hey guys justin here with a video to help you choose the correct dual monitor kvm and the
video adapters that you're going to need to set that up there are way too many combinations to
cover in a video so this is going to be more like a fundamentals course with some common examples
we're going to go over some general rules some best practices
the decision making process and then we're going to wrap up with some common issues at the end
before we jump in let's cover some quick basic groundwork there are four common
video connections hdmi and mini hdmi displayport and mini displayport dvi and of course vga then
once you get everything set up the video signal is going to go from the computers to the kvm and then
from the kvm to the monitors this is really important to understand because
most adapters are not bi-directional meaning those adapters can only convert one way for example
the adapter that converts from displayport to hdmi will not convert from hdmi to displayport
the first rule for almost all dual monitor kvms is that each computer must make two video connections
to the kvm the kvm simply passes the video signal to each monitor so you need one signal
for each monitor next the goal in choosing the kvm is to reduce the number of adapters
more adapters means more connections and more points of failure in your environment
lastly the third rule is to go for the best visual experience that you can
better video clarity is going to reduce your eyestrain is going to make a much
more enjoyable experience even when you're working with spreadsheets and documents
many dual monitor kvms will require you to create a second video signal or to use an adapter to get
the right connection into the kvm usbc is the easiest and most cost effective way to do this
if you can't use usbc make sure to choose a correct adapter based on the video signal flow
choose the adapter that goes from the source type to the target type to make this easy we
create a list of tested and approved adapters on our website and the page is set up like a grid
with from and two columns and has amazon links for each adapter the brand of the adapter is actually
also very critical the kvm will add more points of connection and more handshakes in the video
signal chain amazon has a ton of inexpensive but well-rated adapters but they're not meant
for kvm environments so we suggest sticking to those that are listed on our website and
save yourself some headaches finally we recommend staying with the digital video signals if possible
this means avoiding vga whenever you can the first step to choosing the right kvm is to list
the connections that your computers already have each computer needs to make two video connections
and you may need to convert one or both of these some conversions are easier than others and we
find that these are the four most common type c to HDMI type-c to displayport displayport to hdmi and
HDMI 2 or from DVI this last one is bi-directional so one adapter can go either way next let's look
at the type of connections that your monitors have most monitors have hdmi but some older
ones might have dvi and vga and for those you'll want to use a DVI port with an HDMI to DVI adapter
if your monitors have only displayport then you should go with a kvm that has displayport outputs
now let's determine any other usb devices that you want to use with your kvm
besides the mouse and keyboard of course the kvm has only one standard usb port so you'll want to
use a powered usb hub if you want to use more than one usb connection finally let's choose
a cabin that best fits your environment currently t smart offers four different dual monitor models
all models operate the same the difference between them is the type of inputs and outputs that
they have here's an easy graphic pointing out each model and its inputs and outputs
as you can see three of the four are made for hdmi monitors and one is made for displayport
monitors the hdk and hks models on the top are the most popular of the series
most laptops have either an hdmi or displayport video output this means that you're going to need
to create that second video signal in addition to using these ports if your laptop has usbc
that supports displayport alt mode or thunderbolt then you can go with that you can confirm if you
have these features by looking for a little dp or lightning bolt logo next to the type c port
or of course you can always pull up the specs from your manufacturer if the laptop has only usb 3.0
then you can use an external display adapter like this they are more expensive than type-c
adapters but still cheaper than docking stations lastly you can always use a docking station
but that's going to give you many more ports than the two video connections that you need
we find that these models by dell which we've linked below work really good with te smart kvms
connecting desktops is usually pretty easy because you already have multiple video outputs
one thing to know though is that if you have a video card it's going to disable your onboard
graphics so you're going to only want to count the video connections on the video
card if you have one some older desktops have hdmi dvi and vga on one card you can convert dvi
to hdmi or display port but converting to displayport is going to be more expensive
we just recommend that you try to avoid using vga
occasionally older desktops have only one video output if that's the case we recommend using
plugable's usb 2.0 video adapter it's rock solid and like a swiss army knife for older computers
alright that's it for today's video there's a lot of material in a very short amount of time
so i'm sure that i missed plenty so if you have any questions please leave us a comment below
and then we can try to answer and help the entire community thanks and have a good day