Using Apple's 23" HD Cinema Display on PCs?

rsilverman asks: "I recently bought the 23" Apple Cinema Display, which I am using on my TiBook, and I'm loving it! Now, I would like to also connect it to my Intel box running Win2k (perhaps ultimately using a digital video switch box). I thought this might be relatively simple -- I went out and bought an AGP video card with the same chip set as is in some Macs, the nVidia GeForce Ti, and it listed the monitor's highest resolution as supported. No go. Tried the Radeon 7500 -- also no go. The monitor backlight powers up, but no picture. Then I read some more, and judging from what I was able to find (and don't really understand), the monitor's resolution (1920x1200) is near the edge of what can be done using the DVI standard. Does anyone out there know more about this? Got it working?"

"Cards tend to support that resolution and higher only with analog signalling, not digital. I've seen claims that it can be supported using some kind of non-standard timing ('pushing data during the blanking interval'), which I assume is a driver issue. Then there's 'dual-link DVI' -- using two of the usual DVI data links in parallel (still over a single connector, just using more pins). The Apple specs do not mention whether the monitor is single- or dual-link. At the moment, my best bet appears to be the 3DLabs Wildcat VP or III cards (one of which supports dual-link). However, they're very expensive, and I'm still not sure it will work."

Comments

I think you are looking for

[medcalf]

this

DVI big flat panel is tricky

[4of12]

I use an nVidia Quadro4 900XGL to drive a Samsumg T240 (24" HDTV display) under Red Hat 7.2, but with the nVidia kernel drivers.

When we were researching this, it was important to find out whether the DVI interface on the graphics card was really capable of driving 1920x1200 digitally and not just through its analog connectors (DVI-I means integrated DVI-D and DVI-A (analog)), since many smart displays will just fall back onto the analog signal if the digital signal is not there.

IIRC, the fundamental issue was how good the TMDS transmitter was on the video card. It seemed like, very roughly, RAMDAC frequency: analog picture quality, TMDS frequency: digital picture quality. Many topped out at 1280x1024, some were good for 1600x1200, but you had to look very carefully for one capable of 1920x1200. Eg, there were some medical quality image viewing hardware that were quite expensive.

The situation has probably improved over the last 6 months, so you shouldn't have quite so hard a time finding a good video card.

nVidia gForce 4 Ti is working for me

[ceej]

I'm sharing an HD Cinema Display with my G4 and my PC. I bought one of the Apple dvi -> ADC converters, which I assume you're using with your TiBook to drive the display. My PC has a gForce4Ti 4600 card in it, which worked just fine with no fiddling right out of the box. (I upgraded from a gForce2 that had no dvi out.) Now I just need a dvi switcher and I'll be living in luxury.

Delicious

[AtariDatacenter]

I'm probably not adding too much to the conversation, but I'll have to tell you, getting a computer to work on a HDTV monitor at high resolutions really is a nice luxury.

My Sun workstation in the office, has a 24" HDTV screen. It is a good 'ole CRT with an analog input. 1920x1200 resolution. Lots of real estate for opening up lots of windows. It really is a nice perk, so I don't blame you one bit for trying to get this to work!

Although, to be honest, I haven't done very much in the way of digital video playback on it, so I really don't know what I am (or am not) missing by an LCD screen with DVI. Maybe it is time I take that television screen home and seeing what a PC can do with it.

On a related note... anyone know how to hook up a mid-priced DVD player to an analog or DVI HDTV aspect ratio computer monitor? I'm wondering just how crisp it can be.

Re:Delicious

[adolf]

Forget plugging in a DVD player to a computer monitor.

Anything "mid-priced" will output some form of NTSC video, which is horrible in all incarnations. Even if you get -really lucky- and score a VGA-esque RGB output, you'll be ill-equipped to see "just how crisp it can be," because the DACs on your Sun's video hardware are significantly better than anything inside of a sanely-priced DVD player.

Better to pick up a DVD drive, and some good software. This is, after all, a computer monitor. Drive it with a computer. At 1920x1200.

You'll get, depending on hardware and software, some very fine scaling and framerate conversion and filtering. Things will be great, as good as it gets. If your Sun can't do it, a cheap PC with an appropriate DVD-supporting video card will still be cheaper than a super-high-res progressive scan DVD player.

Whereas, a DVD player will only drive the monitor at a couple of fixed frequencies and resolutions, which may or may not include overscan support, and thus show a chance of being incredibly poor-looking on a computer display - and that's only if you get the interfaces to talk to eachother at all.

That all said, if you're insistant, this box will do what you want with just about any analog signal you can come up with. And since noone seems to want to make an analog -> DVI converter, things get even more hairy. Something like this this adapter card along with this way-overkill video switcher might do it.

You don't want to ask what any of that stuff costs, though. There's reasons why the price isn't listed on the web page. (other stuff probably exists which does similar things with varying amounts of overkill, but Extron has a reputation for being the best. If you wanna see "just how crisp it can be" in such an arrangement, look no further.)

DVI-ADC

[amokk]

Do a little digging around and you'll find that various DVI connectors aren't compatible with each other.

The Apple-made DVI to ADC converter will allow you to run your monitor on PCs...

Here is a link to it on Apple's website. You can order the part from any Apple store. Most carry them in stock. This also will connect to your USB port to make the ports on the monitor function normally.

Try Gefen

[wchin]

I would give Gefen a serious look. Their DVI to ADC Conversion Box is the only one on the market that I know of that claims support for the 23" HD Cinema Display. Apple's, Dr. Bott's, and the Formac converter boxes all disclaim use with the 23" HD display. If nothing else, they should be able to help you with selecting the right graphics card.

Coming in late on this but...

[aztektum]

A friend of mine works for CompUSA and after noting an Alienware rig that was tested in Max PC a couple months ago running with a 23" Apple display, he said that Compusa actually carries converters for this. I haven't seen them myself, but I would think most of their stores would have them if ours does.

What do you think?

[biglig2]

I reckon if we tell him he needs the convertor about... say 5 more times ... his head will explode with frustration.

Then we go to his house and steal the display.