ghosts on the new monitor

murphey

murphey

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murphey
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I decided to replace my old but bullet-proof Sony Trinitron monitor with a new Samsung. Why, you may ask? Because Costco has a sale on the Samsung, and I really need more than a 14in monitor.

Here's the configuration: HP running XP/SP3 connected to the Samsung 2494HM using a VGA cable. Set to 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz. There's "ghosts" or multiple outlines on everything. These outlines are only to the right of the image - and it's all images, icons, text, etc.

1280 x 800 is better but still not great. I've tried a number of other resolutions with the same problem.

I've got a slightly smaller Samsung 2343bwx on the Mac with a VGA cable and it's great.

I changed power cords, no difference. Changed the VGA cable, again, no difference. Anyone got any ideas? If I can't get this resolved, I'll return the monitor - the ghosty-things drive me crazy and play havoc with my aging eyes.

thanks
 
An an LCD you HAVE TO set the resolution to exactly what the monitor does native. Is that 1920x1080? What model is the new monitor?

If you're getting ghosts make sure you're using the DVI cable and not VGA.

A loose VGA cable can have noise like that.
 
Unfortunately, I don't have DVI output on the HP computer. The new monitor is Samsung SyncMaster 2494HM.
Will check the VGA cables again.
 
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Murph,

Try the monitor on your Mac and see how it looks.

It may be that your video card is straining at those resolutions. If it's desktop PC you can get a decent new video card for $75 or less, provided you have an AGP slot. PCI cards are hard to come by but you can find some surplus,

There is absolutely no problem returning stuff to Costco. Take it back and try one of the Hanns-G or the Visio.
 
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Mismatched resolutions will often create artifacts like blurred images and distortion but I don't think "ghosting" is a common result of that. The most likely cause is a long and/or cheap video cable (assuming an analog connection). You can pretty much determine the quality of the cable by it's diameter, the crappy ones are little more than an eighth inch and the good ones are a bit over a quarter inch. The longer the cable the more important the quality of the cable. You might also check to see if the monitor has the ability to disable the termination of the video signals. A lack of termination would cause noticeable ghosting.
 
gismo said:
Mismatched resolutions will often create artifacts like blurred images and distortion but I don't think "ghosting" is a common result of that. The most likely cause is a long and/or cheap video cable (assuming an analog connection).
Click to expand...

a definite possibility. the computer is on a rack on the side of the wall, the monitor is on my desk. There's a 6 ft cable from the computer to an A/B box, then another 6ft cable from the A/B box to the monitor. I'll pick up a 10 ft cable on the morrow to eliminate the A/B box and see if that helps.

You can pretty much determine the quality of the cable by it's diameter, the crappy ones are little more than an eighth inch and the good ones are a bit over a quarter inch. The longer the cable the more important the quality of the cable. You might also check to see if the monitor has the ability to disable the termination of the video signals. A lack of termination would cause noticeable ghosting.
Click to expand...
How do I check/disable termination of the video signals?

Part 2 - I took the Samsung on the mac and hooked it up to the XP box - slightly better. I'm wondering if the HDMI capability is part of the problem.
 
Does it have an "auto-adjust" in the menu? This often fixes some issues.
 
murphey said:
a definite possibility. the computer is on a rack on the side of the wall, the monitor is on my desk. There's a 6 ft cable from the computer to an A/B box, then another 6ft cable from the A/B box to the monitor. I'll pick up a 10 ft cable on the morrow to eliminate the A/B box and see if that helps.
Click to expand...

Be sure to get a "good" cable. You don't need a ridiculously priced "Monster" cable but don't go with the cheapest you can find.

How do I check/disable termination of the video signals?
Click to expand...

Dunno, and it might not be possible to disable it (and you want the termination to be enabled if there's a choice). You'd have to check the manual. You could check for 75 ohms to ground on one of the video lines but if it's open the termination could be through a capacitor. But if you see approximately 75 ohms to ground it's definitely terminated.
 
Bleed over from the A/B switch? Drive it straight from the PC to the monitor. I had a similar problem with the cheap POS KVM the company supplied.
 
murphey said:
a definite possibility. the computer is on a rack on the side of the wall, the monitor is on my desk. There's a 6 ft cable from the computer to an A/B box, then another 6ft cable from the A/B box to the monitor. I'll pick up a 10 ft cable on the morrow to eliminate the A/B box and see if that helps.
Click to expand...
It's the A/B box. You likely don't need the A/B to connect two computers if one has DVI. The monitor controls let you switch the source.

murphey said:
How do I check/disable termination of the video signals?

Part 2 - I took the Samsung on the mac and hooked it up to the XP box - slightly better. I'm wondering if the HDMI capability is part of the problem.
Click to expand...

Not likely. HDMI is DVI with just the connector pins in different places.
 
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