Using Multiple Monitor Inputs -- can anyone confirm?

[BonzaiDuck]

Sometimes, I think I'm retarded.

I got used to using my old KVM switch. I never -- ever -- thought to hook up more than one PC directly to a monitor with VGA+DVI+HDMI, but the OSD -- even on my existing monitors -- allows switching between ports. And I then discover -- belatedly like the simpleton I am -- that manufacturers and users alike spoke of connecting more than one device (PC, PS3, etc.) to a single monitor -- directly. Obviously, my HDTV or AVR work that way. The TV allows switching between the HDMI ports via remote.

My only full-HD monitor went south two days ago. I felt compelled to choose a new one -- quickly (because I NEED my computer(s) -- based on several factors that outweigh 1440p or Ultra-HD. I had to exclude monitors that only had a single displayport connection. Instead, I chose from units that had 2x HDMI ports and 1 DVI in addition to 1 Display Port.

I'm assuming that I can circumvent my KVM switch by using the OSD for the graphics switching between PCs. I only need to connect two PCs to the new monitor. Other machines under my desk -- my server or any unforeseen "under construction" and testing -- can use the VGA ports from the KVM to an old monitor I keep -- waiting for it to die (it's starting to dim out on me).

Any drawbacks with this? Any thoughts? I figure the new unit -- a BenQ XL2420Z -- will arrive in 3 days or less -- none too soon. Just to clarify, since I mentioned VGA-analog and the KVM: Only two computers will be connected to the new monitor, without any other connections to it.

I'm guessing the biggest obstacle will arise with the tiny switches, menu structure, and other factors for accessing the OSD. I guess I havta try it . . .

 

[.vodka]

You can certainly use multiple rigs with a single monitor.

I have a LG 23EA53, which has VGA, DVI and HDMI inputs. I can switch between any of them with the input button, something that has become quite handy when repairing/formatting/etc a computer and then being able to kill that downtime by switching to my rig or something else that's hooked up to the monitor.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

You can certainly use multiple rigs with a single monitor.

I have a LG 23EA53, which has VGA, DVI and HDMI inputs. I can switch between any of them with the input button, something that has become quite handy when repairing/formatting/etc a computer and then being able to kill that downtime by switching to my rig or something else that's hooked up to the monitor.

Thanks for boosting my confidence.

In the old days, with an old NEC Multi-Sync, you only had the 15-pin D-Sub input on any monitor. I must have overlooked "the times they-are-a-changin'" when I got my first LCD (this Viewsonic sitting in front of me. I mean . . . if my HDTV switches inputs, why wouldn't a monitor do it?

So I went forward, religiously hooking everything up to this Belkin Omni-View. [Dumb and dumber . . . ] At least, if I already said it, the KVM works with "USB modification" to the PS/2 inputs/outputs.

Figure some folks want a single PC hooked up to three gaming monitors. I want the three PCs under my desk hooked up to two monitors, with two of the PCs connected to my HDTV across the room.

I'm pretty much guessing that I can run the monitor @ 60Hz for one system and 120Hz for the other; that's the way the VGA connections worked with a single monitor before. Never had a problem switching with different resolutions and refresh rates. I'll figure out how to work around it if it's a problem. . . .

[Just thinking about the year I acquired those Belkin KVMs. There weren't any LCD monitors or TVs. Everybody was still watching news on "the tube." Maybe there were input options on those old TVs, I'm sure I used them: VCR for one thing. I need to wake up and smell the coffee!!

 

[mfenn]

You can certainly hook up as many input devices (computers, game consoles, cable boxes, etc) as you have matching input ports on your monitor. Of course, that only hands the display part of the equation, so you'll have to use your KVM for the K&M part. A minor downside is that switching is now two buttons to press instead of one.

 

[SOFTengCOMPelec]

If you only turn the computers on, one at a time, then many monitors will automatically switch to the active video input, WITHOUT you needing to switch any buttons on the front of the monitor.
When you (hopefully) rarely have both computers on at the same time, you can (as others have probably said), switch video inputs on the monitor via the front panel buttons (if it has this facility).

