Resolume Forum

Hello!
Yesterday I had a gig there they had DVI as output. I am using a Macbook Pro Retina as media server so I am using an Thunderbolt DVI adapter. The problem was that we could get a signal when we connected the DVI to a PC but when we tried with my Macbook I didn't even received a little blue screen that fades in and fades out. I couldn't find any other screens in the monitors settings. No signal at all.

We used different Thunderbolt adapters but non worked, we even tested another macbook but it didn't worked either.

So it felt like the LED processor was configured to only work with PCs. The LED engineer had no clue at all and neither did I. We tried to restart the computer, the LED processor, changed cabels and adapters but nothing worked.

Have anyone had the same problem? What could been the problem?

Can you describe your setup in more details such as cable length, LED hardware, EDID setup, DVI adapter model, etc...?

It's possible that your DVI run was too long (more than 15ft) or that your signal required Dual-Link DVI (above 1920x1200 @ 60hz) which would be solved by using an amp or a DP to DL-DVI adapter. Was your DVI output a DL-DVI output on your PC?

I've had issues in the past when I used an active MiniDP to DVI adapter on my Macbook Pro in combination with a Blackmagic DVI extender. I would get no signal with the active adapter but it'd work no problems if I used a passive DVI adapter.

You could also test with an HDMI to DVI cable (I personally use BlueRigger High Speed HDMI to DVI Adapter Cables) since the HDMI interface is compatible with the video-only DVI interface.

Also, as a reminder, Thunderbolt is not a video standard but an I/O technology that supports both PCIe and DisplayPort. It just happens that the Thurderbolt plug looks similar to the Mini DisplayPort plug even though it's not the same on the inside since the Thurderbolt plug has a built-in transceiver chip on each end (hence the cost) but when you use a video adapter, you're using the DisplayPort channel.