Dual Monitor Support

Question

Dual Monitor Support

Hi guys,

I've connected a second display to my iMac using a third party adapter, Mini DP to DVI and found there is a lot of color banding (Not sure if that's the correct term, but color gradients do not fade nicely, and there's a visible difference between some colors).

I know this 2nd monitor doesnt normally do this.

The DVI cable is DVI-D (Single Link). Could this be a problem? Would getting a Dual-link DVI-D help at all? The monitor doesn't take DVI-I.

Thanks in advance.

27" Quad iMac i5 Mac OS 10.6.4, iPhone OS 3.1.2

Posted on Sep 27, 2010 7:55 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 28, 2010 7:59 AM in response to resultz-may-vary

How big is the monitor? Single link can support 1900 x 1200 at millions of colors and 60 Hz. If you have a larger monitor it may be running at thousands of colors which would look like what you describe.

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Answer 2

Sep 28, 2010 8:02 AM in response to grizzly marmot

Nah, it's actually only 1650 x 1050

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Answer 3

nachdenki

Level 3

649 points

Sep 28, 2010 8:11 AM in response to resultz-may-vary

it might be an issue with the color profile. I notices that when I changed my iMac to a different profile the color gradient sometimes became really weird.

go into system prefs -> display, there will be one window on every monitor. use the window on your second monitor and select a different profile (maybe you have to create a new one, but if you don't have to leave it at the moment).
see if that makes a difference

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Answer 4

Sep 28, 2010 8:29 AM in response to nachdenki

Thanks for your suggestions.

I loaded an image, such as this...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Spectrum.2400.1800.S.G.png

and then I calibrated it...
All the preloaded defaults have some visible color banding. I created my own calibration it helped a litte, but theres still some banding.

The adapter I bought is not from apple, and the cable is only DVI-D Single, I think this might also contribute, but the monitor calibration helped, so thank you.

If theres any more suggestions, more than welcome (:

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