 

[BonzaiDuck]

You can certainly hook up as many input devices (computers, game consoles, cable boxes, etc) as you have matching input ports on your monitor. Of course, that only hands the display part of the equation, so you'll have to use your KVM for the K&M part. A minor downside is that switching is now two buttons to press instead of one.

Well, I'm trying to sort all this out. Obviously, I thought I could use the Belkin without the monitor or VGA switching. And no doubt that works.

What concerns me is SOFTengCOMPelec's remark:

When you (hopefully) rarely have both computers on at the same time, you can (as others have probably said), switch video inputs on the monitor via the front panel buttons (if it has this facility).

These changes and the lost monitor (the Hanns-G) that I replaced are costing me. My car mechanic hit me with another surprise today. So I'm trying to get to an arrangement that is acceptable. But you say I should "(hopefully) rarely have both computers on at the same time. . . " Yet that is my intention.

Having been through this ordeal with the HDMI switch in use when the old monitor died, I'm wary of imperfect solutions. For instance, I could get a new IOGEAR KVM switch.

If I can just do the video switching from the monitor without problems or unacceptable behaviors or outcomes, it would save me the expense. If I can't switch between in puts from the monitor (or without shortening its life), I should go the KVM switch route.

But the problem I seem to face: I wasn't able to find a promising HDMI KVM today. I'd actually had my eye on a DVI KVM, and I think that would also serve as well, provided it offers all the pass-throughs (video+audio and HDCP compliant) that I'd otherwise get. Even that IOGEAR GCS1104(?) looks a bit quirky from the customer reviews.

So the first question: Should I be able to enjoy a routine with both computers turned on, switching at least a few times a day between them, using the monitor's switching ability?

If not, does anyone have a good idea of a 4-port KVM that fills the bill? I think for practical reasons, I was intending to use DVI-to-HDMI cables with the graphics adapter on the DVI end.

Put it another way: with this scenario of at least two computers, frequent switching and so forth, what would be an optimum or optimally acceptable way to do it? And as I said -- any good hardware options you might recommend?

The old monitor had a history of dying just the way mine died, but it happened to me when I was flipping the HDMI switch connected to it. This was a Sewell IBIS 3x1/1x3 switch. I saw another forum and thread somewhere in which a similar suspicion surfaced: "Did my HDMI switch damage my TV?"

So -- options:

1) hook it all back up with the Sewell IBIS and cross my fingers.
2) Do the video switching at the monitor and its OSD
3) Buy a new KVM (and as I said many times -- IT'S BEEN 20 YEARS with the Belkin!!)

 

[SOFTengCOMPelec]

If you need to frequently switch between these computers, e.g. every 5 .. 15 minutes, then you are probably better off getting a KVM.
The front panel button method or auto switching-monitor on active computers, is really best suited to when you will be spending all day on the same computer. i.e. are only very rarely switching between different computers.

Over the last few years, I've tried searching for affordable (under $300) DVI or HDMI, modern KVMs (4 channel), and found very few. The few that I could find are usually unavailable(out of stock) and/or too expensive(under $300 but out of stock, $450 in another place, in-stock) and/or get bad reviews and/or have other problems, such as needing very expensive custom cable sets(e.g. 4 x $60 cable set, =$240 + KVM price = too expensive).

There are many VGA only ones (KVM), at amazingly low prices, but I (and most people) have mostly stopped using it, and it does not necessarily support higher resolutions and/or may distort the image as it is analogue.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

If you need to frequently switch between these computers, e.g. every 5 .. 15 minutes, then you are probably better off getting a KVM.
The front panel button method or auto switching-monitor on active computers, is really best suited to when you will be spending all day on the same computer. i.e. are only very rarely switching between different computers.

Over the last few years, I've tried searching for affordable (under $300) DVI or HDMI, modern KVMs (4 channel), and found very few. The few that I could find are usually unavailable and/or too expensive and/or get bad reviews and/or have other problems, such as needing very expensive custom cable sets.

