KVM Extender video quality?

[AV]

I am thinking about buying a KVM Extender so I can put my computer in a
wardrobe and get it definately quite when I sit by the computer. My
wonder is how good the video quality is for KVM Extenders. Will I get
any noticable decrease in video quality? I don't play any fancy games
and have a screen resolution of 1152 * 864 pixels. I might be a bit
picky about having a clear screen though.

I have found this one that I would buy if I was sure it didn't make my
video noticably worse:

Aten Cat5 KVM Extender USB

http://www.kvm-switches-online.com/ce700.html

Greatful for advice!

 

[GT]

I am thinking about buying a KVM Extender so I can put my computer in a
wardrobe and get it definately quite when I sit by the computer. My wonder
is how good the video quality is for KVM Extenders. Will I get any
noticable decrease in video quality? I don't play any fancy games and have
a screen resolution of 1152 * 864 pixels. I might be a bit picky about
having a clear screen though.

I have found this one that I would buy if I was sure it didn't make my
video noticably worse:

Aten Cat5 KVM Extender USB

http://www.kvm-switches-online.com/ce700.html

How far away is the cupboard? $349 sounds like a lot to get further away
from a noisy system - had you considered spending the money on silencing the
system - a new case + water cooling. This would mean you could have the
system exactly where it is.

If the cupboard is near, why not just buy longer cables. Keyboard and mouse
extension cables are very cheap and I'm sure you could get a longer video
cable for much much less than the above price.

 

[kony]

I am thinking about buying a KVM Extender so I can put my computer in a
wardrobe and get it definately quite when I sit by the computer.

So will you have a hole cut into this wardrobe, possibly
even a fan mounted on it, or is it going to build up heat?

My
wonder is how good the video quality is for KVM Extenders.

The quality is a factor of cable length, cable quality, and
bandwidth your video display is using. Higher resolutions
and refresh rates will suffer more than lower ones.

Will I get
any noticable decrease in video quality?

yes, at a certain threshold the quality decrease will be
enough for a human's eyes to notice it. That threshold will
depend on the above mentioned factors. In general, if you
had short cables and 100Hz refresh or lower and 1280x1024
resolution or lower, the effect may not be too bad, but
there's also the variable about how sensitive your
particular eyes are, the quality of your monitor and how
picky/discriminating/etc, you are.

I don't play any fancy games

Fancy games have nothing to do with it... all a matter of
resolution and a refresh rate, which can easily be same for
a game as 2D general purpose uses.

and have a screen resolution of 1152 * 864 pixels. I might be a bit
picky about having a clear screen though.

Well you may find it acceptible, but I think there will be a
minor degradation. You may easily get used to it and only
notice if both configs were side-by-side, but that's like
fortune telling and I try to avoid it.

I have found this one that I would buy if I was sure it didn't make my
video noticably worse:

Aten Cat5 KVM Extender USB

http://www.kvm-switches-online.com/ce700.html

You'd want a normal KVM, not that, with the shortest cables
possible of highest quality possible. I"m thinking of
having your wardrobe right next to your desk and monitor...
if it's not right next to it, your video will suffer.

 

[AV]

10 meters away only. Compared to the 150 meters that this device is said
to handle it shouldn't be much but still perhaps risk of not so good
video quality?

I have a silencing box I bought several years ago that was more
expensive than this solution and it is still not completely quite. And
with my new computer it is a bit too warm in there. So for me it seems
like a very good solution to buy such a KVM Extender if it gives good
video. Then I could put about 3 computers probably in that wardrobe (it
is rather large) - and it would become completely silent.

The wardrobe is a small "room" where you can hang clothes. With a normal
inhouse door to it. No electrical outlet though so I will have to think
about that.

 

[AV]

So will you have a hole cut into this wardrobe, possibly

even a fan mounted on it, or is it going to build up heat?

It is a rather large wardrobe and I think it won't be necessary.

yes, at a certain threshold the quality decrease will be
enough for a human's eyes to notice it. That threshold will
depend on the above mentioned factors. In general, if you
had short cables and 100Hz refresh or lower and 1280x1024
resolution or lower, the effect may not be too bad, but
there's also the variable about how sensitive your
particular eyes are, the quality of your monitor and how
picky/discriminating/etc, you are.

Yes I am under those measures and the CAT5 cable lenght will be about 10
meters (the KVM Extender can handle up to 150 meters).

Well you may find it acceptible, but I think there will be a
minor degradation. You may easily get used to it and only
notice if both configs were side-by-side, but that's like
fortune telling and I try to avoid it.

You'd want a normal KVM, not that, with the shortest cables
possible of highest quality possible. I"m thinking of
having your wardrobe right next to your desk and monitor...
if it's not right next to it, your video will suffer.

