DVI or VGA for 50' cable?

[ltldrummerboy]

I have an Nvidia Mac mini hooked up to my Dell 1209S projector via a 50' VGA cable. It works OK other than some pretty noticeable ghosting.

My question is, would a DVI cable solve my problems with ghosting? The Mac mini has both DVI and VGA out cables, and the projector has both inputs as well. This means I won't be using any adapters. Will I get a better picture with DVI?

 

[Gav2k]

Yes it would as I had a sim setup. Dvi is a digital signal and travels alot cleaner than VGA which is analog.

 

[ltldrummerboy]

That's what I thought, but I figured I'd check before I paid for a giant cable I didn't need. Thanks for the super-quick reply.

 

[waw74]

make sure to check out monoprice for the cable, they have a 50' for $43

http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10209

 

[samiwas]

In my home theater room, all of the cables feeing the projector are 50'. I previously had to run my Mac Mini off VGA because I didn't have enough HDMI lines. Now that I made the switch to HDMI, which is essentially the same as DVI, it's crystal clear. DVI/HDMI are digital signals. It's either there or it isn't...a perfect picture or none. There is no ghosting.

 

[ltldrummerboy]

Found one on ebay last night for $25. I'll post results when it comes. Thanks for all the input.

 

[Wotan31]

Found one on ebay last night for $25. I'll post results when it comes. Thanks for all the input.

Neither DVI or VGA is spec'd for 50 foot runs. VGA will look absolutely horrible with bad ghosting unless you're using really top end (read: expensive) VGA cables. Even then you may need a repeater in the middle. VGA is just a bad idea for long runs.

You can do long runs of DVI, but again you'll need a quality cable. Fortunately, a high quality DVI cable is less expensive than a high quality VGA cable.

Once you find that that Made in China ebay cable doesn't work, have a look here. These guys make top-end cables for very cheap prices. You want the "BJC Series-1" and in 50' length is still less than $150. A real bargain if you've ever shopped for high-end cables before. No affiliation - just a very satisfied customer.

 

[ltldrummerboy]

The $25 cable from ebay is amazing. 10x better than VGA. No ghosting at all and now under display settings it's giving me only the options for my projector instead of every resolution my computer supports.