There are many VGA only ones (KVM), at amazingly low prices, but I (and most people) have mostly stopped using it, and it does not necessarily support higher resolutions and/or may distort the image as it is analogue.

Your window-shopping experience parallels my own.

I had these systems set up with the analog VGA connection to the Belkin switch. I thought it was working OK, but I discovered it would bork "HDCP" if, for instance, I switched Media Center to the VGA-connected monitor. THAT'S the factor that sent me on this . . . goose chase.

I noticed the problem with the HDMI switch was this: With one or both computers hooked up via the HDMI port to the HDTV, switching the HD monitor from one computer to the other would cause the first one to simply "lose" the signal. It would give the familiar "Bee-bump" audio response similar to unplugging a USB device. The desktop would then switch over to the TV on the first computer. Switching back, an active Media Center would turn up on the desktop, and need to be dragged back.

This never occurred with the KVM solution, even if analog VGA. Yet, the IOGEAR GCS1104 customer reviews describe similar events of dropping the signal. If you power-cycled a computer to get into BIOS, you'd have this problem that it would switch to the second computer, and you wouldn't be able to return quickly enough to enter the BIOS! Some customer-reviews noted that a firmware fix for the KVM resolved this, or that a unit shipped with that firmware took care of it.

It's all a gamble trying to resolve this on my own, and someone else's experience with it could really help.

One more point of emphasis: the independent connections of the PC's to the HDTV wouldn't have much really to do with these types of problems, except for the temporary desktop switchover to the TV, or returning to a Media Center sitting on my desktop when it should remain on the TV.

What I need is something that holds the signal for one machine while I switch to another. But I don't want to go back to using the analog VGA switch of the Belkin, even though it works correctly in that respect.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Ideally, this is what every gamer-geek-PC-obsessive would want with multiple computers:

http://www.kvmgalore.com/shopping/hdn-4plus-hdn-4plus-s-smart-avi-p-48823.html

That thing costs five, freakin' -- Franklins! Well -- four and a Grant. Shipping and taxes accordingly, depending on where sold.

The other option is the GCS1104 IOGEAR. The reviews could at least seem "comfortable." There were a few sour notes:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-062-_-Product

But -- less than half as much. Only Full HD -- no 4K capability. That opens up some questions, like whether or when I'd upgrade to 4K, and what I'd do then. Or I could go out on a limb for the price of this "Smart AVI" thing.

 

[XavierMace]

Why do you need 3 computers hooked up to the same monitor?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Why do you need 3 computers hooked up to the same monitor?

Floorspace and desktop real-estate, in a nutshell.

When I was working and burning the candle at both ends with the computers at home used for serious work, I became used to having more than one system under the desk and exasperated with having a monitor for each machine. So it has become an innate expectation and habit for me to have fewer monitors in the house than the total number of computers. As it stands just for inventory (as opposed to active usage), there are five computers and four monitors. Ideally, I'd like to have only one monitor on my (conventional, wooden) desktop. The desk is equipped with two of those '90s era heavy-metal elbow arms with trays to suspend monitors above the desk. If one of them doesn't hold a monitor, I use it for something else like a stack of external HDD boxes or my flatbed scanner.

One of the three boxes at my feet is my WHS server. The other two are workstations. the way the OEMs shipped the WHS server boxes, or the way people had been advised to build them -- omitted need for a graphics card or a "console" monitor connection. I choose the contrary, but I can always access the server from the dashboard at a workstation -- provided all is working tip-top.

I just reviewed my e-mail Inbox, and looked more closely at the response to earlier questions I had posed to Sewell tech-support regarding their IBIS 3x1/1x3 HDMI switch:

"By the sounds of it, I can see this set up working great with the Ibis 3x1 switch. The switch does have the latest updates to HDCP. The only thing that I can foresee happening is an EDID handshake problem. Unfortunately, there isn't really any way to tell if something will have a handshake issue until you actually try it out. So, my only suggestion would be to try it out. Of course, if it doesn't work then we do have a 90 day return policy and you also say that you could use it in another situation in your house.

