Analog Vs. DVI - Siginal Loss over Distance.

dachyld

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Jan 10, 2006
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Hi everyone.

I've set up my PC so my monitor is about 12-14 ft from my PC. Using the analog extension cable (Belkin), any distance over 6 ft creates noticable distortion and degredation of the image.

I'm going to use a new video card in the hopes that one with DVI will allow me to run a cable along those distances and still keep the image crisp. Any ideas?

If that doesn't work, would a siginal repeater be an option?

thanks in advance.
 
You can buy DVI repeater boxes which regenerate the signal and send it along. The higher your resolution the less length the cable has to be before it degrades.

Regardless, looking here indicates that a 1920 x 1200 signal can be transmitted upto 15ft. So anything less will travel further.
 
You need QUALITY DVI cables to travel any further than 6ft, and even then there's a max distance for even dual-link TMDS.

I would suggest that even if he's using lower resolution alot will depend on the card, remember wat Extremetech and THG found about the TMDS quality on some cards, likely barely good enough for 3ft at 16x12.
 

dachyld

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Excellent point.

I'm viewing at 1280x1024. I didn't event take the video card's output strength into consideration. As for the extension cords, which would you recommend. In fact, which video cards would you recommend.

I was planning on building a box using the geforce 660 or something similar, but that can all change based on what i'm trying to acomplish. Advice! :)
 
I was assuming you already had the video card and it was new, not getting a new one. Anywhoo...

The question for that becomes exactly what do you want to do with this setup. 2D Video (ala DVD, Surfing, Word, etc), 3D Apps, 3D games or a combination?

The thing about a repeater is, does getting a repeater make sense if it costs more than a quality cable (than even optical cable)?
 

dachyld

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You mean solid? :)

I'm going under 12-14 ft., so i suppose I should be OK w/o a repeater. Now the only question is which cables would be sufficient?
 

dachyld

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OMG. 150 - 200$ for cables? Thats the approximate price of a repeater! Surely i don't have to spend that much for a distance of 12-15 ft? right?

Any other brands/links that are a bit more reasonable?
 
OMG. 150 - 200$ for cables? Thats the approximate price of a repeater! Surely i don't have to spend that much for a distance of 12-15 ft? right?

Exactly, Monster is Ridiculously expensive and usually not that great (for the price, they are solid but not worth the price).

IMO, your best bet is to go to some company that specializes in cabling. Now this depends on where you live as to whether that's online or a local store.

Here I have AlbertaComputerCable, in the US you'd need to check for a supplier near you. Best if you can go to a physical store/shop/warehouse/plant and then get them to make it to your specification. For people like that even 'special orders' are usually much cheaper than people like Monster. Monster TOSlinks are so expensive I never bother CHORD and AR is better and cheaper, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same for DVI.
 

dachyld

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What level of cabling are we talking about here? With the standard run of the mill cables, will they allow me to run the distance i want (max 14/15ft)? Or do i need these high-quality cables to run that distance?

Who would have thought cables would be so expensive. What, are they made of gold? ( :lol: )
 
Well you probably want well isolated/insulated cables, and I've seen the 15ft/5M dual-link quality ones for about $100US on the net when looking for cheap DVI-HDMI adapters, that's significantly cheaper than Monster, and better for carrying the signal. I'm sure you can get them for even less than that. I would think talking to someone similar to ACC you could find quality 15f/5M for $75 or less. But you're likely to spend at least $40+ for them.
 

lakedude

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Crazy lakedude is looking at the problem sideways as usual.

Is it possible to move the computer closer to the display? It might be better signal quality wise to use short cables on the high traffic DVI end of things and use usb or ps2 extention cables on the low traffic input end? Perhaps a wireless keyboard and mouse? It might not be possible but I'd try to get the final output as close to the monitor as can.

A usb (or whatever runs you keyboard and mouse) extention might be a lot cheaper as well.
 

dachyld

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I am already using the wireless mouse and keyboard. the monitor (and mouse andkeyboard) definately need to be this distance from the PC. s'ok though, it seems the DVI can handle my didtance with decent cables.