Hi,
I have several of your UGA-2K-A which work great but I needed an additional unit so I ordered your new USB3-HDMI-DVI model. I know the previous model had an adapter for VGA and this model doesn’t. Can I still use an adapter to hook to VGA.
Hi Robert,
Thanks for contacting Plugable and for your interest in our new USB 3.0 to HDMI/DVI graphics adapter (http://plugable.com/products/usb3-hdm…).
This graphics adapter works with monitors that have HDMI or DVI inputs.
It does not work with monitors that have only VGA inputs.
We hope that the adapter still will be of use to you, because it offers performance benefits even on computers without USB 3.0 ports.
If you cannot use it with your monitors, please go to http://amazon.com/returns to manage the return of your product. We don’t want anyone to have purchased a product they cannot use.
Please let us know if you have additional questions about Plugable products. We’re here to help.
Best Regards,
Aaron
Plugable Technologies
This was a terrible decision on Plugable’s part. One of the important reasons that I want this adapter is to use old monitors for new purposes AND to be able to use the adapter when I present at conferences, and it’s pretty obvious that at nearly any conference you might attend, all of the switching equipment is legacy VGA based and will be for several years. Aaron, there are simple plug adapters to take DVI to VGA. Are you saying that Plugable intentionally designed the product to fail to work with those adapters?
Hi J.,
Don’t worry! This is just the first product in a line, and you’re going to see adapters with VGA options from us soon.
It’s not that we disabled VGA with our flagship USB 3.0 graphics adapter http://plugable.com/products/usb3-hdm… Rather, it’s that we wanted to prioritize a small, svelte design, and HDMI is the smallest of the ports (you’ll notice from the product pictures that the adapter is not much larger than the HDMI port itself).
!](https://d37wxxhohlp07s.cloudfront.net/s3_images/737070/Top-HDMI-View_inline.jpg?1336760762)](https://d37wxxhohlp07s.cloudfront.net/s3_images/737070/Top-HDMI-View.jpg?1336760762)
Choosing HDMI has knock-on consequences. HDMI is a digital-only interface. You can convert to DVI-D with a simple passive adapter. But it’s not possible to passively convert from a digital (HDMI) to analog (VGA). There are HDMI to VGA converters on the market, but they’re expensive and require their own power – not something desirable or practical.
I’m sure you’re asking, because for our USB 2.0 generation products like the UGA-165 (http://plugable.com/products/uga-165/)), we have a single adapter that supports VGA, DVI, and HDMI. That’s a mix of analog and digital - how’s that possible?
The way it accomplishes that trick is the output of the adapter is DVI-I. DVI-I is the one interface standard that has both (but separate) digital and analog pins, that enable it to be passively converted to EITHER VGA or HDMI. It’s the most flexible solution for hitting the major connector types. You can read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_… The only downside is it makes the adapter a little bigger, because the DVI-I interface is larger than HDMI.
!](https://d37wxxhohlp07s.cloudfront.net/s3_images/737073/adapter-front-transparent_inline.jpg?1336761140)](https://d37wxxhohlp07s.cloudfront.net/s3_images/737073/adapter-front-transparent.jpg?1336761140)
So, in short, if you need VGA compatibility the USB3-HDMI-DVI is not for you. But it just our first adapter in a line, and you’ll have more adapter choices from us shortly that support VGA directly and via DVI-I with a passive adapter. Sorry for making you wait on those!
We believe VGA will be an important interface for years to come.
Hope that background helps - thanks for prodding us about it!
Bernie
Hello Bernie,
I appreciate the explanation. Do you have an idea when the new products will appear. Writeups elsewhere suggest that the efficiency of the new adapter is so good even on USB 2 that there are disadvantages to buying your old product. My problem is that my need is next month for a conference tour and I don’t want to buy an old product that’s already been characterized as obsolete. At home my Lenovo monitors have VGA and Displayport interfaces.
Regards,
J.
Hello Bernie,
I appreciate the explanation. Do you have an idea when the new products will appear. Writeups elsewhere suggest that the efficiency of the new adapter is so good even on USB 2 that there are disadvantages to buying your old product. My problem is that my need is next month for a conference tour and I don’t want to buy an old product that’s already been characterized as obsolete. At home my Lenovo monitors have VGA and Displayport interfaces.
Regards,
J.
Hi JG,
Unfortunately, we’ll be close, but I don’t think we’ll have a solution in time for you to buy, if the conference is sometime in June.
The performance difference when running on a USB 2.0 host is there, but it’s subtle. You’ll see the difference only with full-screen video at higher resolutions.
Also note that the USB 2.0 cards work on Mac and Linux (for advanced users willing to write their own Linux xorg.conf). The USB 3.0 cards are Windows only for now.
And if you add a USB 3.0 adapter in the future, it can drive an additional monitor, alongside an existing USB 2.0 adapter - so any USB 2.0 adapters could continue to be useful.
Sorry again that we don’t have a USB 3.0 VGA option for you at this moment! But hope that background helps.
Bernie