"As for the question about the hibernation state and our switch. There shouldn't be a problem. But there is the potential that the computer will render a handshake problem. But, like I said, it is hard to say. As for details of operation to use it successfully, it is pretty straightforward and it sounds like your set up should work just fine with this product."

None of my troubles with the dead Hanns-G monitor derive from the discussion of "handshake," "sleep . . . hibernation." The monitor simply died.

I think I came back and posted this thread out of apprehension that some "electrical problem" with the switch had caused the monitor to die, but from the looks of it, it would only have been a failed component in the monitor. There isn't any "extra current" or "power" applied with the IBIS switch: it doesn't need a power brick of its own.

I'm going to keep the shipping box and packing material for the new monitor, in the event it has a problem of any type. But I'm also going to hook it up and proceed with using the IBIS.

If it works with the existing quirks, it gives me more time to investigate these other alternatives and plan for the spending.

I could almost kick myself for not having chosen an Ultra-HD or at least a 1440 gaming monitor at this opportunity, because it would likely work with the IBIS switch, but wouldn't work at the higher resolutions for the IOGEAR KVM. But the prices for the available options are too much, if I have to consider this . . . other paraphernalia in our "widespread household system infrastructure." I think I'm going to like the new monitor, even for just "full HD."

 

[Cerb]

You can certainly hook up as many input devices (computers, game consoles, cable boxes, etc) as you have matching input ports on your monitor. Of course, that only hands the display part of the equation, so you'll have to use your KVM for the K&M part. A minor downside is that switching is now two buttons to press instead of one.

But, many KVMs have a separate USB switch, so a 2nd button is needed anyway, and you can get dedicated USB switches for very little money.

Having both and using both, I would spend money on a KVM, if I could, even given the still-high prices. I use a dedicated USB switch to handle AIOs, which are inconvenient with KVMs.

 

[XavierMace]

For the record, I didn't mean my comment in a "nobody needs 3 computers" sort of way, sorry if it sounded like that.

What I was getting at is why bother with the KVM or Multiple inputs. Remote Desktop, Teamviewer, WinVNC, etc, etc are your friend. I've got a monitor hooked up to my gaming PC. Everything else I either RDP into or it has a web interface.

 

[mfenn]

If you only turn the computers on, one at a time, then many monitors will automatically switch to the active video input, WITHOUT you needing to switch any buttons on the front of the monitor.
When you (hopefully) rarely have both computers on at the same time, you can (as others have probably said), switch video inputs on the monitor via the front panel buttons (if it has this facility).

I honestly don't know what you mean by this post. Switching inputs on a monitor isn't some sort of earth shattering thing that you should do sparingly. It's slower than using a KVM for sure, but there's no technical problem with doing so.

 

[mfenn]

For the record, I didn't mean my comment in a "nobody needs 3 computers" sort of way, sorry if it sounded like that.

What I was getting at is why bother with the KVM or Multiple inputs. Remote Desktop, Teamviewer, WinVNC, etc, etc are your friend. I've got a monitor hooked up to my gaming PC. Everything else I either RDP into or it has a web interface.

:thumbsup: I agree with this overall. Hook your monitors to your machine that does heavy 3D work, and then RDP into the ones that only need to do 2D work. RDP on a LAN is pretty darn seamless.

 

[SOFTengCOMPelec]

I honestly don't know what you mean by this post. Switching inputs on a monitor isn't some sort of earth shattering thing that you should do sparingly. It's slower than using a KVM for sure, but there's no technical problem with doing so.

I agree, that I was partly too negative about using the monitors input switching capabilities.

I find that the viability of it, depends on how quick/easy the persons monitor(s) are to switch inputs. If the monitor(s) are easy reach, or not. And how happy the person is to fiddle with the monitor menus and buttons.

