Third monitor on nMP?

[hamburski]

I've got two monitors running on my nMP (3.5 GHz 6-Core, 16GB, OS 10.9.5) and want to add a third screen just for picture so I'm not constantly flipping back and forth between, say, DP's mixer window and a maxed-out video screen when I'm working with a client.

Right now I have two (seven year old) monitors plugged into thunderbolt ports on the nMP using (I think) display port to dvi adapters. What am I looking at to make a third monitor work, from both a hardware and a software-configuration point of view?

(My impression - and experience - is that running even just two monitors on the nMP can be a little squirrelly, and certainly mine sometimes act a little weird when I first boot up - not both coming on, for instance, until I unplug and replug the offending monitor - though lately they've been fine, with no apparent reason for such a change for the better.)

[mikehalloran]

You aren't using either of the graphics cards? Adapters do exist.

[hamburski]

I would have to admit that while I am vaguely aware that something called graphics cards exist, and that there may even be one (or more) inside my machine, I have always just plugged my video monitors into the back of the mac and left it at that. I say this not to be a smartass (though I may be one, according to sources close to me) but to clarify why I might ask the following question: if "adapters do exist," what do they exist to adapt? Does using or accessing a video card allow one to operate multiple screens more smoothly, and do said adapters enable one's screens to interact more efficiently (or at all) with the video card?

[BKK-OZ]

http://blog.macsales.com/22073-what-do- ... ac-pro-fun

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Hold on cowboys and girls... You CANNOT have two DVI monitors and an HDMI monitor attached and get three monitors. You would have to have only ONE DVI and two HDMI. The MP trash can doesn't allow it otherwise... I can't remember where I saw this (Apple Discussions?) but I have tried it. I have three DVI monitors. Two have HDMI connections as well, but I can only run two regardless of the fact that I've used the HDMI ports. There is (I believe) a work around but I can't find that either. I've not tried using an HDMI only monitor and had a devil of a time finding a new DVI monitor now. Everything is HDMI. I wanted to be able to use the new monitor with my old 8-core, so bought a DVI/HDMI model (Dell) but since it's DVI, the nMP doesn't like it via the HDMI connection when the two DVI monitors are connected (via TB to DVI adaptors from Apple).

Is that convoluted enough for ya? The link from BKK seems to indicate there is a mini-display port, but there isn't one. So is that an HDMI to mini display adaptor they sell, or am I confused on that?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202890

[mikehalloran]

Read this:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202801

Can I connect more than 2 DVI or HDMI displays?

Mac Pro supports a total of two DVI or HDMI displays when connected via the built-in HDMI port or using the Apple Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter. To connect additional DVI displays, use an active DVI adapter such as the Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI adapter. You can connect up to six active adapter DVI displays. This requires a powered USB hub since Mac Pro offers four USB ports and you will need six to connect them all.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Well there it is then.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I'm still confused about this. The nMP doesn't have a mini-display port, so where does one plug that in?

[BKK-OZ]

Little bit off topic, but I am still looking for a solution for driving 8 displays.
(For an art installation.)

If anyone has a simple, brilliant solution for that, they win one (1) beer.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Farmed machines?

[BKK-OZ]

Farmed machines?

Maybe.

Sync is the problem.
- 8 video channels
- 9.1 audio

The Hap codec will let me run that many streams simultaneously, but I still haven't figured out the hardware configuration.

I probably shouldn't divert this thread though, apologies to the OP.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

This may be a job for synchronized video machines. That's why god invented SMPTE code.

[hamburski]

Read this:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202801

Can I connect more than 2 DVI or HDMI displays?

Mac Pro supports a total of two DVI or HDMI displays when connected via the built-in HDMI port or using the Apple Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter. To connect additional DVI displays, use an active DVI adapter such as the Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI adapter. You can connect up to six active adapter DVI displays. This requires a powered USB hub since Mac Pro offers four USB ports and you will need six to connect them all.

Thanks, that whole article was most informative. If I read it correctly, I can indeed add a third DVI display to my two existing ones so long as I use an active DVI adapter. Except that according to MIDI Life Crisis, one can no longer lay one's hands on new DVI displays. Do I have that right? And, forgive my ignorance, but how does the USB part of things fit in to all this?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I'm sure you can get one online. Fry's in Burbank only had ONE model left - the Dell mentioned earlier. I have to do some more homework on the active DVI adapter. If it is a mini display connector I'm very unclear how it goes into the nMP.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

OK, found it. It ALSO has a TB connection. Duh!

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB571 ... vi-adapter

The user reviews are not great...