Customer Reviews

IOGEAR 2-Port DVI KVMP Switch with Audio and Cables (GCS1762)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This product would have been the answer to all of my problems if it weren't for a few fatal flaws;

1) It does not support 'multifunction' keyboards...their technical support informed me this includes any keyboards that include volume control, internet buttons, etc. You know, the kind that come with most modern PCs sold today. I don't use those buttons and keyboards are cheap - I'd be willing to just buy a new one except:

2) Mice with wheel buttons are not supported (according to their tech support, this also constitutes a 'multifunction' device)...so if you are a gamer (or just like the wheel button), prepare to replace your gaming mouse with a plain vanilla 2-button mouse.

3) Their tech support is pretty awful; They seem to have a checklist of devices that are unsupported (despite being pretty standard with most PCs on the market today), and seem more interested in finding a reason why your configuration is unsupported (thus ending the call) than actually working with you. My mouse was working on both PCs but was just a little choppy on one, but once the support person latched onto the fact that it had a wheel, they were unwilling to waste another second talking about what might be causing the problem and if anything at all could be done to fix it.

It's too bad, it's even a slick looking little device. I give it two stars because it does indeed switch back and forth between the two monitors.

I'm switching a pc and a mac on an apple cinema 23" display at 1920x1200. The switching works fine with the mac but sometimes the display won't immediately show the pc. Not the fault of the kvm, apparently -- switching the DVI cable has the same effect. BUT you can solve that problem by putting the pc display to sleep quickly. When it wakes up with the focus already on the display, it works fine.

The keyboard is another story. First, there are two usb ports on the front, one for the keyboard and one for the mouse. Using my mac keyboard with the mouse plugged into it (it has a small hub in the kbd), the mouse will not work when the two are just plugged into the kbd usb port on the KVM. So, I plugged them both into the mouse port on the KVM. This works perfectly -- except -- the keyboard hotkeys do not work. In order for the mouse to work, it MUST be attached to the mouse port. For the keyboard hotkeys to work, the kbd MUST be attached to the keyboard port. But this leads to other problems. Apparently the firmware is a little buggy because the keyboard gets to acting oddly from time to time, slow typing, stuck keys, etc. This is because the keyboard port interprets the data for the keyboard, looking for hotkeys and/or mapping mac keys to pc keys. I turned off the mapping, and so far so good except for an occasional hiccup which can be fixed by using the 'reset usb' hotkeys. Of course, plugging both kbd and mouse into the 'mouse' usb port works perfectly, and you can switch the focus using the front panel switches.

I got this KVM switch yesterday and hooked it up to my laptop and my old desktop. The laptop would display properly on the monitor, but the desktop wouldn't. Plugging the desktop in directly confirms that my DVI port works. Also the switch would tend to lose the connection with my keyboard. I spent 3 hours repeatedly rebooting my computers, but I could never get the switch to work properly.

I was able to get this to work with a 3 year old Mac (after buying an ADC to DVI converter) and a brand new Dell without any trouble, and once I figured out how to turn off the loud beeping noise I was pretty happy with it - especially the feature that lets me switch computers without switching the USB ports. Then I discovered that the USB ports are 1.1 only - in fact Iogear proudly says the ports are fully compliant with USB 1.1 in their literature - which would be great if this was 1999, but in 2006 it would be nice to get full bandwidth from my 2.0 peripherals and not get the annoying "you have plugged a high-speed device in a crummy USB port from the last decade" when switching computers.

My setup includes a home-built Windows XP with an Intel mainboard and a Power Mac G5, both fully updated. I'm using a USB Mac keyboard and a Sony DVI monitor. Everything has worked flawlessly. The manual isn't bad, but could be better. I can't help wondering if some of the dissatisfied users haven't failed to read the manual closely, thereby missing a detail or two.

Beyond plugging cables, little setup is required. I had to make a setup change to accomodate the Mac keyboard. By default, the ports are configured to auto-detect keyboard types when connecting to Windows PCs. Mappings between the keyboard types enable you to enter any keystroke with either type of keyboard. For example, my Mac Apple key executes a Windows Menu keystroke when the Windows PC is selected.