In my experience, the keyboard keystroke rapid switching mechanism, of better KVMs, really helps improve ones workflow. If you need to change inputs (computers) on a very regular basis.

But as you hinted at, in another of your posts, there are many alternatives to KVMs these days, such as (if servers are involved) IPMI2 management ports, etc etc.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

TO: MFenn, SOFTengCOMPelec, XavierMace, Cerb, Vodka and all --

It was inspiring to see the discussion continue after my last post, and I am grateful for your insights. I have a few of my own, now. Since we've all bought hardware at different times to replace this or that obsolete item with overlapping life-spans, different inventories, different configurations and different preferences -- I don't know which of you has a more recently-purchased monitor, whether that monitor has certain features, whether you've made "discoveries" about it. So I'll just tell you what I've discovered so far.

I've got a budget, space limitations, old habits (like more than one PC under the desk or comfort with a KVM switch.) I've got clutter in this room after my exploits of the last year that would make Burt Munro's one-room house in New Zealand ("The World's Fastest Indian" with Anthony Hopkins) look "neat." At least computer parts aren't covered in grease like motorcycle parts.

I was skeptical about the BenQ monitor. I considered getting a 4K monitor, but wasn't sure what I'd face with these other factors. I've had quite an education suddenly. These new monitors are like comparing StarTrek Enterprise to an old WWI bi-plane.

The OSD is pretty easy and accessible. It's settings are accessible in three ways: Most stunning -- an item called an "S.Switch" which plugs into a tiny mini-port; one can also manipulate the "touch" points on the side of the monitor. The latter are not buttons, have no mechanical features or moving parts. Third, there is software -- "Display Pilot." But you have to have focus of one computer where it is installed.

The S.Switch has a "mouse wheel" that works like . . . a mouse wheel. Press it, the OSD main menu pops up. Scroll -- it goes to a different item. Press again -- takes you to a submenu. It's equivalent to a few mouse clicks to change input between "VGA," "DVI," "HDMI1," HDMI2," and "DisplayPort. There is no stress or strain -- and it all works like the video switching of an integrated KVM switch. You just have to switch mouse and keyboard separately.

Both BenQ and Sewell-Direct gave me the green light for using a device like the Sewell IBIS bi-direct'l HDMI switch: it will not damage or destroy anything. Instead, my old piece-a-s*** Hanns-G monitor had weak capacitors to begin with, and it took an opportunity to go south.

The only problem with the Sewell IBIS: It drops the connection (that Windows can see) for PC#1 when switching to PC#2. It is STILL a viable option! The only problem, besides the quirks I mentioned -- you can only run this monitor @ 60Hz refresh rate with any HDMI connections. The only way you can get 144Hz refresh rate requires a DVI-to-DVI connection from monitor to PC. But the DVI input is totally selectable with the S.Switch or other OSD access.

So as far as using the full monitor features -- having one machine configured for 144Hz refresh rate -- the IBIS loses the competition. So do several HDMI/USB KVM's. Possibly, even some older model DVI/USB KVM might pose a problem. And of course you want to be able to use an HDMI port on your graphics card -- any number of things. Maybe this shortcoming for HDMI has been rectified with version 1.4 or version 2.0 [??] -- I cannot say for sure. Introducing any KVM switch may pose a problem with refresh rate > 60Hz -- I can't confirm. Some may work fine with it. But most will cost $85 (2-port) up to $250 (4-port) while the 4K-ready SMART-AVI 4-port HDMI/USB KVM is between $450 and $500. If I or anyone chose to go with the SMART_AVI, it would be a planned, budgeted and scheduled purchase. And you'd want to think about it for a good long time.

What I find here, with this BenQ monitor, is a perfectly acceptable switching function between active PC inputs without dropping any connections, needing to repeat EDID handshakes. You just need to click through the menus with the S.Switch. Practice . . . makes Perfect!

And . . . . The 22-year-old Belkin OmniView KVM . . . just takes a licking and keeps on ticking -- even for being a pre-USB PS/2 device -- for mouse and keyboard.

