DVIator Frequently Asked Questions

Click Here for Important Mac OS 9.2.1 Information

1. Can't I just install an ADC video card in my PCI Mac?
	No. ADC combines Power, Digital Video signal and USB. Only Apple's latest G4 computers have a single PCI slot that incorporates extra power to the PCI card slot. A standard PCI slot can't handle the 28 volts of power necessary to drive an ADC display.

2. What is the oldest Macintosh I can use DVIator with?
	The limiting factor is whether your video card is supported. ATI's Radeon Card works in most any PCI Macintosh with Mac OS 9.0. In our internal testing, we had DVIator working on a 7200/90 to drive an Apple Cinema display. No special modification was required for this instalation. We don't imagine many people will be wanting to run a $3000 display on a $250 Mac, but you can if you want to.

3. Can I use DVIator to drive more than one display?
	DVIator only supports one display at a time but with the Mac OS you can add additional displays. Owners of a Macintosh that supports ADC can use DVIator to add an additional ADC display. Many people have found that the combination of a 22" Cinema Display and a 15" Studio Display is the ultimate in desktop efficiency providing a wide expanse for editing while leaving the 15" to hold palettes, etc.

4. Can I use DVIator to use a Windows based PC with my 15", 17" or 22" ADC flat paneldisplay?
	Yes. A number of customers have also reported success with various DVI video cards on the PC. We've seen good results with a Radeon VE PCI card from ATI on the 15" and 17" and we've also heard of customers with various g-force 2 cards driving the 22" with varying amounts of success.

5. How can I tell if my PowerMac G4 has ADC or DVI video available?

The latest revisions of the PowerMac G4 line include support for one ADC display. If your G4 has Gigabit Ethernet, it supports a single ADC display. PowerMac G4s with AGP Graphics, sometimes referred to as "Sawtooth" includes DVI video. Sawtooth G4s can use DVIator to support ADC displays. The original PCI G4s only have a VGA port built-in and require a DVI video card and DVIator to run Apple's ADC displays.

6. Can I use DVIator to run Apple's 17" CRT Studio display with DVIator?
	No. Apple's 17" CRT Studio Display uses an analog video signal. DVIator is only for Apple's ADC flat panel displays that use a digital video signal.

7. Can I use DVIator to run Apple's older DVI displays on my ADC G4.
	No. DVIator was designed to allow the use of new displays on older Macs. To use an older display on new ADC G4s you need the ADC to DVI adapter.

8. Is there any loss in video quality using DVIator?
	No. DVIator ensures that there is no loss in quality of your video signal so you can be sure your ADC displays will look as they were intended.

9. Do I need to buy a separate power supply?
	No. DVIator comes with a power supply to drive Apple's flat-panel displays. If you have a compatible DVI video card, DVIator should be the only part you are missing.

10. Do you recommend a specific video card?
	While any video card that sends the appropriate video signal will work with DVIator, the bulk of our internal testing was on either the built-in ATI Rage128 card that came in the AGP G4s or the Radeon card from ATI.

11. Will the DVIator power supply function in my country?
	Yes. The power supply that ships with DVIator has an input voltage range of 90-264V, 47-63Hz which should be suitable for use in any Macintosh environment. If the included power cord is incompatible with your locale, a standard generic computer power cord will work.

12. Can I use more than two Apple Flat Panels on my Mac?
	Yes. The number of video cards you can use is only limited by the number of expansion slots available. We've heard from customers using 4 or more 22" displays woth DVIator/

13. Can I use DVIator to run Apple's 17" LCD Studio Display?

Yes and No! Under Mac OS 9.1 DVIator works very nicely with the new Apple 17" LCD Studio Display. We have tested ATI Radeon and Apple DVI cards and found no issues when using the native resolution of 1280x1024. However, there are issues when running at the other resolutions. Generally 1024 x 768 will show a confused image and the lower resolutions will be unavailable on Apple's DVI cards but the Radeon from ATI will display them properly except for 1024 x 768. The same issue is also apparent when running the Apple 17" LCD Studio Display via DVIator. Older Macs display the native resolution 1280x1024 nicely (requires Mac OS 9.1), while PCs display only 640x480 and 800x600, which is not very useful. For ADC Macs Apple offers a firmware and driver update right in the box of the new Apple 17" LCD Studio Display. This fixes the above issues nicely for all ADC graphics cards. For DVI cards as they are used in conjunction with DVIator there is no such solution right now. Work is in progress and we will use this space to keep you informed! Important "ATI Driver Update" Information: Mac OS 9.2.1 does not automatically support the 17" ADC display via the Apple DVI card that shipped in older G4 computers. (The Radeon card from ATI does not seem to have these issues.) If the update is essential to the rest of your system you can use the following workaround: First, save the old ATI extension "ATI Driver Update" from the extensions folder in Mac OS 9.1 - do this before installing the Mac OS 9.2.1 Updater! The new "ATI Driver Update" in Mac OS 9.2.1 must be replaced with the old extension from Mac OS 9.1 in order for the 17" LCD Studio Display to work as described above. It is possible to boot from a Mac OS 9.1 CD-ROM after installing 9.2.1 - this way you will get a screen image on the 17" ADC flat panel to perform the replacement of new ATI extensions with old ones. If you lack a Mac OS 9.1 CD-ROM and you have already installed the Mac OS 9.2.1 update you will need a second display (any VGA monitor will do) and installing this ATI Driver Update into your system folder will perform the necessary repair.

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