Monitor Cable Worries

[Saynac]

Hey guys. I recently purchased a VD-Z3 Transcoder so that I can play my Xbox's High-Definition video on my computer monitor. The VD-Z3 basically converts a component input into a VGA signal and has a VGA-in port so you can have both your Component Input and a VGA input available at the flick of a switch. Here is my setup:

Two computers hooked up to a KMV switch. The KMV's VGA output goes into the VD-Z3 VGA-in connection. The VD-Z3's VGA-out is connected directly to my computer monitor's cable. The cable I'm missing will go between my these two female ports: the KVM's VGA-out and the VD-Z3's VGA-in. Trying to determine the correct cable for my needs has me stressed out.

The VD-Z3 didn't come with a cable to connect the female VGA-out to the female connection on my KVM switch. The company that makes the VD-Z3 recommends cable with ferrite core filters on both ends. My two computers hooked up to the KMV have a Radeon 9800 Pro card (Desktop size of 1280x1024) and some GeForce4 piece of crap that I'm replacing soon. I play a ton of video games on the computers and the Xbox. My monitor can handle up to 1600x1200, I think; it is a 21" CRT monitor made by NEC. I regularly play video games at 1280x1024 or 1024x760, etc. The Xbox input can go as high as 1080i but will be at 480p or 720p 98% of the time.

I bought a crappy Belkin cable for 17" (or lower) monitors because it was the only one the local shops carried. The box said to get the better model cable for bigger monitors but no one sells it around here. In any case I still tried to use the crappy cable and my computer's display looks a little "off". A bit blurry in some places and slighty discolored in others. No waves or anything like that, though. Please note the crappy Belkin cable does not have ferrite core filters. Also note that the "high integrity" cable that is supposed to be better has no ferrite filters, either.

So now I'm stuck. I see a lot of generic "High Definition" cables with ferrite core filters but I don't want to go through the pain of buying and purchasing a handful online only to return almost all of them. Does anyone have any input? I'd appreciate any help you can give. I'd like a cable around 6 or 10 feet but even a 1 foot cable is fine. Thanks, folks.

[Edited to fix a couple mistakes]

 

[Ichinisan]

First of all, composite->VGA converters suck. You should have said "component" video to VGA. Of course, you will need an HD pack for your XBOX (or 3rd party equivalent).

As for VGA pass-through devices...I can't stand them. I've used things such as hardware DVD decoder cards, TV tuners, and VGA converters which all introduce unacceptable signal interference when the pass-through mode is used. My display is *very* noticably darker and harder to read with any such device. I wish that DVI had been standardized LONG ago

I'd hate to use dual VooDoo2's in my legacy system, for this reason alone.


Does your monitor have dual inputs? Mine has both VGA and RGB BNC inputs. If you have something similar, it might work out well.

 

[Saynac]

Hey Ichinisan, thanks for the reply. I really miffed up the original post. Let me clarify a few things:

I meant that the box converts component to VGA, not composite to VGA. I always get those two confused. Second, I own the Microsoft High-Def AV Pack for the Xbox, which has 5.1 audio output and component video outputs. Third thing I messed up -- I meant to say that I need a cable to go from the female VGA-out connection on my KMV switch (which has two computers hooked up by their video card's VGA-out) to my transcoder's VGA-in female connection.

Ah well, I'm still going to try and find a higher quality cable to see if it helps.

Hm, I'm pretty sure it only has the one cable going into the back. I haven't looked at the back of the behemoth in about a year, though, so I could have ignored anything back there I didn't recognize. I'll check it out when I get home but I doubt it has the BNC ports. =(

 

[Saynac]

Hey again, Ichinisan. I don't know if you caught the edit of my reply post, but I don't think my monitor has dual inputs. It is an older monitor. Then again, I haven't looked at the back of the thing in about a year. I'll post a more definitive response when I get home tonight. Thanks for helping.

 

[CZroe]

The older ones are actually MORE likely to have BNC + VGA (And removeable VGA cable at that). Ichinisan's monitor is a 19" KDS Visual Sensations monitor from 1998 and it has removeable VGA cable + BNC connectors. We keep it around because it still looks better than all of our newer monitors and it'll go pretty well with a Dual Voodoo2 compatability system once we get some BNC cables (They're all over at work and I think I'm about to get the hook up)

 

[Saynac]

CZroe, thanks for replying. I just got home (coworker's birthday) and have found that my monitor has only the VGA input on the back. In fact, the monitor is only a 19". Samsung 910ex to be exact, not an NEC. Anyway, I ordered a cable from www.cablestogo.com so I'll just post my results here in about a week in case anyone else runs into the same dilemma. Opinions on the matter are still welcome.

Thanks for replying, you two.

 

[Saynac]

I received my cable from cablestogo.com and have hooked everything up. My computer looks fine. The only thing I noticed was a slight loss of brightness from my computer but it isn't even enough to make me crank up the brightness settings. Everything looks dandy, thanks for helping, folks.

 

[Ichinisan]

I just found a pair of SVGA cables at my local Goodwill thrift store for only $1 per cable!
(ferrite cores attached on both ends of each cable)