I think this is all going to be quite nice. It will be very nice while I save my loose coins for a mature 4K monitor and a KVM switch for it -- if, by then, one is even needed. But I like having just one keyboard and mouse for my machines-under-the-desk.

So -- guys! BenQ. You can diss 'em. Call the other manufacturer "AOC" the "Admiral of Korea." Or maybe I'm like Rip Van Winkle -- overly awestruck with these new-gen monitors -- I can't say.

For the $330 + 1-year-replacement contract, shipping and taxes, this is a nice 24" HD monitor with 3D and all the bells, whistles and switches.

Especially -- the freakin' SWITCHES!!:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

 

[BonzaiDuck]

For the record, I didn't mean my comment in a "nobody needs 3 computers" sort of way, sorry if it sounded like that.

What I was getting at is why bother with the KVM or Multiple inputs. Remote Desktop, Teamviewer, WinVNC, etc, etc are your friend. I've got a monitor hooked up to my gaming PC. Everything else I either RDP into or it has a web interface.

About RDP. Yes. That's definitely a 2D option, and I've used it mostly for my server box, or addressing my elderly mother's panics about her PC upstairs. Now I can see how it could also work with these other things I've just described.

I'll just put it this way -- probably already have done so: The Hanns-G was destined to take a dump, according to the archival customer-reviews, and just anyone else I've talked to recently. For the price I paid, it was "too good to be true." So figure the replacement monitor was just a matter of addressing "disaster preparedness."

I could've bought a 1440 -- maybe ASUS -- maybe even a 4K. Likely -- with "G-Sync." The hole in my wallet -- for addressing an emergency of the dead Hanns-G -- would likely have been 6 or 7 Franklins.

I spent $57 on cables and the Sewell switch -- useful in other ways. I'll use two of the three cables to connect to the BenQ. Maybe I'll hook up the server and use a third.

And I STILL have REMOTE DESKTOP. All good and well. I just don't know about depending exclusively on RDP. That's why the server has a graphics card, when it doesn't need one.

People have complained about the trouble of calibrating and setting up the BenQ. You really have to move the Brightness slider to below 20%!!! It's . . . . bright! But it's very, very adjustable.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

One drawback with using any KVM: color and other adjustments stored IN the monitor, made TO the monitor -- are universal among the switched computers. You can use the software to change the screen, but if you use the software on the two (or more) computers, it affects the settings for the initial machine. If one machine is running the refresh rate of 120 and the other is 60, it makes a difference in applying the settings across the board.

So one system wouldn't be "optimal." It would be "OK" -- but not perfect.

This is what happens whether it's done with a KVM, the monitor's own input switching, or with something like an HDMI switch. Actually, the HDMI switch would likely resolve it, because (a) all systems have refresh rate of 60hz, and (b) they'd all use the same monitor input.

I discovered that you can enter "Display Pilot" -- the BenQ software -- and naively select an input. This machine has a definite HDMI connection at the monitor, but DVI at the PC. I was only offered "VGA," "DVI" and "DisplayPort" in the software. When I chose "DVI" thinking this was effective at the PC source, it switch to the machine with the DVI-to-DVI connection!

I'll have to examine NVidia Control Panel to see if I can't make adjustments local and specific to the PC.

Otherwise -- "click," "scroll-3-lines," "click," "scroll-1-line," "click," "click" and [select monitor input among HDMI1, 2, DVI, etc. etc.] And -- "click" to execute/exit. But the biggest annoyance: none of the sub-optimal variation would go away with an expensive KVM switch, unless it allows for high ~120 Hz refresh rate for all computers simultaneously. That would be a DVI/USB KVM -- limitations greater than an HDMI KVM -- which, in turn, only provides for 60 Hz.

Hope everyone learned as much as I did with this. You can have your cake; you can eat it; some of the golden crumbs fall off . . . .

But what do you do if you can't surround yourself with monitors galore, like the character in Ellison's "Invisible Man" surrounds himself with a hundred light-bulbs burning?