USB, VGA extensions - Any problems getting the computer out of the room?

[TyRip]

I think I have a great oppurtunity to make fairly short cable runs and get my computer out of my one room setup. This will be great for both tracking and critical mixing situations.

I will definitely need some longer cable, however, and I was wondering if some of you who have done this can help. I just want any possible problems to be minimized.

Here is what is getting connected to my computer:

1 Monitor - normal VGA cable
1 USB mouse
1 USB keyboard
Yamaha 01V96 mixer/ control surface - USB connection
Yamaha I88X - Firewire connection
External HD - Firewire connection
Flash drive - occassional USB connection

I think I can pass through the wall around an electrical outlet into an adjacent room and only need about 8 feet from the wall to the computer.

I can make the Firewire connections fine with a 15ft firewire cable from the I88X and a 6ft cable from the Hard drive (which will be with the computer, out of the room).

I need at least 15, maybe 20-25ft extension on the monitor. Will a 25ft VGA extension cable cause any problems?

USB is where my primary concern lies. Could I use a powered hub run from a standard 15ft USB cable and plug the V96, keyboard, mouse, and flash drives in with no issues? Are there other solutions I should look into?

Thanks a lot.


Tyler

[quentinrittman]

Originally Posted by TyRip

I think I have a great oppurtunity to make fairly short cable runs and get my computer out of my one room setup. This will be great for both tracking and critical mixing situations.

I will definitely need some longer cable, however, and I was wondering if some of you who have done this can help. I just want any possible problems to be minimized.

Here is what is getting connected to my computer:

1 Monitor - normal VGA cable
1 USB mouse
1 USB keyboard
Yamaha 01V96 mixer/ control surface - USB connection
Yamaha I88X - Firewire connection
External HD - Firewire connection
Flash drive - occassional USB connection

I think I can pass through the wall around an electrical outlet into an adjacent room and only need about 8 feet from the wall to the computer.

I can make the Firewire connections fine with a 15ft firewire cable from the I88X and a 6ft cable from the Hard drive (which will be with the computer, out of the room).

I need at least 15, maybe 20-25ft extension on the monitor. Will a 25ft VGA extension cable cause any problems?

USB is where my primary concern lies. Could I use a powered hub run from a standard 15ft USB cable and plug the V96, keyboard, mouse, and flash drives in with no issues? Are there other solutions I should look into?

Thanks a lot.


Tyler

with the vga cable extension, providing you're using a high quality pre-made cable, or if you make your own make sure you use high quality cable, dual-screened. I've got a 30 foot cable run through the wall and up to the roof in my lounge for a data projector and it doesn't affect image quality at all.

with regards to your usb issue, i'd definitely ue the hub, and maybe look at getting an Active usb extension cable, you can easily get them up to bout 25 feet i think from memory ( 7.5 metres-ish?) which is a better option than a regular usb cable that length.

should be right with those options.

[abit]

How about DVI? 30 feet.

[maxy]

I had problems with my usb keyboards and mouse. I would recomend just getting some keyboard and mouse extenders. I found some new on ebay - I got 15ft, but you can get longer, for $15 and it solved alot of problems. The usb is cleaner looking but about once a month my keybord would be undetected and I'd have to plug in my old non usb keybord - just a hassel. I'm talking about windows for mac there seems to be no problems at all.

Maxy

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by abit

How about DVI? 30 feet.

If you're using affordable off-the-shelf DVI cables from CompUSA or GuitarCenter or whatever, 30 feet is definitely max...and it's still not 100% certain everything will work correctly.

I've used some DVI cables from Extron and Key Digital Systems that will do 75 feet, but man do you pay for that priviledge.

[LewisWu]

I can't remember who makes them, but I there is a device that uses ethernet to extend the range of usb devices up to 100 feet..

[T_R_S]

Paasive DVI cables up to 50' last time I checked @ www.mycableshop.com

[Manfriday]

Will a 25ft VGA extension cable cause any problems?

It depends on the quality of the cable, and on the graphics card.

I had a crappy extension cable and there was a lot of ghosting on the screne.
I bought a better quality cable and the ghosting went away.

I got a second monitor and stuck a cheap dual-head ati card in the computer, and there was ghosting on the second video output.
I put in a better quality card and now image quality is fine.

[abit]

This is what I'm trying to do.

Card dvi/vga
Monitor apple 23" HD with DVI 1900x1200- MAIN

I need:
KVM DVI/USB 2x1 or 4x1, FW would be great too.
have to run 35' cables from control room to machine room.
I want my main monitor to be on DVI.

I tried to google and make ph calls, but dealers seems doesn't know for sure what works.
One place is a geffen.com - but price bite my $ss.
And geffen doesn't have a hotkey.
U have to press button to switch monitors.
This is not reliable.

Also there is a length, resolution, DVI-I/DVI-D, dual/single link etc
It's not as 123.

I used to run regular 4x1 KVM.
but this is a little different story.
And it was short run.

Anybody tried Avocet KVM's?

[Arka]

A friend of mine got a setup with the computer in another room. I´d say roughly 25 ft of VGA cabling. When he used a CRT monitor everything was fine, but when he replaced it with a cheapo 17" TFT he got this terrible distorsion that looks like a vertical scan about once a second. He´s was still using the TFT last time I checked, but personally I couldn´t work five minutes on it.