detected it seems, their model numbers are showing in the monitor pull down.

I can't see any setting to let me override the recommended settings though. I remember seeing that setting before but it doesn't seem to be available here for some reason.

I checked the DrBott site and it says it supports the G5 etc. In theory the monitor should be able to go to 1600 x 1200...

I may be able to try another monitor to see if that works any better.

Thanks for your help!

Rick
 
TV as monitor...

I know this is a little off-topic, but something caught my eye...
Makosuke (or anyone w/similar set-up), how is the resolution, legibility using your TV as a second monitor? I currently have utilize a scan-converter for VGA to video(composite and/or s-video) that my TV (among other things) is connected to...only really decent for movies and the like...just curious, I am using relatively antiquated technology I know...saving for a G5 for Xmas(look foward to the options then...) Thanx, and sorry for the tangent...
 
raytube: You're absolutely right, the override in the Monitors pref seems to be gone. Don't know if there's some sort of "secret" command to enable it, but looks like you're down to shareware hunting. Good luck.

blackfox: All things considered, the computer display looks really good on the TV with Apple's adapter. That said, a TV sucks mightily for displaying computer images, since the resolution is so poor and the interlacing wreaks havoc with sharp lines. I've found it effective for displaying things like photo slideshows, and pretty good for video, but a TV is a TV (unless it's an HDTV, in which case you can get a pretty spiffy picture out of one).

One tip if you do set a system up like that: definitely use the SVideo cable--makes a significant difference.
 
I'm using the Dr.Bott ADC-VGA adapter and the Apple DVI-VGA adapter to run two vga monitors on my G5. I've had no issues with resolutions or refresh rates.

IIRC the Dr.Bott is driving my 19" at 1280x1024@75Hz.
 
Hi,
I just switched out my 19" Sun monitor for a 17" LG Flatron 795FT and it's happily running at 1280x960 and 90hz! So I've resolved my refresh rate problem, it seems the Sun monitor wasn't compatible for some reason. Although I've gone down from a 19" to a 17" monitor the step between 1024x768 and 1280x960 makes all the difference. Everything was all L A R G E T Y P E before!!!

Cheers,

Rick
 
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