Can I connect a VGA video splitter to ANOTHER video splitter?
here is the video splitter in mind: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817399067 i want to daisy chain TWO of these together. so one connects to my computer, and then connects to the second video splitter. what I want is 40 monitors to display the SAME image. my computer would connect to one of these eight port splitters, which would in turn connect to FOUR other splitters, then connect to 40 monitors. if I connect a video splitter to another video splitter, would it even work? thanks
Does an HDMI female to VGA male adapter need a power input?
A2A: Yes. And “adapter” is not even the right word. The specified genders imply that the conversion is from VGA to HDMI. Going from VGA to HDMI requires an active converter which converts from the analog VGA signal to a digital HDMI signal. The circuitry to do that requires power. There are scam vendors who sell worthless mere plug-to-plug adapters which do not do the required active conversion. The legitimate converters will come with a wall adapter for a power supply or the cheap ones will use a USB power cord and you have to have the powered USB A port to plug it into. (E.g., from the computer.)Update: The more common conversion requirement is from HDMI to VGA, and it is conceivable that this is what the questioner was really interested in. In the comments on this answer Neil Harris has called my attention to the fact that there now exist such converters which can pull enough power from (at least most) HDMI ports to do the video-only conversion without any additional power supply. I believe my original answer remains valid for converters which also handle audio and which operate in either direction. Furthermore, I am still unaware of a video-only VGA to HDMI converter which does not require additional power beyond what it can get from the HDMI female side.
Is it safe to use a USB splitter as power source for a couple phones? The USB splitter is connected to the wall using a regular phone charger adapter.
Define “safe”.Will you damage and kill the phone charger? It is likely. Why? Because you are going to draw more power from it than it was made to put out… namely, twice as much power as it was made to put out.Let me give you a different view. Do you know why it is important for iPhone users to use chargers made for iPhones, as opposed to using just any old phone charger? I’m not talking about the plug on the end of the cable being different. I’m talking about the part that plugs into the wall. iPhones draw quite a bit more power than Android based phones when they charge, and subsequently using a charger made for an Android phone to charge an iPhone will not only result in it talking a REALLY long time to charge the iPhone, but you will eventually end up with a wall charger that doesn’t charge phones anymore.So. Is what you propose safe? You can PURCHASE a wall charger with a splitter built into it. The concept itself is safe. You aren’t going to blow up the things you have charging. However, if you draw more power from the wall charger than it has been rated for… you’ll kill the wall charger. It isn’t potentially safe for the wall charger.Of course, all this depends on the SPECIFIC hardware you call a “regular phone charger”, and whether this pair of phones are iPhones are Android.Oh… and the charger will say on it somewhere what the output voltage and amperage are. I wouldn’t use a splitter with anything less than a 2 amp charger (2A or higher), and that would only be for Android phones. I wouldn’t charge two iPhones on a splitter even if it was an Apple charger. Now, I might charge two iPhones on a Targus 7 port hub that had a 3.5 amp power supply… but that’s a horse of another color.
What’s better in terms of quality, USB to HDMI or VGA to HDMI? I am looking to setup a dual (non-mirrored) display, but I only have one HDMI port on my computer.
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Can I use speaker wires to extend my vga cable and USB Cable?
While in theory you could cut a VGA or USB cable and splice the two ends together with lengths of speaker wire It would be -- at best -- a "kludge" (USB) and impractical (USB 3 / VGA). USB 1 and 2 requires 4 conductors plus a shield (so in theory two lengths of speaker wire would work with some form of foil wrap for a shield). USB 3 requires 9 wires plus a shield and VGA requires 15 wires so neither would really be practical since it would be almost impossible to keep the right wires connected to the right pins given the lack of color coding on the speaker wire. See link 1 and 2. I would advise trying Monoprice (Link 3) or some liquidation/surplus stores or eBay. You can usually find both VGA and USB cables fairly cheaply. Long USB or VGA cables can be had for under $15 so don't waste the speaker wire and frustrate yourself.
Can I use an HDMI splitter to extend, not duplicate, my laptop screen across two monitors?
