2 monitors: 1 LCD, 1 CRT

M

MFtr

Went through past posts, but did not find a clear answer to my problem. I have now 2 monitors, an CRT (named CTX) and
a new one LCD Samsung. I installed Matrox P650, which is
double DVI. The picture on LCD is superior, but the picture
on CRT is worse, not so sharp. Tried change settings, resolutions,
nothing helps much. I use DVI cable for LCD, and RGB cable
for CRT (with interface).
I wonder what I do wrong, or just the Matrox 650 will not work
well with the second monitor which is CRT?
Thank you for any help to fix my problem.
 
It's your monitor (CTX). I have one too at home, they are cheap crap. Buy a decent monitor (I use LG flat 19" CRT, which I got for a very very fair price, I work with 1600x1200 resolution and it's beautiful).
 
Yes, true, but my suggestion is to do two things, in order of simplicity:

1) Attach the CRT to the port that the LCD is on now, and attach the LCD to the port the CRT is on now. Does that affect the picture of the CRT for the better?

2) Take out the Matrox card and use a decent non-digiral singlehead card (you can get a great one for $40 these days if you don't already have one) and attach the CRT to it. How does the picture look in relation to the picture you are getting from the Matrox? If the answer is it differs significantly, you have your proof that something is awry.

nitro
Quote from 50 cent:

It's your monitor (CTX). I have one too at home, they are cheap crap. Buy a decent monitor (I use LG flat 19" CRT, which I got for a very very fair price, I work with 1600x1200 resolution and it's beautiful).
More...
 
Quote from MFtr:

Went through past posts, but did not find a clear answer to my problem. I have now 2 monitors, an CRT (named CTX) and
a new one LCD Samsung. I installed Matrox P650, which is
double DVI. The picture on LCD is superior, but the picture
on CRT is worse, not so sharp. Tried change settings, resolutions,
nothing helps much. I use DVI cable for LCD, and RGB cable
for CRT (with interface).
I wonder what I do wrong, or just the Matrox 650 will not work
well with the second monitor which is CRT?
Thank you for any help to fix my problem.
More...

Some dual cards when run in extended desktop mode step down the refresh rate and color resolution and this can affect the perceived quality of the display on some CRTs. The only solution in these cases is to upgrade the card or use two cards - one for each monitor. The two card solution is usually our preferred scenario.
 
Thank all of you for the comments. I changed adaptors, switched monitors, downloaded new drivers from Matrox - but there is no visible improvement. Great picture on Samsung 192T, and not very sharp on my CRT. Will try with some better CRT from my friend next week. I like to have a CRT monitor as a second one because it displays better news bars etc.
Interesting suggestion from CalTrader about 2 separate graphic cards, I understand plugged in to PCI. Thought it could be difficult to manage this from one mouse.
And have no idea if I can use some other card than Matrox for 2 monitors (other brand). Grtgs, MFtr.
 
I'd still be betting that your CTX monitor sucks. Mine sucks like hell. It turns all pink and it's jumpy too. Let us know what you found out.

In general I find the CRT picture to be much nicer than the LCD one. I have no plans to switch to LCD any time soon.
 
its not the fault of the crt monitor. your video card has two dvi ports, which are meant for dvi monitors. using an adapter (dvi to analog or analog to dvi) will make the picture fuzzy no matter what you do.

if you wish to use a dual output card, you will need to buy a card that has one dvi port and one analog port. i'm currently using an ati 7500 for my crt and digital lcd with no problems.

http://www.ati.com/products/radeon7500/radeon7500/index.html
 
That is not true.

All signals on ALL cards start out digital. It is the CABLE that does the digital to analog conversion, or no conversion in the case of digital monitors.

nitro

Quote from jay567:

its not the fault of the crt monitor. your video card has two dvi ports, which are meant for dvi monitors. using an adapter (dvi to analog or analog to dvi) will make the picture fuzzy no matter what you do.

if you wish to use a dual output card, you will need to buy a card that has one dvi port and one analog port. i'm currently using an ati 7500 for my crt and digital lcd with no problems.

http://www.ati.com/products/radeon7500/radeon7500/index.html
More...
 
Quote from nitro:

That is not true.

All signals on ALL cards start out digital. It is the CABLE that does the digital to analog conversion, or no conversion in the case of digital monitors.

nitro
More...

i said in my previous post that the dvi port is made for dvi monitors and the analog port is made for analog monitors.

as to whether or not the signals start out digital - i honestly don't know. however, from my experience, you should only use analog monitors with the analog port and digital monitors with the digital port. using the dvi/analog adapter will give the user a fuzzy picture.
 
to:jay567
You wrote:
" if you wish to use a dual output card, you will need to buy a card that has one dvi port and one analog port. i'm currently using an ati 7500 for my crt and digital lcd with no problems."

That is something I'd like to ask: is the dual output card like the ATI 7... and 9.... series giving the same identical picture on 2 monitors? Have always thought this double cards do not give the chance to cut the screen, move charts on the second monitor. May be I am wrong only Matrox P650 and higher can do this. I need 2 screens for more data, each screen showing different windows.
If the cheaper card can serve this, I overpayed for my Matrox...

Grtgs, MFtr
 
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