17" LCD Apple Studio Display and DVIator Important Precautions for 17" Apple Studio Displays
	Please: Do not install the software that came with the display! The software that comes with the display is made for Macs with an ADC card, not for DVI cards. The display software can render your Mac inoperable if you are running Mac OS X - you will need to reinstall the Mac OS X from scratch! Do not install the Mac OS 9.2.1 update! The Mac OS 9.2.1 update contains an ATI driver that is unable to properly recognize the 17" ADC display when using a DVI card. Please update straight to Mac OS 9.2.2 instead! Already having the problem? Boot from a CD-ROM or use a different display to install the necessary ATI Driver Update. If you observe these precautions DVIator works very nicely with the Apple 17" LCD Studio Display under Mac OS 9.1 and later, including Mac OS X. We have tested ATI Radeon, ATI Radeon 7000 and Apple Rage 128 DVI cards and found no issues when using the native resolution of 1280x1024.
Can I use non-native resolutions (640x480 - 1024x768)?
	Yes and No! First, and foremost, DVIator has no influence whatsoever on the resolutions you can use with a given display. The resolutions you are able to use vary with the version of the Mac OS you have installed. The most recent version of Mac OS X is your best bet to activate resolutions other than 1280x1024. Please do not experiment with other resolutions unless you have a working backup system or a bootable CD-ROM nearby. With these tools you should be able to easily get out of a fix if the resolution you choose did not work out as you expected. There is no big deal - some resolutions just don't display properly. No hardware damage will occur from playing with resolutions. Usually hitting the Escape key (top left on the keyboard) right after selecting the new resolution will get you out of trouble. If it does not, well, you have your backup disk or CD handy, don't you? Boot from those and you are back in business. Still stuck? Try resetting Parameter RAM (pressing Command-Alt-P-R while the Mac boots until you hear the chime 3 times - reboot if the Mac starts up before you hear additional chimes). The ATI Rage 128 DVI card installed by Apple in early G4 computers only supports the native 1280x1024 resolution, regardless of the version of the Mac OS installed. The ATI Radeon DVI card does not support 1024x768 even under Mac OS X 10.1.3. Other resolutions (640x480 and 800x600) work well. The ATI Radeon 7000 DVI card works properly under both Mac OS 9 (you need to install the drivers that come with the card before you install the card) and under Mac OS X 10.2. Note: All non-native resolutions require scaling to display and never display as cleanly as the native resolution - this is normal for any LCD display, regardless of brand or size or cost.
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Can I use DVIator to run Apple's 17" CRT Studio Display?
	No. Apple's 17" CRT Studio Display uses an analog video signal. DVIator is only for Apple's ADC flat panel LC displays that use a digital video signal.
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Can I use a Windows based computer with my ADC flat panel display?
	Yes and No. You will need a special graphics card. Check our compatibility page for our recommendations. Please note that Matrox DVI cards do not seem to work with DVIator at all! On older cards (nVidia and ATI-based) your mileage may vary. All recent ATI and nVidia cards with DVI seem to work well.
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How can I control the brightness of my ADC display on Windows based computers?
	On Windows 2k/XP you can control the brightness with the little application "Brightness". Brightnesss needs functionality provided by libUSB. Please install libUSB first! Download: libUSB and Brightness On Linux you can control the brightness with the application "acdctl". Look here for more information.
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Multiple Displays and DVIator Can I use DVIator to drive more than one display?
	Yes! DVIator only supports one display at a time. The Mac OS will support multiple DVI cards, each equipped with DVIator to run an ADC flat panel. 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. More recently people are turning to two 17" displays to provide them with the ultimate desktop spanning an awesome 2560x1024 - this is more than the 23" Cinema HD Display provides and costs significantly less!
How many ADC displays can I use with one Mac?
	More than enough! The number of video cards you can use is only limited by the number of expansion slots available. A Power Mac G4 (Spring 2002) with an nVidia GeForce4 Titanium ADC graphics card and 4 ATI Radeon 7000 DVI cards will support a total of 6 displays. For this setup you need 5 DVIators and one ADC display connects directly. The current theoretical maximum number is 10 ADC displays - for this you need to find a dual DVI PCI graphics card. Such cards are available for the AGP port but we know of none for the PCI slot at the time of writing.
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Multiple Computers and DVIator Can I use more than two Computers with one DVIator?
	Yes. For this you will typically use MoniSwitch DVI or MoniSwitch ADC. Both products are KVM switches, i.e. products that allow you to share one monitor, keyboard and mouse between several computers. MoniSwitch DVI switches USB and DVI signals, so it was originally designed for the Graphite 15" Apple Studio Display and DVI-based Power Mac G4 computers. More recently one was able to integrate Power Macs or Cubes with ADC graphics cards with the help of one DVI Extractor (see Question #4 near the bottom of this page) per ADC computer. Now, with DVIator, it is possible to share ADC flat panel displays, too. MoniSwitch DVI does have a limitation: It will not work with Cinema Displays (neither the DVI nor the ADC Cinema Display). MoniSwitch DVI will work with the Apple 17" Studio Display LCD monitor, however, depending on the setup you may encounter individual pixels that do not display correctly. For 15" flat panels (both ADC and DVI) there is no limitation and the display quality is as you would expect. With MoniSwitch ADC you can even use 23" displays but you are limited to sharing the display between 2 computers.

Miscellaneous Questions

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 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 Power Macintosh 9500 and any of its cousins. The limiting factor is whether your video card is supported. ATI's Radeon Card works in 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 installation. 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. 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. G4 Cubes support a single ADC display only and do not need DVIator. PowerMac G4s with AGP Graphics, sometimes referred to as "Sawtooth" include DVI video. Sawtooth G4s can use DVIator to support ADC displays. Original PCI G4s, referred to as "Yosemite", only have a built-in VGA port and require a DVI video card and DVIator to run Apple's ADC displays. For further help figuring out which G4 you have please check Apple's TIL article.

4. 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 an ADC-DVI adapter such as DVI Extractor II.

5. Is there any loss in video quality using DVIator?
	No. DVIator uses digital technology so that there is no loss in quality of your video signal at all. With DVIator you can be sure your ADC displays will look as they were intended.

6. 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.

7. Do you recommend a specific video card?

No. While any video card that sends the appropriate video signal will work with DVIator, the bulk of our internal testing was on either the ATI Radeon DVI card for Mac or the built-in ATI Rage128 card that came in the AGP G4s. Recently the ATI Radeon 7000 and 9200 PCI cards are providing even more speed at an even smaller price - a good combination in our minds! If you look for more speed, the Radeon 9000, 9800 or X800 Mac Edition cards might be good choices, if supported by your Mac.

8. 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. This should be suitable for use in any Macintosh environment except for battery or solar powered locales with 12 or 24V D.C. If the included power cord (we offer cords for Euro, CH, DK, GB, JP and US standards) is incompatible with your locale, a standard computer power cord from your country will be a perfect replacement.

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