DVI range

[maeveth]

Hi, I need to know what the maximum range is you can have a DVI cable be before the signal becomes weak enough to have a noticiable drop in image quality. Thanks in advance.

 

[aggressor]

In a related question, how long can VGA cables go? Is there any way to have super long cables without quality loss for DVI\VGA?

 

[Nextman916]

lol you guys are you funny, there is no maximum range for any kind of cable until there is a loss of quality. The answer for both your questions is as long as the longest a manufacturer will make, unless there is some kind of physical damage to the cable there will be no loss of quality, or noticeable response time. So just get whichever cable length suits your needs best.

 

[Cabages]

I have heard otherwise, though I dont know for sure.

 

[hans007]

supposedly the max is 15 feet.


hdmi's standard reasonable length is 15 feet as well.

 

[rbV5]

Official DVI specs mandate signal strength at 5 meters (~16'), so at least that far with regular DVI cables. Using fiber optic cables can get you 100 meter cable lengths if you have lots 'O Cash.

Just because a manufacturer will make a cable a certain length doesn't mean it will carry the signal you want without degradation, and it's silly to claim as such. With DVI, its likely not much of an issue because they generally don't come longer than 5 meters.

With analog cabling (like VGA) it becomes an issue with higher resolutions and longer cabling available. I use a 25' cable for my HTPC at 1080i without signal issues, but YMMV.

 

[lifeguard1999]

Originally posted by: rbV5
Official DVI specs mandate signal strength at 5 meters (~16'), so at least that far with regular DVI cables. Using fiber optic cables can get you 100 meter cable lengths if you have lots 'O Cash.

Just because a manufacturer will make a cable a certain length doesn't mean it will carry the signal you want without degradation, and it's silly to claim as such. With DVI, its likely not much of an issue because they generally don't come longer than 5 meters.

With analog cabling (like VGA) it becomes an issue with higher resolutions and longer cabling available. I use a 25' cable for my HTPC at 1080i without signal issues, but YMMV.

rbV5 is correct. I use 50m fiber optic DVI cables at work. We run them under our raised flooring from the supercomputers. Interestingly enough, they have a transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) ends to the cable. If you put the Rx onto the graphics card, it will not work. (Duh!) Half of our cables did not work because we simply did not read the directions and had them hooked up backwards. Then we had to restring the cables under the floor a second time. We learned our lesson the hard way.

Now, fiber optic DVI cables are (thus far to my knowledge) only Single-Link DVI. There are no Dual-Link DVI cables. Thus to run a 30" Dell or Apple display you need to use copper cables (good up to 15m) with DVI repeaters.

 

[aggressor]

Well, I ask because I need way more than the standard length. I am talking about 150-200ft worth of cable from the computer to the monitor. I'll have to check in to those fiber optic cables.

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: aggressor
Well, I ask because I need way more than the standard length. I am talking about 150-200ft worth of cable from the computer to the monitor. I'll have to check in to those fiber optic cables.

at one part of my work (giant software company).


we had to have our workstations in a rack closet because of security reasons.


there are places that sell these very very expensive PCI boxes. you install a pci card in the machine (the rack) and it runs a standard cat6 cable to the external box, which has a pci slot, and like ps/2 mouse ports, audio and usb. you plug a pci card into that box with dvi/analog out, and plug your monitors into that.

so i guess in that case you could probably go for 1000 meters or whatever the cat6 spec is for.

the boxes were like $1000 though...