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DisplayLink USB to DVI Adapter
Terracode previously reviewed a the Nanovision UM-740 USB monitor and was suitably impressed. We recently received another amazing DisplayLink product to review. The DisplayLink USB to DVI adapter is an small device with big potential. The device has a mini-USB connector on one end and a DVI out on the other to plug into a monitor. The device is fully USB powered which makes it very transportable. The device is aimed at Netbook users who need an external display, but lack a output or any users wishing to add a second, third, etc monitor without having to go out and buy another video card. It also works very well with desktop systems for a second or third monitor.
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The USB to DVI adapter has the following specifications per the DisplayLink provided documentation:
The box contents:
Recommended computer specs per DisplayLink:
The USB to DVI adapter supports output resolutions of up to 1600x1200 dpi at 32 bit color. The display driver for the USB to DVI adapter allows one to set the screen resolution, color depth, screen rotation, monitor mirror and monitor extend properties from a system tray icon.
Installation:
Installation of the drivers was very straightforward (please refer to the UM-740 article for driver install). Hooking up the monitor was as easy as attaching the monitor to the DVI plug or to the VGA to DVI included adapter. Once the monitor is powered on, just plug in the USB to the computer and the system will see it as additional monitor on the system just as if you had the monitor attached to an internal video card.
Test System
The USB-DVI adapter was tested on two systems and with 2 different monitors. I used two computers on both ends of the performance scale in order to show the performance on a high performance system vs a low powered laptop.
System 1:
System 2:
Toshiba R205-S209 series laptop (circa 2006)
Tested Displays
Video quality:
The video quality of the USB-DVI adapter as shown on monitor 3 was very acceptable at 1280x1024 dpi and at 1600x1200 dpi when tested on monitor 1. The pictures are showing the USB-DVI adapter hooked to monitor 3 (Samsung 19").
Performance:
The USB-DVI adapter does require a high performance machine if one wants to use it for watching DVD or streaming video at higher resolutions. The adapter appears to use the host PC for some of the processing needed. The USB technology in the host computer also takes a certain amount of resources.
For general web browsing, small size video (640x480 dpi or less) and office applications, a low performance PC is sufficient. For 1280x1024 or higher resolutions with streaming video or DVD, a Core 2 Duo or faster with at least 2 GB RAM under vista is needed. For XP, thw amount of RAM may be less, but more is always better.
| System | USB Unplugged | Idle | MPEG2 Video (Windowed) | MPEG2 Video (Full Screen) | DVD |
| Hi Perf PC (1280x1024 dpi) | 2% | 13% | not tested | 27% | 15% |
| Hi Perf PC (1680x1050dpi) | 1% | 13% | not tested | ~27% | 22% |
| Low Perf Laptop (1280x1024 dpi) | 15% | 11% | 100% | NA | NA |
Hi Performance PC
Video playback using Windows Media Player at 1280x1024 dpi was smooth viewing an MPEG2 video file and also was smooth playing DVD full screen. Video playback using VLC video player was not not as good, but still watchable.
DVD playback at 1680x1050 dpi at full-screen was slightly jerky, but only minimally distracting. Some scenes would seem to speed up and then slow down. Moving the video to the primary monitor (NVidia 9600GT) produced a stable and smooth video as expected.
Over-all responsiveness for mouse and window movements at 1680x1050 dpi was a bit sluggish, but very usable. Color fidelity at 32 bit was acceptable. At 1280x1024 dpi, responsiveness was very good.
Low Performance Laptop
MPEG2 Video 1280x1024 dpi had very low frame rate and is almost stop motion. Not very smooth and not very watchable.
Video at 1024x768 was a little better, but still unwatchable due to low frame rate. 100% CPU activity. Streaming video via Hulu.com was watchable windowed, but at full screen the picture freezes. This may be due to limited memory in the computer and may be better had the computer had 2 GB of RAM.
Battery drain appeared noticeable on the laptop. Use of power adapter is highly recommended.
On a single core Intel Atom based netbook using Windows XP and 1 GB RAM, performance may not be suitable for video, but for web surfing and office apps it will be fine. On a Core2 Duo laptop with at least 2 GB RAM, the video playback should adequate at 1280x1024 dpi
Features
Unplugging the USB cable from adapter causes screen to flash and the monitor to go into standby. Replugging in the USB cable and the monitor comes up with a couple of seconds. One nice feature of the adapter is that when the monitor is disconnected, all windows on the USB connected monitor move to the primary display. This occurs within seconds. This is great if one wants to move the adapter to work and home without having issues where the windows on the secondary screen are in limbo after disconnecting the 2nd (extended display) monitor.
Conclusion:
I've used the USB-DVI adapter for over a week on the dual Quad-Core PC and I am very satisfied with the adapter and the extra screen real estate it provides. I can have Dreamweaver on screen 1, Photoshop on screen 2 and Outlook on screen 3. Also for programmers, the ability to have the development environment on 1 screen, database tools on another screen and e-mail on the 3rd (or other tools/documents) helps allot in increasing productivity.
DisplayLink notes that up to 6 adapters can be used at one time on a PC, albeit with a power horse computer. The manufacturer also notes that the use of the adapters will save up 80% power as compared to using multiple internal video cards.
At $59 for the HP branded adapter, or as low as $40 with specials, the adapter is a very nice alternative to an internal graphics card and even better since one doesn't need to open the case.
DisplayLink information can be found at DisplayLink.com web site. For more information on the various adapters, monitors and docks utilizing the DisplayLink technology, you can visit the DisplayLink shop.
Updates:
07/18/09 - DisplayLink drivers prior to v5 should be de-installed prior to install of Windows 7. Pre-release Windows 7 drivers are available on the DisplayLink website at http://www.displaylink.com/support/windows7.html
Updated DisplayLink drivers can be downloaded from DisplayLink.com website.
See Also:
Nanovision UM-740 monitor using DisplayLink technology
Using the UM-740 with Windows Home Server
Please e-mail info@terracode.com with any comments or questions.
Terracode copyright 2008