Timeline for How come DVI KVM's are 10x more expensive than VGA KVMs?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
18 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 13, 2018 at 20:50 | comment | added | sawdust | @TOOGAM -- Your confusion is that you think your comment is related to mine. It is not. I pointed out bad semantics by the OP. You want to point out bi-directional I/O. They are not connected, other than there's the occurrence of the word "input". | |
| Aug 10, 2018 at 18:56 | comment | added | j_kubik | I remember some people recommended using a particular KVM to strip a HDCP and to be able to see the full HD content on a non-HDCP compliant display. These things really can do a lot other than mechanical switches. | |
| Aug 9, 2018 at 11:26 | comment | added | TOOGAM | @sawdust You mentioned the answer being "confusing". If confusion has been reduced, I'm happy for that, but even after investigating the earlier post, I don't retract my earlier statement. That is because the updates to the post do not change the reality that an "output" device can technically send information back, and thereby technically provide "input", even though people still classify it as an "output device" rather than an "I/O device" (which mainly provides input and output). | |
| Aug 9, 2018 at 5:55 | comment | added | sawdust | @TOOGAM -- My comment pertains to the original post. Try reading the original post before you comment. The fact that the post was edited confirms that my point was valid. | |
| Aug 3, 2018 at 13:43 | comment | added | TOOGAM | @sawdust : not so confusing. The KVM may well have some ports marked as "input" (e.g., data coming from a computer) & different ports marked as "output" (e.g., data going to a monitor), for the sake of user-friendliness, even though you're technically correct that one of the devices plugged into an "input" port may actually be performing "output" during bi-directional communication that a protocol requires. As another example, although a monitor can send info to a PC (so the PC can determine whether something is plugged in), monitors are still typically classified as output devices (not I/O) | |
| Jul 30, 2018 at 7:12 | comment | added | sawdust | A KVM cannot be a passive device since it can respond to a hot-key sequence to perform the switch function, i.e. it's recognizing the electronic scancodes transmitted by the keyboard. But apparently a DisplayPort switch can be a passive device according to its seller! Strangely for a "simple mechanical switch" the seller also warns that it cannot be used in reverse! VGA switches can be used in either direction. | |
| Jul 29, 2018 at 13:04 | history | edited | Morphit | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Clarify inputs and outputs are video sources and sinks.
|
| Jul 29, 2018 at 7:15 | comment | added | einpoklum | @IgnacioVazquez-Abrams: To be honest, I doubt the reason for these prices is vendors' care for supporting multi-monitor setups, crossing the t's and dotting the i's. Perhaps that's true for certain premium KVMs, but not generally. IMO. | |
| Jul 29, 2018 at 1:52 | comment | added | Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams | @sawdust: The desk I am sitting at right now has two monitors and two computers. One monitor is exclusively connected to my workstation via HDMI, and the other is connected to my workstation via DVI and the other computer via VGA. If I were to use a DVI KVM switch for the second monitor then my workstation would detect any disconnection and switch my desktop to a single monitor. And don't get me started about when I tried using a HDMI switch on my primary monitor; that was an exercise in pain... | |
| Jul 29, 2018 at 0:47 | comment | added | sawdust | To be clear, a KVM switches one keyboard, a video monitor and a mouse among several PCs. @IgnacioVazquez-Abrams your mention of "multi-monitor setup" seems irrelevant. | |
| Jul 29, 2018 at 0:41 | comment | added | sawdust | While the gist of this answer is correct (i.e. the KVM is not a passive device), the repeated use of "input" is ambiguous, and therefore confusing if not wrong. The KVM switches both input and output signals. Yet there are ambiguous statements like "The inputs cannot read the EDID...", and even worse "the inputs know what to send...". "Inputs" are for receiving not sending. | |
| Jul 28, 2018 at 23:35 | comment | added | Morphit | @einpoklum: While PCs are typically pretty good about hot plug detection, there are other devices that can output DVI and the quality of their implementations can vary wildly. In any case, with a KVM you want the input to think it still has a monitor attached even when it isn't actually connected. With PCs, the layout of windows may not be preserved after disconnecting and reconnecting a monitor. Some applications may run into trouble if there is no monitor for their output to appear on. I think there are so many problems that a 'homunculus' KVM would be far more annoying than it'd be worth. | |
| Jul 28, 2018 at 23:29 | comment | added | Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams | @einpoklum: I'm going to guess that you've never actually had a multi-monitor setup then. | |
| Jul 28, 2018 at 23:16 | comment | added | einpoklum | @Jasen: That point could be developed into an answer. | |
| Jul 28, 2018 at 23:16 | comment | added | einpoklum | @IgnacioVazquez-Abrams: Video cards have no problem with you pulling cables out of them. They're designed to support this. | |
| Jul 28, 2018 at 23:12 | comment | added | Jasen | don't forget that DVI KVMs need to support both VGA(DVI-A) and HDMI(DVI-D), for this reason HDMI KVMs are less expensive than DVI | |
| Jul 28, 2018 at 21:48 | comment | added | Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams | If a homunculus pulled the video cable out of my video card causing my multi-monitor setup to be upset, I'd pull the homunculus out of the KVM switch and stab it repeatedly. | |
| Jul 28, 2018 at 21:10 | history | answered | Morphit | CC BY-SA 4.0 |