Triple Screenage To Go!

| 11 Comments

Above, after much hair-pulling : VDMX merrily sending out 2400 x 600 pixels across 2 screens and 1 projector, via the set-up below.

ie – 2010 Macbook Pro –> mini display to DVI convertor –> DVI cable –> Matrox Triplehead2go Digital Edition –> DVI to VGA adaptors x 3.

According to Matrox, only the Triplehead2go DP ( Display Ports in/out) edition is compatible with the 2010 Macbook Pro. I wasn’t able to get that to send a signal to projectors, using display port to VGA adaptors. The DP-VGA adaptors by themselves worked fine on the ends of other cables, but when put after the TH2GO DP box, no signal. Weird science.

[[ UPDATE : Finally got Triplehead2go DP edition working with DP to VGA… with some new DP to VGA *active* adaptors. These adaptors apparently come in active and passive flavours, and active is needed. The previous batch of adaptors I’d received from ebay were supposedly active, but didn’t work. I found some others locally recently, and they worked fine. Seemed capable of 3 x 1280 x 720 and 2 x 1920×1080 without a problem. Didn’t try 3 x 1080P because of the projector set-up.]]

Was just about to sell the older Matrox Digital Edition, which ended up incompatible with my last machine, but aaaaaanyways. THREE SCREENS OUT. And with less than 3 hours til airport-to-Sydney time, for tomorrow’s video installing on Cockatoo Island, this is a good thing. Also good – the holy software trinity of VDMX, Syphon + Madmapper all worked perfectly across the 3 screens.

Below, Madmapper stretching across screens, even as computer leads are being stolen away from it and shoved into a bag.

Autobot Roulette:

11 Comments

  1. eDUARDo says:

    Hello there, impressive work! I have enjoyed reading your blog, and I have a question especifically about this post: I have an old matrox dual head 2 go, and as I have upgraded my macbook to an early 2011, and now also I have the chance to buy the new DP edition of the Triple Head, I wanted to ask you if could you finally get that to send a signal to projectors? especially through VGA adaptors? Thanks for help and for all the info you post here

  2. eDUARDo says:

    Thanks for help!!

  3. Vedant says:

    “According to Matrox, only the Triplehead2go DP ( Display Ports in/out) edition is compatible with the 2010 Macbook Pro. I wasn’t able to get that to send a signal to projectors, using display port to VGA adaptors. The DP-VGA adaptors by themselves worked fine on the ends of other cables, but when put after the TH2GO DP box, no signal”

    I am looking at buying the DP to VGA adaptors (3) that Matrox suggests. Matrox Technical Help Line confirms that a Accell http://accellcables.com/products/DisplayPort/DP/dp_vga.html brand of Active DP to VGA adaptor will certainly work. Could you please inform me if yyou used the same brand? Thank you for sharing.

    Accell

  4. Abhi says:

    Hey
    So im terribly confused between the DP and the digital edition.
    Im using a MacbookPro 2011. I spoke to Matrox customer care, and they said that a DP to VGA active adapter from Accell Cables should work without a glitch on the DP edition for the above case. My question to you: Have you tried using the Accell DP to VGA on ur DP edition. Will it work?

    ‘ The DP-VGA adaptors by themselves worked fine on the ends of other cables, but when put after the TH2GO DP box, no signal.’

    ends of which other cables? Did u buy the DP to VGA adapters from the matrox website?

    Also what maximum resolution did u get out of each of the three projectors when you used the Digital Edition using VGA?

    Thanks for the help

  5. Tomek says:

    Dear Mark,

    I have an Isadora sofware on my Macbook Pro (Early 2011) with OS Lion. It works great, but I have a problem with setting up TripleHead2Go to use it together with Isadora. I´m doing a small show and we don´t have time to think why it doesn´t work, that´s why I´m writing to you. We have TripleHead2Go Digital Edition with DVI input and outputs. I connect it to my macbook with Apple miniDP to DVI adapter. From Matrox we´re having 3x DVI to VGA adaters and thru VGA we connect it to the Beamer. When I open Matrox PowerDesk and setting it up suddenly Matrox ligt gets red and PowerDesk shut down. I cannot do anything. No image. I tryed also the same setup with VGA. No results. I tryed even from other laptop Toshiba with Windows Vista. STill the same procedure.

    WHat´s wrong? How can I set it up correctly. I know it´s possible. It´s the same setup as yours.

    Best,
    Tomek

    • j-p says:

      Hi Tomek –
      they can be annoying to debug – but here’s a few tips:

      Step 1 : Make sure you’ve installed latest drivers from matrox. Check the Matrox site about compatibility for your mac vs which version card you have…. you need a version that is relevant to your machine… A red light suggests to me some kind of driver problem… but that’s just a guess. Mine starts red, and becomes green on start-up of my machine.

      Step 2: Check that you’ve got suitable settings in the matrox preferences that are compatible with your projector outputs… ie What is the resolution and hertz setting in your Matrox settings? You need to check this, as well as your overall system output settings. Try changing between a few. It needs to be

      Step 3: Check all adaptors / cables etc… (note: As DVI comes in many flavours (see the wikipedia page), there are different types of DVI-VGA adaptors… ask at your local electronics store if in doubt.. ) If possible, try straight DVI out from Matrox to some monitors just to test whether that works?

      Sean

  6. Andreas liao says:

    Hi. Need help, my TH2G is not detect my DVI port but i can use VGA port at TH2G. When im using DVI TH2G is orange lamp but if using VGA TH2G is green lamp, how to fix it? Really2 need help

    • j p says:

      Hello Andreas –
      I don’t know your set-up – but make sure you are using the appropriate DVI connectors for your TH2G – see the differences here –
      wikipedia DVI page… Also see what your default output settings are when using DVI – these might cause problems. If so, try a few others… Other than that – I’d recommend contacting Matrox or asking around at vjforums.com..

  7. Richard says:

    I’m using an iMac osx mountain lion. Thunderbolt out to displayport to TH2G to DP to VGA. Everything was working just fine for 3 months. The the matrox box went out. I got a replacement. Plugged it in and worked fine. I run 1280×960 x 3. I use Propresenter for my software presentation. Today, it all went down the toilet and I cannot for the life of me figure out what has happened. The matrox will not recognize all the monitor outs. I’ve troubleshot this over and over and tried about everything. The latest error is the system continues to cycle trying to connect (communicate) with everything ie: screens go blue, flickers, comes on screens go black, desktop appears and repeat. Will getting active vga connectors help in this matter?

    • j p says:

      Hi Richard – I’ve yet to use any thunderbolt options with the TH2G – but the Active VGA adapters seemed important in guaranteeing an image through the display port TH2G. Do any of your 3 screens / projectors work, or none at all? I’d try testing a low resolution, like 640x480x3 to see if that works.. then work your way upwards. Also double-check your matrox preferences. And maybe have a look at SwitchRes X which gives a few more display checking options: http://www.madrau.com/whatis/whatis.html

      Good luck!

  8. Shannon says:

    We had a simular issue – we had to update the firmware on the projectors

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