USB Video adapters

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monkey man
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Re: USB Video adapters

Post by monkey man »

mikehalloran wrote:
monkey man wrote: I'd still like to know if a simple USB3 hookup from a monitor to my Mac would allow me to see exactly what I do on my main one, real-estate differences aside. It's really only to be able to record-enable tracks, undo takes and use the transport functions.

Thoughts, anyone?
The $50 box solution should work. Turn display mirroring on. The only issue I can see is that mirroring works for all three monitors. I can't see a way to have it mirror one monitor only while leaving the other independent. I haven't explored the issue beyond what I did yesterday.
All 3?

I only use 1 monitor, centrally located. This "cheapie" 2nd one will only be for the rudimentary control I mentioned whilst I'm in the vocal booth. Does this change anything, Mike?

Thank you for responding, mate.
bayswater wrote:
monkey man wrote: No BT, WF, cells, base-station home phones and so on for the Monkster, remember?
DOH! Right. Not thinking.
You can do it with an ethernet cable too.
Now you're just trying to confuse me, eh Baysey?

You know that the mere mention of the word "ethernet" or indeed any referral to networks fries my brain too, don't you?

I dread the day the AVB upgrade is complete; the challenge will be to get it up and running before the Monkey-brain stew is ready to be served...

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Re: USB Video adapters

Post by mikehalloran »

Now it is I who am confused. I thought you were using two already.

In the monitors preferences panel, there is a check box to turn display mirroring on. You can also have it resting as an icon at the top of your Finder.

When mirroring is checked, your 2nd monitor will display the first. The screen size will default to fit the size of the monitor - you can change that but two different sized monitors will normally display the same screen info.

The newer ones work over USB 2 or 3 (there are some older units that are USB 2 only). The current adapters default to HDMI. Most come with adapters for HDMI to DVI but some like the Newer Tech have another adapter for VGA also. USB 3 is better but, for my purposes, USB 2 is fine as my 2010 iMac is incapable of USB 3.

If your Mac has a spare Mini Display port, you can get a MD to HDMI adapter instead. This with a long HDMI cable is better as there are neither incompatibilities with Open GL nor software to install. Nearly all monitors made currently have an HDMI port. Older ones have DVI. Nearly all have a spare VGA in.
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Re: USB Video adapters

Post by monkey man »

Gee, thanks Mike.

Can't I just hook up a USB3 link from monitor to 'puter (I have plenty of ports thanks to PCIe USB cards)?

Glad I asked, 'cause I assumed all along a simple connection like this would suffice. All this talk of fancy, schmancy video connectors, is, you guessed it, confusing. All I know is my main monitor is connected to my (stock) video card (2012 12C Mac Pro). If I can avoid using said card for this 2nd monitor and indeed get away with the USB3 hookup, I'll be wrapped, mate.

Thank you in advance, as always, Mike.
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Re: USB Video adapters

Post by bayswater »

monkey man wrote:Now you're just trying to confuse me, eh Baysey?

You know that the mere mention of the word "ethernet" or indeed any referral to networks fries my brain too, don't you?

I dread the day the AVB upgrade is complete; the challenge will be to get it up and running before the Monkey-brain stew is ready to be served...
Really, it's simple. Get an ethernet cable. Plug one end into the desktop Mac running DP (Mac A). - Plug the other end into a Mac (Mac B) you want to use to control Mac A.
- Go to Sharing in System Preferences n Mac A and turn on Screen Sharing.
- Mac A will appear in the Finder as a Device in Mac B. Double click on it and select Screen Sharing. You will have to enter the User name and Password you use to start up Mac A.
- You'll get the screen from Mac A showing up on Mac B. Go to full screen. It's just like being there.
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Re: USB Video adapters

Post by monkey man »

Just like being where? There is no Mac B, Stoivo! :lol:

There's a "B" location 'though; It'll B a cheapie monitor in da booth only, brah.

I pissed myself reading your sufficiently-dumbed-down instructions, Bays. Well done, mate. Perhaps we could put 'em on ice for the glorious day when I might be in a poosition to do that "control Mac A from Mac B" thing. Sounds super-geeky and high-tech. I'll even wear a bow tie for that one.

Thank you, matey.

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Re: USB Video adapters

Post by bayswater »

Like being at Mac A.
You don't have a Mac B. Do you have the extra monitor already? You could buy a cheap Mac B instead. Pretty much anything that will run 10.6.8 will do. Although after reading that post about togs and lard, I'm not sure if screen sharing is safe.
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Re: USB Video adapters

Post by monkey man »

Ha! Nice one, mate.

Interesting thought. It hadn't occurred to me that I could do that, as I wasn't aware I could. If it would constitute a network of any description, that'd probably be why.

Now, I know that technically, on some level or another, hooking a monitor to a Mac via USB3 could be described as a network, but here's the critical thing from my ether-anything-allergic perspective: No eNet cable!