The only thing I'd love to see is switching for optical audio. I have a 5.1 speaker system, and I have to switch inputs between the systems manually. 2-channel audio switching works fine, however, and that's all the specs promise.

The unit includes a cable for upgrading the firmware. Since mine works fine, I haven't looked to see whether any upgrades are available, but those who have problems might check.

I've worked with several KVM switches over the years. I was very impressed with this one. It is compact, reasonably priced, includes the required cables, and worked well out of the box. I recommend it highly.

I used (cheap) KVM switches some time ago that use analog VGA. Screen image quality was degraded while using them. Purchasing this DVI KVM switch I hope this will not be an issue. I was not disappointed.

PRO: Screen image quality did not degrade and one can not tell a difference when connected everything through the device.

PRO: All required cables are included with the device.

PRO: Amazon's price of the item was significantly lower then MSRP and pricing of the other stores.

CON: USB ports for mouse and keyboard are located on the front of the device, while everything else is connected to the back. I can't think of any reason why would those ports located on the front. Although this is minor for me since I situated the device under the desk.

CON: Buttons on the front of the device are not easy to use since they are hard to press while device is not heavy enough. This is also not a big deal because the device is under the desk and because of the following:

PRO: Keyboard shortcut switching is really handy and has multiple shortcuts to switch components selectively (audio, controls, extra USB, video, etc.) as well as everything all together.

PRO: Microsoft Natural Elite keyboard works perfectly with all extra-button functionality. (Earlier someone mentioned that device affects the extra functionality)

CON: If video is not switched to a computer while it boots up (comes back from the stand-by or hibernation) strange problem occurs in 100% of cases when making it active: monitor switches to lower resolution, but adapter doesn't, so image scrolls on the screen. I don't have enough knowledge to blame the device, OS or DVI technology, nor I had time to troubleshoot the problem. This is just annoying, but if remember to switch to computer while it boots up, I can live with it.

The product is used with: Dell XPS 410, Dell D-dock (Inspiron 600m or Latitude 820) as secondary monitor, Microsoft Natural Elite keyboard, Dell Optical Wheel mouse, Dell DVI flat panel, Logitec Z4 speakers.

I would recommend this product to people that need to share DVI monitor, USB peripherals and audio across multiple computers. Video quality doesn't degrade.

Works great for me. Set it up in minutes. I hookedup my home desktop, and my work laptop via docking station.

The only thing I do not like about it is that the USB ports for the keyboard/mouse are on the front. I would have preferred they are on the back to be neater. I have a wireless keyboard/mouse - so no need to even see the USB cable that goes to the receiver.

Unlike the other user who indicated it does not work with multifunction/media keyboard - everything works fine for me. Ie media, volume, favorite buttons.

I use the hot keys to switch. I might look into changing them as it says you can do in the book.

I love how you can (but don't have to)seperately control the keyboard, usb devices, and sound through the use of the hot keys. It works great.

I got this device to connect two laptops and two desktops, to one screen and one keyboard and mouse. The Mouse is a Microsoft Intellimouse, and the keyboard is a MS internet keyboard Pro, none of these devices work with the IOgear CS1764. I have to plug my mouse and keyboard on the back of the CS1764, to be able to use them, but lose all the keyboard short cuts functionality. Also after some hours the USB devices plug on the back are not available to the my windows or linux OS, requiring me to unplug and plug the devices again.

I am using this to connect a PowerMac G5 and a Powerbook/MacBook to a 20'' Cinema Display. No setup required, works like a charm. I would highly recommend this unit to all Mac users. The only thing one has to be careful about is the fact that >20'' Cinema Displays are NOT supported.

I recently upgraded my home PC to one that came with a flat panel monitor that used DVI cables. I had been using a Linksys VGA type KVM switch which I loved and worked perfectly but did not work with the DVI type monitor requirements. I was a little worried reading the reviews of this product, but I was able to install it in about 5 minutes and so far, it has worked perfectly. I'm using it with the a Dell Dimension E521 and a 20inch wide screen flat panel monitor and my work laptop (Dell Latitude 610 with port replicator). It works fine with the new Dell keyboard and scroll wheel mouse.