Why a normal KVM? Doesn't KVM Exenders have some extra amplifying
features and some error corrections to make it possible to handle
connections up to in this case 150 meters? Then shouldn't 10 meters be a
"breeze"? Also, with an Extender I can use a slim nice CAT5 kable which
is much neater to handle. Will an Extender really give less quality than
a normal KVM?

Thanks for your help!

 

[kony]

It is a rather large wardrobe and I think it won't be necessary.

How big?
You might be surprised how easy it is to heat up a somewhat
restricted space by 10-20 degrees when you have a 150W
heater in it, which is essentially what the typical system
is if not more for a gaming-capable system.

Yes I am under those measures and the CAT5 cable lenght will be about 10
meters (the KVM Extender can handle up to 150 meters).

No, that's if you have no CAT5 cable, if everything else is
as optimal as possible, if the ONLY link you have is a short
high quality cable from the system to the KVM switch and a
short high quality cable from it to the monitor. Absolutely
zero cat5 cable and not a 2nd pass-through box.

Why a normal KVM?

Becaues that's exactly what it's designed to do?

Doesn't KVM Exenders have some extra amplifying
features and some error corrections to make it possible to handle
connections up to in this case 150 meters?

Sure, but nothing's perfect.
"handle" means you get a picture, it doesn't mean it's a
"good" one. Any way you look at it, you already have 1/2
the cable used in a traditional KVM before the extender box
amplifies it, with the timing corroded or the noise in the
signal already... then again you get more noise on the other
end going from the extender to the cable and device. The
extender only makes it worse.

In summary, just don't do it if you really care about image
quality.

Then shouldn't 10 meters be a
"breeze"? Also, with an Extender I can use a slim nice CAT5 kable which
is much neater to handle. Will an Extender really give less quality than
a normal KVM?

How can it not be clear. I write it then you ask again.

The answer is simple: you will get a worse image.

 

[GT]

10 meters away only. Compared to the 150 meters that this device is said
to handle it shouldn't be much but still perhaps risk of not so good video
quality?

I have a silencing box I bought several years ago that was more expensive
than this solution and it is still not completely quite. And with my new
computer it is a bit too warm in there. So for me it seems like a very
good solution to buy such a KVM Extender if it gives good video. Then I
could put about 3 computers probably in that wardrobe (it is rather
large) - and it would become completely silent.

The wardrobe is a small "room" where you can hang clothes. With a normal
inhouse door to it. No electrical outlet though so I will have to think
about that.

If the PC gets a bit warm in its current case, then 3 of them would heat a
wardrobe in no time, so you might need to have fans in the door of the
wardrobe? Worth considering!

 

[kony]

10 meters away only. Compared to the 150 meters that this device is said
to handle it shouldn't be much but still perhaps risk of not so good
video quality?

I have a silencing box I bought several years ago that was more
expensive than this solution and it is still not completely quite. And
with my new computer it is a bit too warm in there. So for me it seems
like a very good solution to buy such a KVM Extender if it gives good
video. Then I could put about 3 computers probably in that wardrobe (it
is rather large) - and it would become completely silent.

You do realize that a system can be inaudible if it has
optimized airflow/fans, and even easier if tucked under a
desk?

If your other 2 systems don't need optimal video quality,
they might be better put remotely, though you might not even
need the KVM then, rather using windows remote desktop for
managing them... all depends on what the need is.

 

[AV]

Thanks for your advice!

 

[AV]

It is a rather large wardrobe and I think it won't be necessary.

How big?
You might be surprised how easy it is to heat up a somewhat
restricted space by 10-20 degrees when you have a 150W
heater in it, which is essentially what the typical system
is if not more for a gaming-capable system.

I am testing the wardrobe now and the computer is cooler inside than it
was in the server silencing box. The temperature in the large wardrobe
only increases a few degrees Celsius. From 19 to 23 degrees Celsius.

I am remote controlling it from my slower 2nd computer with VNC and and
actually that is almost completely ok for me. When running VNC within a
100 mbps LAN it updates ok for most things and the video is clear.
However I still need a computer by my side making some noice. However I
like this solution and will make a Media Center computer of the fast one
and buy a TV-card (and I might try KVM/KVM Extender some time in the
future - best if I had the opportunity to find someone I could borrow
and test from).

Actually the store said that if I opened the box with the extender very
carefully it would be ok to return it but since it is buying over the
Internet which means some hassle to send things back and forth I will
wait a little while more, perhaps getting a bit wiser meantime.

 

[kony]

I am testing the wardrobe now and the computer is cooler inside than it
was in the server silencing box.