Good food for thought, 'though. I appreciate your activating neurons on my behalf, Stoivo.

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Re: USB Video adapters

Post by wylie1 »

monkey man wrote:Great timing, this question from Mike.

Building my vocal booth sometime later this year, probably in 3-4 months' time. Always figured I'd be able to hook up a monitor in the booth via USB to my beloved Mac tower. Obviously the idea is to be able to play recording engineer whilst tracking vox.

Assumed it'd be a no-brainer USB extension-cable hookup. Wouldn't this be the case?
You may want to look at a HDMI extender over CAT5 depending on what part of the jungle your putting your booth in.
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Re: USB Video adapters

Post by bayswater »

wylie1 wrote:You may want to look at a HDMI extender over CAT5 depending on what part of the jungle your putting your booth in.
There's that dreaded ethernet thingy again.
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Re: USB Video adapters

Post by mikehalloran »

monkey man wrote:Gee, thanks Mike.

Can't I just hook up a USB3 link from monitor to 'puter (I have plenty of ports thanks to PCIe USB cards)?
Yes but you need the little adapter box between the USB cable and monitor. I've not seen a monitor with the converter built in.

Depending on the length you need, you may have to use a USB 3 extender to the small specialty USB 3 cable that comes with the box. Now you need a cable to your monitor -- it can be HDMI, DVI or VGA depending on your monitor input.

I am fairly certain that you get the same basic box, no matter what brand you buy. The Newer Tech and most others have both DVI and VGA adapters; the one I bought only has a VGA adapter. Since the monitor I bought has HDMI, I did not need an adapter, only an HDMI cable.

All use the same DisplayLink drivers that you download. I'm using the current beta with no problems at all.
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Re: USB Video adapters

Post by monkey man »

bayswater wrote:
wylie1 wrote:You may want to look at a HDMI extender over CAT5 depending on what part of the jungle your putting your booth in.
There's that dreaded ethernet thingy again.
Doh! Damn you, Stoivo and Mr. Coyote!

Uugghh... and now Mike's talking all kinds of common-sense techy stuff that's shot straight over my head too. Geez.

OK, Mr. Coyote, it won't be deep in the Jungle. We're talking perhaps 5m from the 'puter.

Mike, that almost fried my brain, but how's this sound?
Mac->USB 3 cable->small specialty USB 3 cable->adapter box->HDMI / DVI / VGA cable->monitor

Man, if that's correct, I've gotta save that there algebranechoic equator; I can hit the store with it when I make the purchase. I'm sure the sales staff will be might-highly impressioned.

Hopefully I've finally got it; I didn't realise there were so many "interim" connections. I always thought one could simply buy a USB3 (even USB2) monitor, seeing as it's the Ubiquitous Serious Buss, and hook it up with a single USB cable to a computer. Shows how dumb I am, I mean, who'd have thunk of that?

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Re: USB Video adapters

Post by mikehalloran »

Mike, that almost fried my brain, but how's this sound?
Mac->USB 3 cable->small specialty USB 3 cable->adapter box->HDMI / DVI / VGA cable->monitor
Yes but that first cable is an extender with an A male on one end and an A female on the other. It's the USB 3 version of the extender that comes with a lot of Macs. The USB 2 version works fine but it may affect video performance.

Image
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Passive cables are acceptable up to 15 feet, for longer runs, an active cable is recommended:

Image

If you don't need the length on the USB side, then that first cable is not necessary HDMI cables are sold in 3', 6', 15' and 25' around here. DVI up to 12' and VGA up to 75'.
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Re: USB Video adapters

Post by monkey man »

Aah... so the HDMI could go from monitor all the way to the computer (almost), connecting to the box, thus allowing the box's short proprietary USB cable to attach directly to the 'puter.

Got it... finally! Thank you Mike. Thank you!

Gonna keep this thread's link mightily handy for when the booth's built. Awesome!

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Re: USB Video adapters

Post by mikehalloran »

Updated to the DisplayLink 2.5 drivers today. I'd been using the Beta 2.5b drivers for three months without incident and don't notice any change with the final release. 2.5b solved the slightly annoying issue of having to reset your displays windows on startup. It took 15 seconds but still I'm glad to see it fixed. :headbang:

The web site mentions a few minor issues having to do with 32bit Carbon graphics but I rarely move Word or Excel 2008 over to that monitor—even then, I do not notice those.

They finally admit that DisplayLink drivers are the cause of you logging you out should you minimize iTunes in any window—I suspected as much but it's good to have that finally confirmed. The workaround is easy: Don't do that. Instead, drag iTunes to the bottom of the screen or ignore it.

Frankly, except for 10 days last year when Crome didn't display correctly (fixed by Google), I have been pretty well satisfied with my USB monitor.
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