I invested in a new desk and monitor at about the same time. My graphics card had dual DVI out, so I figured I would keep my old CRT around to play games on or whatever. Well with the way it is setup, the CRT's VGA cord needed to be about 2 feet longer to reach the back of the computer. So I went to the store, got a VGA extender, which happened to be a Belkin, it also happened to be about 10 - 15 dollars I think too. I plugged it in, and everything was blurry/doubled. Basically I had my cursor, and then to the right of it by a couple pixels was it's twin/shadow. This happened on everything. I checked connections, then gave up. So I went onto a website and decided to order a couple different ones (male > female VGA extension cords). I ordered 2 of them, for under 10 dollars with shipping. They arrived, first one I plugged in worked perfectly.

For the tl;dr: Belkin, has given me some crap cables in the past too. I have a couple Belkin surge protectors that I assume are pretty decent, but I am not a huge fan of Belkin.

Apparently Belkin tell me that this issue was related to those monitors signaling and has now been fixed. (Well for the revised model that is about to be released here in Australia shortly anyway.)

Have you followed up Belkin yet? The review said Belkin has not been contacted. I work in IT retail and their after-sales support is exemplary.

This problem is a common one. A KVM switch is a KVM switch right? Wrong. Sure the basics are simple enough but to produce a reliable, high performance switch with zero compatability issues is very complicated and not cheap. Add DVI to the mix and the problems increase 10 fold, as does the cost.

As a Product Manager for a KVM switch manufacturer www.adder.com I am amazed that people who would quite happily spend $500 on a video card and another $1000 on a monitor expect a $40 KVM switch to work perfectly.

The solution is simple, if you want a switch that provides faultless video and no compatability issues then you must expect to pay a few hundred dollars. Adder are about to release a true Dual Link DVI-I USB KVM switch that will provide pixel perfect video, platform independent keyboard and mouse switching and very high quality audio. It will cost about $750. That seems expensive compared to the Belkin product but then it will work and provide the kind of quality that this user requires.

Every one wants a Ferrari for Ford Focus prices but there are good reasons why this is impossible to achieve.

From personal experience I've used quite a bit of the Belkin Flips. Comes in handy when setting up a nice work station. But I found that they were more useless then usefull:

1) For some reason one of the cables is extremely short so it's hard to manuver it accurantely.
2) Used one, two days in the button wouldn't work. Swapped it, new one the button wouldn't work, swapped it again, one of the VGA cables was defective and the second screen was always Blue two weeks later button stopped working.
3) Occassionally they have problems where one will steal the signal and even when you try to switch it will go right back to the one you were just on.

Personally I think it's a nice design they just have crap for hardware.

Don't think yours was a uniquely defective unit unless the entire production run was defective: I just went through three units from different retailers, all with the same issues. The Flip apparently just can't handle the task (feeding an Apple 30" CinemaDisplay). It's almost as if Belkin didn't actually test a production unit to confirm that the delivered devices matched the design specifications.

I'm very disappointed with Belkin: I've come to expect better quality from them.

HP now sells a 30" LCD that comes with three DVI inputs and can switch between them. I'd almost rather pony up the $1300 or so for this monitor than $600-something for the Gefen switch.

Are all 3 Inputs are Dual-Link DVI? Do they all support HDCP?
If so, I think this is a no brainer; get the HP LCD.

EDIT - SPECS!

HP LP3065

Display size 30 in (75.6 cm)
Viewable area 29.7 in (75.6 cm)
Native resolution 2560 x 1600 @ 60 Hz
Pixel pitch 0.25 mm
Signal input Three dual-link DVI-D inputs with
HDCP over digital DVI2

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF06a/382087-382087-64283-7...

Heck, if you dont want to be out the entire $1300, then sell the Dell and recoup a lot of that cash.

If this is used mainly for benching and testing, that is what I would do.
Even if the Dell is actually a nicer monitor with a nicer picture, I would rather have 3 rigs running at that super hi-rez and hitting the benchmarks then waiting for one at a time.

Compatibility problems are one the reasons why I sold 30" screen and got a 27" instead.

That being said handling of HDCP and HDMI connections is still a problem, as I have a Blu-Ray laptop connected to a DVI KVM.

I have the Belkin Flip DVI-D and it works great. Im using it with a HP 30" lp3065 monitor. I did have problems with DVI-D cables and the 3 inputs on the HP. When I switched inputs on the monitor i got nothing but a black screen. So I tried the flip.

It works great!

I have the Belkin Flip DVI-D and it works great. Im using it with a HP 30" lp3065 monitor. I did have problems with DVI-D cables and the 3 inputs on the HP. When I switched inputs on the monitor i got nothing but a black screen. So I tried the flip.

HP seems to have the upper-hand in connectivity among 30" monitors with the LP3065.
However, the Samsung SyncMaster 305T seems to have the best image quality according to a TrustedReviews' article:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/displays/review/2007/05/23/Samsung-Sy...

Am I the only one wondering why I got a "new news" email about this post?

You could try a single-link DVI cable at a low resolution just for fun. If you call that fun...

Are you sure that KVM supports dual-link DVI-D output?

I suspect that the Belkin KVM only has single-link connectors which is hopefully inadequate to feed your 30" Dell LCDs at their native resolution. The experiences that you are describing clearly show that the monitors weren't getting the sufficient bandwidth.

I think that you might have been cheated if the specs "claimed" dual-link support.

Watching it crash and burn was great.

Have you found any DVI-D switches without the KM part of the KVM?
Keyboards and mice can be got quite cheaply.

Sounds like a painful experience. Too bad for you. :(

BTW - when I first saw the picture I thought you were reviewing some baby's teething toy or something. :/