My video is fuzzy

February 23, 2009 4:40 PM

Mac and Acer monitor. Why do I occasionally see shadows?

I bought a used MiniMac on eBay, and I connected it to an Acer flat-screen monitor. It works very well - most of the time. On occasion, however, it will start to show shadows of the letters behind text, and any graphics are somewhat blurred.

This is of course a VGA monitor. I bought a DVI to VGA adapter directly from Apple, thinking that the first one from Radio Shack maybe was not of very good quality.

Any ideas on what I can do about this?

posted by megatherium to computers & internet (4 comments total)

Is there a button on front of the monitor, or an option in one of the monitor's menus, to degauss? It sounds guassed.
posted by turgid dahlia at 4:48 PM on February 23

LCDs don't have degaussing, so if by "flat-screen" you mean "LCD", then you don't have that option. (there are CRTs that are called "flat-screen" too, so it's kinda ambiguous. LCDs are maybe an inch or two thick, where a CRT is more like a foot, if you're not sure of the difference.)

try a better VGA cable. I've known a few Acers - I have one and it's pretty good - and the monitor itself tends to be good, but they pack in crap VGA cables. since VGA is an analogue thing, cable quality does matter - I wouldn't say to go buy a $80 Monster-brand abomination, but something a little thicker would probably help.

there's also the possibility that the adapter or cable itself has a loose wire. if you've got a friend or an Apple Store nearby, it might be worth it to cart the mess down and try it with another monitor.

if your Acer screen has a DVI input, use that instead. a lot of the really really cheap or older LCD screens don't have them but a growing number do. this doesn't count if you've really got an old-style CRT monitor.

also, you typically get best results by running the screen at its native resolution; lower can be weird (esp. if you're not running at a similar aspect ratio - i.e. a 20" widescreen 1680x1050 monitor at 1280x1024) and can exacerbate a bad cable.
posted by mrg at 4:59 PM on February 23

I may now have answered my own question. When checking the VGA input for a bent pin, I noted that it was a little loose. I tightened it. So far so good. I will monitor things for a time.
posted by megatherium at 5:19 PM on February 23

Get a DVI cable, if at all possible. If you're using a VGA cable, look what your screen does to these poor stripes.
posted by you at 10:43 PM on February 23