Any idea how long you can have a DVI-D cable on a desktop?

I am trying a 10m length but getting no picture.

And can you use a 27pin cable in place of an 18pin one?

Tomo Glenn, Christchurch, New Zealand

In the words of Shakespeare "Suck it and see".

In other words, there is no absolute rule for the length of DVI cables, but 10m is borderline.

In general 5m is the maximum ofr HD displays and longer lengths will work with lower resolutions. So to see if your cable is working at all, set your system to something quite low such as 800x600 and see if that works. Then try raising the resolution until it stops working.

Your choice then are to use a VGA cable, use a shorter DVI cable or use a DVI booster.

As for the type of connector, in general DVD-D is the basic setup so any higher cable shoulkd work on a DVD-D connection. (That is, the extra pins will be s=for the Analog signal or a second digital channel and won't interfere with the basic digital signal.)

That other cable sounds like it's a dual-link cable which suppoorts two digital signals.


Paul Zucker