Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hi,

Am new to this site so not sure if this is going into the correct sub-forum but thought I'd start here. If this is indeed the wrong place for my message I trust the mods will move it accordingly Now on to my question...

Q: I wish to connect my Xbox to my monitor whilst having it also connect to my TV, thus having a choice whether the signal appears on my monitor or the TV. Can this be done?

My setup is old but here are the principle elements

TV: Samsung 40" LE40A686M1. (It has 4 HDMI in of which I'm only using three)
Monitor: Dell 30" 3007FP (it appears to have only one VGA input)
Video Card: nVidia GTX 650

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Arthur

Yes.


Did you mean the Dell 3007WFP instead of 3007FP ?
I cant seem to find any information for the 3007FP, but I can find loads for the 3007WFP, I also have a 3007WFP at home.
The 3007WFP has a single DVI-D dual-link input.

The Xbox 360 can output in various formats depending on the xbox cable used, or if you have an Elite or Slim xbox then they also have a HDMI output.

For best results, use the HDMI output from the xbox, connect it to a HDMI splitter such as this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cablesson%C2%AE ... rid_pt_0_2 with 1 output to your TV and the other to your Monitor, not you will need to convert form HDMI to DVI for the monitor.

If the xbox does not have a HDMI output AND the 3007FP (not the 3007WFP) has VGA only, then you can use the xbox VGA cable and then a VGA splitter such as this http://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-Port-V ... a+splitter to connect to both the TV and monitor.

_________________
| Gigabyte X79S-UP5-WiFi Skt2011 | i7 4820k @4.4GHz Watercooled (Ivy Bridge-E) | Corsair Vengence 32GB @2133MHz 11-11-11-27 2T Quad-Channel (8x4GB) | AMD R9-Fury-X 4GB @1140/505MHz + EKWB Watercooled | 256GB Crucial MX200 SSD | 8x 1TB Samsung F3 SATA-II | Corsair 850W TX PSU | 3x Dell S2209W 22"wide TFT's (5760x1080res) | Logitech Z-5400 5.1ch speakers | Win7 Ultimate x64 |

HI Delphium,

Thanks so much for answering my query! Although, it's lead me to a follow on question. Will have to plug, then unplug, to my monitor each time I wish to use the Xbox? I've searched for a switcher of sorts and evidently I'm either shite at searching or they don't make such contraptions. Also, I believe you're right, it is a 3007WFP with one DVI input.

Thanks again,
Arth

The proposed solution by Delphium still requires you to switch cables for the use of your PC and Xbox. You also need a switch box like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Goobay-Out-Manual-DVI-Switch/dp/B000OGYFSI

Here is an incredibly artsy ms paint drawing of the contraption:



You can substitute the HDMI->DVI converter and 1 duallink cable by an HDMI to DVI-D duallink cable like this one if it works out to be cheaper that way:

This would be the cable running from the HDMI splitter to the DVI switchbox.

Please note that dollarstore HDMI cables are sufficient. Here you can buy them for €2,50 each at a kind of dollarstore called Action. Same applies for the DVI cables. As long as they are DVI duallink cables, they can go as low as about €6,50 a piece here. Please note that you need duallink cables, no single link. Dual link have all the pins in the grid. Single link cables are missing out on the middle pins.

Illustration of different DVI cables:


Please also note that the switch boxes and HDMI splitters are just examples of the products. We do not say the hyperlinked products are the cheapest to be found, or work as intended. Feel free to search for different brands and models to find cheaper substitutes.


______________________________
While you are at it messing with cables anyway, why not run an additional HDMI cable directly from the PC to the TV? Put your desktop in mirrored mode. Now you can enjoy PC games on your monitor and your TV at the same time as well, only costing you an additional €2,50 or your regional equivalent.

Svardskampe has answered well
To further add to his comments about hooking the pc up to the tv also...

A HDMI Matrix switcher would be realy good at switching any input to any output, one like this which has 4 inputs and 2 outputs

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Neet%C2%AE-HDMI ... d_sxp_f_pt
Use output A for the TV and output B for the Monitor, will allow both outputs to display the same, or can run different signals.
No multiple switchers and splitters, this rolls it into one device, which also has a handy remote control

We use some of these at work, they are an extremely usefull bit of kit.

_________________
| Gigabyte X79S-UP5-WiFi Skt2011 | i7 4820k @4.4GHz Watercooled (Ivy Bridge-E) | Corsair Vengence 32GB @2133MHz 11-11-11-27 2T Quad-Channel (8x4GB) | AMD R9-Fury-X 4GB @1140/505MHz + EKWB Watercooled | 256GB Crucial MX200 SSD | 8x 1TB Samsung F3 SATA-II | Corsair 850W TX PSU | 3x Dell S2209W 22"wide TFT's (5760x1080res) | Logitech Z-5400 5.1ch speakers | Win7 Ultimate x64 |

Nice solution Delphium, but this would cost him a whopping 70 pounds instead. The only interface he has to mess with are 2 buttons on DVI switchbox, shouldn't be too much of a hassle.
But of course equipment like this is almost standard in a tech nerds house . I'm still saving up for this incredible multimon setup from AC2 in reallife;



Also like the fact every computer in AC2 is with at least dual monitors to some triples. Like "Duh, it's hightech, of course you can't stick with 1 monitor".

Ontopic though, I'd love to see some respons from the guy, but it seems he left us?

No. Just been away on business! Now am back and going to sort this out. Still deciding on what to use as per the thread instructions. There seems to be some debate on picture quality (framerate/refresh) on other forums, but I guess I'll just need to dive in and see what happens. Will report back once things are sorted.

Cheers,
Arth

The duallink DVI and HDMI support more than enough bandwith to sustain a decent refresh rate (60hz). This would be an issue regarding single link DVI cables.