Using a Mac monitor on a PC

tcbetka wrote on 11/13/2008, 8:14 PM

I got a great first generation 20" Mac Cinema displays--the ones with the little "kick-stand" in the back. Not the newer ones with the pedestal. But I've used this type of monitor in the past and they are great; certainly much better than the 22" Acer LCD I have on the editing machine now.

So here's the deal--I would like to use this on a PC. It's got an ADC end, but I bought one of http://store.apple.com/us/product/M8661LL/B?fnode=MTY1NDA5OQ&mco=MjE0NTg4NAthese[/link] little beauties. Well, they're not exactly "little"... But anyway, I bought one of them and have been trying to get the unit to work on my PC with am nVidia GeForce 8500 GT card, which has a DVI port. But it hasn't worked out yet. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? I've Googled around for a couple nights now, and find a variety of answers from "it can't be done," to "it's a piece of cake," to..."you need an ADC to DVI converter that also powers the monitor." So that's what I bought.

I think it should work, but was hoping someone here may have gotten a Mac monitor to work on a PC so they could give me some tips how to make it work.

Thanks.

TB

Comments

rmack350 wrote on 11/13/2008, 8:44 PM

I use two of the kickstand monitors on my PC at work. The down side is that it's hard to adjust their brightness. There's a freeware control panel extension but it doesn't seem to work well.

Rob

tcbetka wrote on 11/13/2008, 9:02 PM

Thanks for the post Rob...I thought there was someone on here that had said they did that. Maybe it was you, but I cannot remember.

Anyway, I take it you're using the ADC/DVI converter? If so, what video card are you running? Also, are you just going right to DVI, or did you go to the VGA port on the video card? The reason I asked the last question is that I have seen a couple threads in various forums where they talk about just having to get a DVI-VGA converter in addition to the ADC-DVI converter. My nVidia card has both VGA and DVI ports, and of course I tried the Cinema display into the DVI port--but it just didn't work. The little power light comes on when you push on the icon, but the screen stays black. I know the monitor works because my friend shipped it to me a couple weeks ago, after taking it off his Mac G5. He bought the system used, but in mint condition. he told me the monitor functioned perfectly, without any dead pixels whatsoever (and sent me pics of it working). So unless it was damaged in shipping, it's got to work. The shipping box was in perfect shape when it arrived, and he had it packed in a plastic bag surrounded by about 6 million packing peanuts. It was well-protected.

I must be doing something wrong--because it sounds as though it really should work. But I am really getting bummed out using this 22" Acer when the Mac is sitting about 10 feet away, lol. In all fairness, the Acer wasn't purchased to edit digital video--it simply isn't that good of a monitor. But I needed something bigger than 17" and that was all I had around. So I need to get the Mac unit working.

Thanks again Rob.

TB

rmack350 wrote on 11/13/2008, 9:21 PM

I'm using an ATI card with two DVI outputs. It's been a while so I don't remember if there was ever a problem like that.

Those adapters should have USB cables too. Those are used to control the monitor brightness via software (you'll have to go find the utility). You might need to make sure those are plugged into the PC as well.

I'm at home now and out on a shoot tomorrow but we might get back to the office early and I can look at the adapters then.

Rob

tcbetka wrote on 11/13/2008, 9:33 PM

Thanks Rob...

I did plug the USB cable in, but it still didn't work. My card has both DVI and VGA, but the DVI port was open--so I have no idea why it didn't work. I did find something about the Cinema displays needing DVI-D, and not DVI-I; but I am not sure what to make of this. My friend (who assembled half of my new PC, including the video card) told me that my card was in fact DVI-D--so it really should work, from everything I have found online.

Any tips you could give me would be much appreciated. I can't wait to get a nice monitor happening here.

TB

EDIT: tips not "tops"...oops.

rmack350 wrote on 11/14/2008, 5:02 PM

No tips. Mine both work. The card shouldn't matter. I see nothing crazy about the adapters.

The main thing I dislike is that the monitors aren't adjustable. Mine don't quite match each other so I've had to choose one to edit stills on and ignore the other.

Rob

tcbetka wrote on 11/14/2008, 5:14 PM

Well, I am going to try to get mine going again this weekend. I just can't figure out why it didn't work before. It's good to know that the card shouldn't matter--and I really didn't think it did, especially when I found several sites that seem to indicate that it should work.

Thanks again.

TB