ViBook looses DisplayLink USB-to-DVI adapter with support for six-screen spanning

DisplayLink USB monitors are starting to trickle out a little more frequently now, but USB graphics cards based on the tech are still somewhat rare -- we've seen a couple, but VillageTronic's ViBook box is the only one that comes with software to span an image across up to six screens at once. That's right, the bundled VT MultiDisplay software will let you create a single giant Windows desktop out of six 1600 x 1200 22-inch displays if you buy enough of the $130 dongles -- Mac users can do the same with four screens. The dongle can be outfitted with a VESA cradle that allows it to hide discreetly behind your monitor, and while we don't know what the upper limit of graphics performance is, we do know that we'd kill for a gigantic 4800 x 2400 workspace. Weekend project, anyone?

[Thanks, Becky]

[Orubasarot @ Dec 12th 2008 11:09PM]

I'm assuming these have absolutely no 3D acceleration from your main GPU at all, correct?

[Brendan @ Dec 12th 2008 11:48PM]

IIRC they will use your existing 3d accelerator to draw the bits for the added display... I've seen one of these in person with 2 USB driven LCD's driving a HD WMV video with Aero Glass running... needless to say I was quite impressed.

[loosely_coupled @ Dec 13th 2008 4:16AM]

This does work with 3D acceleration and video, but only to a degree and it depends on the # of displays, resolution of those displays, and what you are doing. This "Displaylink" tech basically uses software to emulate a display driver. It captures the signal coming from the video card, then compresses it using a proprietary algorithm so it only has to send what has changed from the prior frame (sort of like interframe MPEG compression) and then sends it out the USB port to either a converter box or a display with the technology builtin, and they can be daisy chained via USB (like firewire/SCSI devices)
You could probably do windowed casual gaming with this or surf the web while having a DVD playing on another display, but I wouldn't try to do high-res gaming or play 1080P video.

The primary thing I can see this being useful for is driving more than one external display from a laptop.
If you have a desktop and want a high performance solution without resolution or 3D/video limitations, you can simply buy a new videocard. ATI, nVidia, Matrox, et al offer video cards that can drive 4 or more high-resolution displays, and that are more than adequate for gaming, 3D apps, DCC, etc.

[absurdio @ Dec 13th 2008 2:31PM]

Actually, I'm interested in something like this to run just one display from my laptop...

If I could run this through a USB hub (can I? Do we know that?), it'd make the process converting laptop to desktop just one connection quicker.

Is that worth $130? eh. probably not.

Also, would this hamper the monitor's performance?

[Mike @ Dec 14th 2008 5:32PM]

"It captures the signal coming from the video card, then compresses it using a proprietary algorithm "

If the algorithm is proprietary (i.e., belongs to the company), there must be a patent; do you know where it is?

More likely, they are using a standard algorithm that they can already get hardware/software support for: MJPEG, MPEG, or VNC.

[dschultz @ Dec 15th 2008 4:13PM]

I have been doing this for quite a while with IOGear..... same resolution, same number of displays...
Nothing new here...

http://www.iogear.com/product/GUC2020DW6/

each device shows up as a new monitor in Windows, and windows can span the application window accross all six...

Am I missing something?

[Connor @ Dec 12th 2008 11:15PM]

Their logo reminds me of a rooster.

[who? @ Dec 13th 2008 4:13AM]

:-O I'm telling mommy!!!!!!!

[John @ Dec 12th 2008 11:20PM]

Six 1600x1200 monitors would only give you 4800x2400 or 3200x3600. You need 9 for 4800x3600

[Adderz @ Dec 12th 2008 11:22PM]

I had to re-read the title 4 times to make sure it was "looses" and not "loses". I personally would of used the word releases, not looses.

Im going to go sit quietly in my corner now.

[wyatt @ Dec 12th 2008 11:45PM]

i think it would have worked if they had extended the metaphor with a reference to a wild animal or something. and if i were gonna complain about the title, i'd probably avoid my own grammar error like "would of". cause otherwise some asshole's gonna come by and sh*t on the sh*tter, you know?

[mick @ Dec 12th 2008 11:48PM]

dont worry i read it a few times aswell thinking the same thing

[dj moon @ Dec 13th 2008 12:34AM]

"Looses", as in "let loose", a.k.a. "release".
Took me a few reads, but I've seen it in previous posts.
It's Engadget, so however they want to say it is fine with me!
;@b

[Adderz @ Dec 13th 2008 8:44AM]

@ wyatt

Nones no one gonna correct mines grammer.

[Adderz @ Dec 13th 2008 8:46AM]

Or my spelling of grammar...

[wyatt @ Dec 13th 2008 12:57PM]

@Adderz, you're right. but just put yourself in the shoes of a gadget blogger for a second. how many times to they type "launch" or "release" in a day. it would get old. so they mix it up a bit. big deal.

[Adderz @ Dec 13th 2008 8:42PM]

I do believe Jebus invented the Thesaurus

[Pierre @ Dec 12th 2008 11:28PM]

I already have 2
20 inch lcds
i just need six of these
then i'll have like 8 monitors

[andres @ Dec 13th 2008 2:06AM]

i beleive you would have exactly 8. not "like 8."

[clintdb @ Dec 13th 2008 3:55AM]

He might, like, really like his monitors - you know?

[birthday is 1990 @ Dec 13th 2008 12:13AM]

Would you CPU be processing the image or would it go to the GPU?

[AlekZander @ Dec 13th 2008 8:03AM]

Like they said, you need special USB-based graphics cards to use it.

[mick @ Dec 13th 2008 1:13PM]

it relies onthe cpu. it dosent need a special graphics card just some free usb ports. using display link right now on my laptop.

[eric @ Dec 13th 2008 11:11AM]

VT MultiDisplay is just a rebranding of ultramon software which you can download and use with any displaylink products

[Johannes @ Dec 13th 2008 11:36AM]

I'm still waiting for a new version of the TripleHeadToGo http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/ to use my 4800x1200 space for games! :-p

[Information Central @ Dec 13th 2008 7:03PM]

What is the point of trying to send video over USB? We already have dedicated ports to drive monitors. This seems stupid.

[Pat @ Dec 14th 2008 2:09AM]

Not for long. Esp. on laptops.

Imagine the future PC: DC in + USB. Ports and their associated mechanical structure cost money and limit the design. Look at the back of your PC - the video out is only port that cannot be replaced with USB (for most users) and consider that the USB port can be centrally managed in enterprise solutions. The missing piece to further drive down PC costs is an in-wall DC supply with a "standard" line plug and filtering to eliminate the potential for powerline networking - a major security hole. This isn't for gamers or engineering workstations - but the masses.

Wait till somebody hacks up a DisplayLink driver for WinMo and the iPhone.

[Information Central @ Dec 14th 2008 2:22AM]

Since there's no way to push enough pixels through USB to draw a full screen, we have some compression scheme that's going to break down if too much of the image changes.

Then there's the CPU overhead that's always cited as a major problem with USB.

So really, this sounds like a major step backward, loading the CPU down with graphics chores that we knew enough to offload 30 years ago.

[ngamer007 @ Dec 14th 2008 11:41AM]

Hmm... only 6 huh? I don't know...

[fastm3driver @ Dec 15th 2008 11:08AM]

1920X1200 please.
Anything less is a waste of time. Unless it sell for $20 of course.

[BenDy @ Dec 25th 2008 3:36PM]

wouldn't it be cheaper to just get 6 graphics cards and use the built in windows capability to span them, because with this it looks like you have to get a special USB graphics card for every monitor you want.