dvi vs. analog

[Nerva]

so i just got a dell 1704fpt and it is awesome, made it my primary (dvi). which bumps my nec 1735nxm to secondary (analog). now the problem is that on the NEC, i can see very subtle scanner lines going across the screen. is it because it's on analog? also, since my dell is ultra sharp, should i use analog with the dell and dvi with the NEC?

 

[Nerva]

anyone?

 

[Ike0069]

i know you are looking for some specific info, but I would just connect them both ways and see which is best.
If the analog connection looks crappy either way, then sell your VC and buy a dual DVI card.

 

[ed21x]

from what i can tell, some monitors seems to package really fantastic anolog to digital converters within the monitor that makes it pretty difficult to discern between the two, while others are pretty crappy. The only way to really tell is try them both.

 

[ipalindromei]

Sounds like the problem could be the analog connection. I would try to go DVI with both. In my experience, DVI tends to be a lot cleaner.

 

[Nerva]

how do i get dual dvi, other than getting a new card. an adapter?

 

[Joepublic2]

Originally posted by: 3cho
how do i get dual dvi, other than getting a new card. an adapter?

There are no adapters, only converters, like the one inside your monitor. What videocard are you using? Almost all the new ones come with 2 DVI-I outputs.

 

[Nerva]

well, i was thinking about getting a converter that converts analog to dvi, would have have the desired effect? because i have also just noticed that the monitor on analog has shadows of things from the other monitor. i have an old ti-4200

 

[MobiusPizza]

Originally posted by: 3cho
well, i was thinking about getting a converter that converts analog to dvi, would have have the desired effect? because i have also just noticed that the monitor on analog has shadows of things from the other monitor. i have an old ti-4200

No. If it's your anagloe signal that has problem, force converting it to digital would still shows the same problem

Plus no such converter can be found easily. That required dedicated hardware I don't know of.
It's not like converting DVI-I to analogue because DVI-I itself includes a backup analogue signal channel so no "conversion" is needed and a plug adaptor can do.

 

[EvlD99]

It is probably your video card that is having trouble or interference problems. If you hook the analog connector up to a monitor by itself without anything on the DVI connection do you get the same distortions?

 

[Nerva]

Originally posted by: EvlD99
It is probably your video card that is having trouble or interference problems. If you hook the ananlog connector up to a monitor by itself without anything on the DVI connection do you get the same distortions?

that's a great question, i will try that tonight and see what happens. thanks a lot guys.

 

[Nerva]

wait, do i have to disconnect the dvi, or can i just disable that monitor?

 

[EvlD99]

Disconnect it where it plugs into the video card & disable the clone or span dual screen setup that you have (Make sure that the driver is set to ONE monitor). Plug in one of your monitors to the VGA connector and see if you have the same problems. If the shadows still appear, try it with the other monitor. If it happens with both, you have a video card problem. If it only happens with one, the LCD or the converter on the LCD is bad. If it doesn't happen at all, your video card is having trouble with the dual output. Try updating the drivers.

P.S. I have seen similar distortions when hooking up an LCD and a TV (S-Video connection) to a laptop at the same time. Simply unplugging the TV and disabling the S-video output cleared the distortions on the LCD.

Edit: Oh almost forgot... Make sure that you don't have any power supplies or anthing magnetic near the LCDs or their cords.

 

[Nerva]

hmm, speaker controller is right next to the monitors. no speakers extremely close to the monitors either. all my computer stuff are plugged into this batter/power strip thing. os i guess there are wires around there.

i disabled the dvi, low and behold the analog is clear as sky. but the funny thing is that it stayed clear after i enabled the dvi. strange.

 

[EvlD99]

It may be a driver issue then. Something to do with the way you enable the outputs. If it is clear now just leave it that way. Hopefully it will stay that way

 

[Nerva]

i just updated to the newest nvidia driver, so i don't know. hopefully it will stay clear!!! thanks all!