I disagree with all other answers. It is not only possible but it is normal.A simple HDMI splitter can in fact extend desktop to two different monitors.In fact I have a splitter bought for like £2 which does the job.I have DVI to HDMI cable going from this to my 46″ Samsung C750 as a monitor and a 15m HDMI cable going along the wall over the sealing to my PRM-25 video projector.They are both connected to a single DVI port via splitter. They both have different resolutions and they can be run at different frequencies. For example I have watched a movie at 24fps on projector to match the frame rate for smoother playback.I have set up VLC to display full screen to 2nd monitor so whenever I double click a playing movie window, it goes full screen on projector.They show up both correctly on Windows and Mac.My videocard is Zotac NVidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2047 and it acts exactly the same as my old Palit NVidia GeForce GTX 460 768.No problem whatsoever. Plug and play. As if it was physically connected to another port on actual video card.It all depends on bandwidth. You can hook up as many monitors as you like as long as the combined bandwidth does not exceed the total available.There is a way how to reduce the bandwidth of each screen noticeably by turning off overscan which is black margin around the image sent to monitor as extra unnecessary data. You might have to create a custom resolution for that though.
What does it mean when your computer displays a "VGA No Signal" message?
It means that the monitor is working but does not see the computer is turned on. The message means your monitor is working okay but is not getting a signal from your computer. The best thing to do is make sure your computer is powering on. Look on the back of your computer and see if you more then one video port on the back.They will look like the blue one or the white one. See if you have 2 of the blue or 2 of the white. If you do then move your monitor cord to other video port and see if it works or not.If that is not the problem then there is something wrong with your computer is not turning on or you have a problem that you are getting any video from your computer.
Can I use another device as a power supply for an HDMI cable converter besides a laptop?
Yes. A device rarely cares* about what the source of it’s power is as long as the power is at a voltage it desires and can provide enough current.*A certain fruity company likes to add in “security” devices to it’s cables and chargers to “prevent counterfeiting”. These devices usually care about the source of their power and will either run in a minimal fashion or not even run at all with a power source that doesn’t have the “security” chip.
How can I connect two monitors simultaneously to my single USB-C port laptop, without buying expensive dual USB-C dock (using only two USB-C single display adapters)?
Not sure what you mean by “USB-C single display adapters”… are you talking about a Type-C to DisplayPort (or HDMI) cable? That’s not a display adapter. That’s a cable. The display adapter is in your laptop. The cable activates a Type-C “alternate mode” that causes your laptop to send DisplayPort signals over some unusaed wires in the Type C cable, and depending on display mode, the USB 3.1 signals as well.If you just want the display, you don’t have to buy a dock/hub. If you want the display, USB, power, and other things all at once, you’ll need the dock. Multi-display-port docks are expensive because they’re not sold in high volume and they typically include a USB 3.1 hub, a DisplayPort hub, and a means of powering your laptop.You can buy a direct Type-C to DisplayPort hub, which will let you drive two or three monitors, depending on the hub and the resolution of the monitors, as long as your Type-C port does have DisplayPort as an alternate mode. You can’t power the laptop at the same time with this kind of device.I found this one for about $80 on Amazon, there may be cheaper options, but it’s still about 1/2 to 1/3 the price of a dual-port hub. I’ve seen DisplayPort to DisplayPort hubs for around $40, but then you need to worry about the cabling between the hub and your Type-C port.USB Type-C hubs do not generally pass through an alternate mode function such as DisplayPort. That would actually require a hub that’s got both USB and DisplayPort hub hardware in it, and can run an alternate mode negotiation at every port. It would get expensive.Read MoreDave Haynie's answer to Can I connect a USB-C display adapter to USB-C hub that is connected to my laptop, and still get an output video signal?Dave Haynie's answer to Is USB 3.1 Type A as capable as USB 3.1 Type C, to the extent where I could get a USB 3.1 Type A to 4 port USB 3.1 Type C Hub and get the full advantages?
Does a cable splitter affect quality when not connected to a device?
First, the other answers that tell you to terminate an unused splitter output leg (or cable line attached to it) with a resistor cap are 100% correct. You can buy a package of them cheap any place that TV antenna accessories are sold, like the electrical department of a big hardware store. Failure to do so can cause reflections back to the splitter than can have unpredictable effects on its other legs, none of which are good. But there's more: if I've read your question correctly, you've installed a second 2-port splitter at the output leg of your first splitter. That inserts more loss than necessary in the output ports of the second splitter. In very simplistic terms, the output of your second splitter is down to less than 25% of the power level of your cable input. What you should do instead is retire both 2-port splitters and replace them with a single 3-port splitter. That would raise your minimum signal level at each output to a little under 33%. That still sounds like too much loss, but it should work okay with almost any cable system. I ran a 4-port splitter for years with no problems.