Long run of VGA

[FunnyFellow]

Would any of you on here happen to know the longest run of VGA I can get without any signal loss?

[00AVD]

Signal loss will occur at any length. How much is dependent on the length and quality of the cable. Whether you'll notice it is also dependent on the resolution - you'll get away with longer distances with lower resolutions.

All that said, I've used 50+ metres of good quality cable with SVGA from PC to projector and had no issues. Also bear in mind that not all PC outputs (I find some laptops bad) will be happy driving a long cable, instead requiring the use of a booster at the PC end.

[NickJones]

It all depends on the type of cable and the resolution. If you run one at a resolution like 800x600, it will go longer than running at 1200x800. If you go with the cheapest, it will be very different to the most expensive.

There are alternatives though.

You can use boosters, but they can be expensive, it is possible to turn VGA into a signal that will go niceley along standard Cat5 cabling, this is often cheaper on longer runs, although Cat5 will not stand up to as much abuse.

Another option is to "Scan Convert" your signal into a single RCA or S-Vhs cable, this will make your signal quality a lot lower but it will be cheaper and easier to get it where it needs to go, and this is normally fine in terms of a movie, but on a big screen, or showing a power point or something with words it becomes noticeable.

Hope I helped,
Nick

[museav]

Originally Posted by FunnyFellow

Would any of you on here happen to know the longest run of VGA I can get without any signal loss?

0', beyond that there will be some loss. Seriously, I agree that the loss incurred depends on the actual cable used and the signal bandwidth. You can also find wide variations in how much loss any application can accept.

[Chris15]

If you need to get a long run, then to retain acceptable performance you are going to needer better and likely thicker coax. 5 single coaxes will work fine given appropriate adapters each end.

I echo the comments about laptops in particular. As part of the quest for better battery life etc., designers have reduced the drivers omph. Hence go past a metre or two and the signal starts noticeably falling off.

A splitter can usually be used as an amplifier...

[ruinexplorer]

In addition to the quality of the cable, the power of the signal (adding one more agreement to laptop sentiment), and resolution (I don't agree that you have less signal loss at lower resolution, I say that you just notice it less), but you want to incur the fewest number of connections possible. If you have a 100' cable, you will have less loss than four 25' cables with turn-around connectors.

How far are you looking to run a signal?

[FunnyFellow]

Thank you for all this information. The run will be 50 feet and the wire is even shielded. The resolution will be 1024x768.

[00AVD]

What sort of cable are you talking about exactly?

[FunnyFellow]

I cant be sure. The cable doesn't have any labels on it or anything. It is an off the shelf model so I didn't make it myself.

[00AVD]

Ah, I see. So it's a standard off the shelf VGA cable? Just be wary of the really thin ones. They are often woeful quality and are usually missing the ferrite core at each end.