Server silencing box?
Well unless I overlooked it, this is an entirely new
variable. Why all these special and unusal ways to try to
reduce noise though? It's not hard to build a quiet system
with forethought to the case, heatsink, fans.

Then again, I have no idea how big your wardrobe is.

The temperature in the large wardrobe
only increases a few degrees Celsius. From 19 to 23 degrees Celsius.

19C seems a bit cold but if that's the typical room temp,
year-round, it should be even easier to have a system out by
the desk that is quiet-running.

I am remote controlling it from my slower 2nd computer with VNC and and
actually that is almost completely ok for me. When running VNC within a
100 mbps LAN it updates ok for most things and the video is clear.
However I still need a computer by my side making some noice. However I
like this solution and will make a Media Center computer of the fast one
and buy a TV-card (and I might try KVM/KVM Extender some time in the
future - best if I had the opportunity to find someone I could borrow
and test from).

Actually the store said that if I opened the box with the extender very
carefully it would be ok to return it but since it is buying over the
Internet which means some hassle to send things back and forth I will
wait a little while more, perhaps getting a bit wiser meantime.

That's very generous of them, often a restocking fee is
charged if the merchandise worked- and I can't really find
fault with them for doing it as no vendor is "supposed" to
be reselling used stock as new, which means a cost for them
in resale value.

 

[AV]

Server silencing box?

Well unless I overlooked it, this is an entirely new
variable. Why all these special and unusal ways to try to
reduce noise though? It's not hard to build a quiet system
with forethought to the case, heatsink, fans.

Because this solution to simply put the computer(s) in the wardrobe is
the one that requires the least amount of work. I don't have to change
anything (if a KVM or something else would work for me). Another
important thing is that such a solution will work on any future computer
that I buy. A one time solution that fixes my wish for silence etc for
todays as well as future computers. I had this in mind with the server
silencing box but the wardrobe is even better since I can contain
several computers. Also the server silencing box was quiet but not
completely quiet.

A third thing is that my fastest computer is a "Home-pc" that I rent for
3 years from my company and then I can buy it out hopefully cheap. If I
don't want to buy I can choose so too. So on that computer I cannot
really make such changes. And when it comes to sound I don't think it is
that easy on that computer to change it into a completely silent one.

Dell Dimension 8400 P4 3.4 GHz.

All previous Dells that I have experienced had been soooo quiet, but
this one was not and I didn't know until I got it home - surprised but
the fact was that for the Dells that had a CPU of over 3 Ghz was no
longer so silent. The fan is really strong (good for the computer
hardware but not for my ears).

Anyway, I might be even pickier about sound than about screen resolution
and in my bedroom I has to be completely quiet when I sleep and to be
able to have the computer on during the night the most certain way to
solve it is to have the box in another room. And the way my apartment
looks I want to be able to sit by my computer in my bedroom.

If remote VNC is clear enough for my eyes perhaps a KVM is too...? but
on the other hand might be hard to compare since it is two different
solutions and the problem with VNC is not really the sharpness in the
picture but the update problem (which is not that slow really in my
LAN). The picture is just as clear as with no remote controlling but the
slower updating is of course possible to see).

One interesting (but perhaps not that surprising) is that it feels
faster to run my new computer through remote control from my 2nd
computer (AMD Athlon 800) that to run things directly on my 2nd
computer. This since my new computer is so very much faster and all my
2nd computer does is to retrieve the screen of what the other computer
do. So most program behave faster through remote control that if I run
them locally on the 2nd computer.

 

[kony]

If remote VNC is clear enough for my eyes perhaps a KVM is too...?

There's no way to maket that parallel because they're
different technologies and different methods to get the
video across. You will have degraded picture from the KVM,
period. The only issue is if _you_ find the degradation too
severe. As mentioned previously, the best results will be
from the shortest high quality cables possible.

...but
on the other hand might be hard to compare since it is two different
solutions and the problem with VNC is not really the sharpness in the
picture but the update problem (which is not that slow really in my
LAN). The picture is just as clear as with no remote controlling but the
slower updating is of course possible to see).

Yes, they're both tradeoffs.

One interesting (but perhaps not that surprising) is that it feels
faster to run my new computer through remote control from my 2nd
computer (AMD Athlon 800) that to run things directly on my 2nd
computer. This since my new computer is so very much faster and all my
2nd computer does is to retrieve the screen of what the other computer
do. So most program behave faster through remote control that if I run
them locally on the 2nd computer.

Yes, that is expected, though if you're running WinXP on an
Athlon 800 system that alone is part of the reason why it
doesn't seem as "snappy" for the more common basic tasks.