success connecting vaio z to 2560 x 1600 external monitor?

This possibility to have 2560x1600 is a big chance, i have just ordered a zr24w hp but i could change this for the new zr30w if i know this res is usable with doking station or vga/hdmi/usb port.

Hope to see news asap

 

"Even"?
Almost none notebooks had support of 2560x1600 before Displayport became popular. And very few modern notebooks can support 2560x1600 through HDMI.

 

You may fail to realize that good old analogue VGA connectors don't have the limitations that digital interfaces do. Higher resolution just requires a higher clocked RAMDAC (and display driver support, obviously). You can't similarly bump up the speed of the TDMS in a digital solution, because the interface needs to talk at given set speeds.
So, yeah, chances are much better of getting really high resolutions with older VGA ports compared to digital ports.

 

Looks like HDCP handshake fails. Is your monitor HDCP capable?

If it is not - you're limited to 1280x800 resolution, unless there is a way to patch the NVidia video driver to disable HDCP (this was possible long time ago with a registry key, IIRC it is not supported anymore)

All this is courtesy of Sony, company which also owns studios and music business and is extremely paranoid about their precious little HD content.

Even if you never plan to play a signle movie on your Z, screen path still must be protected according to Sony

 

I failed to find any notebook capable of driving WQXGA through VGA (not to mention with acceptable picture quality)
And I can't remember any wqxga monitor that can be driven via vga at full resolution.

Yes in theory you can raise the frequency of analog signal but who cares if hardware just doesn't support it? I haven't seen compatible mobile cards

 

Hello!

I am indeed using my Z with a two-monitor setup that includes one 30-inch 2560x1600 monitor and another 24-inch 1680x1050. The laptop screen is a third-monitor, but due to my office layout, it is rarely usable because I have to turn my head too much to see it.

All in all, I am extremely happy with my setup. It does have some quirks, but so far I have been able to work around them. For example, the fact that I must remove Vidock before restarting the computer. But thanks to my programming abilities, I have been able to simplify this to Win+Z, remove Vidock, Win+Z. First Win+Z does "Safely remove hardware", the second puts the laptop to sleep. I use the sleep mode to turn it off during nights and during transport.

There may be other quirks, for example I find that often I need to reboot to get the 3G connection to work. It is possible that it won't work if Vidock has been connected. I haven't investigated this further, because the reboot is no problem given how rarely I need the 3G connection.

Also, the tri-mode graphics switch won't work without reboots, so I keep it at Stamina all the time. I don't play games so it works fine there.

I use my Z mostly in the office, and take it off the desk quite rarely (perhaps 90% docked use vs. 10% portable use). This means that I use my 30-inch display most of the time. If I had to remove the Z several times per day, I might find the Vidock-related quirks more of a problem.

When considering which laptop to purchase, my other option was a high-end HP or another well-known brand with built-in 2560x1600 support. At this time, I am extremely happy I took the risk with Vaio Z + Vidock.

 

Thanks a lot for your response.

I got vidock and since i am still trying to decide if i should get sony Z or not, I decided to try it with 2 of my old laptops ( both running windows 7)
1) lenovo u110: I just could not install drivers
2) lenovo t60p: I installed ati drivers and even got 2560x1600 on external monitor once during installation but it did not work after reboot. The problem could be that t60p has it's own ati fire gl card and I think I had driver conflict between 2 ati cards. I probably could fix it but all together it was not too encouraging regarding vidock installation

btw, I got vidock with ati 5670 card and I found it to be quite noisy. Is it normal?

 

Remember that my Vaio won't boot with the Vidock connected either. When booting, I must have the Vidock disconnected. After Vaio has booted, I can connect Vidock, and it works fine.

Obviously, a driver conflict is also possible. Although I think ATI drivers should support several devices on the same computer. Of course, it may be different if one is integrated and the other connected through Vidock...

I, too, have the ATI 5670 card. Yes, it was noisy after first install. I disconnected the Vidock's extra fan, and it is much better now. Since I don't do any gaming, I don't need the extra cooling provided by Vidock.

 

Thanks so much for the comment. I would like to ask you also about installation. I remember you mentioned that by default win 7 installed VGA driver for vidock. So, I assume that you had to install right driver manually. May I ask what was exactly the file name you used for driver installation? Ati web site seems to have few different versions: driver alone and driver + catalyst control center. Which one did you use?

 

I don't remember the exact file name, and I don't have it on my disk anymore, but I remember it was the full package. At least I have Catalyst Control Center installed now.

 

Hey mnz2000 what monitor do you have? I have a HP lp3065 and wondering if this vidock would achieve a successful 2560x1600 link with the vaio z.

 

I have an LG W3000H. I don't think the brand of the monitor can cause any issues so your HP should work fine provided all the other pieces (drivers etc.) fit.

 

Seems a pretty expensive solution at $300 ... I thought the hdcp encryption key was hacked. Wouldn't there be a way to use hdmi - dvi-d to go around the hdcp barrier?

 

I have no idea about HDCP. I haven't had any problems with it, and I don't even know if it is used in my setup or not.

 

If i have a spare pc would i be able to do a makeshift vidock? What's the news with the nvidia drivers in getting the full resolution?

 

I did this with mine. I forget the software I used, don't use it regularly. But I got full 2560x1600 from my Vaio laptop using a pc. I could not tell any difference between vaio and native 2560x1600.

 

Awesome! Are there any special hardware components required? I'm guessing the video card has to have a dvi-d out? Is it possible to find the software you use? Cheers and thanks for the good news =)

 

I wish I could remember the software... there is a sender vid driver and a host receiver, sent over ethernet network.

The desktop has to have a vid card to drive the monitor; laptop video does not matter, as the software is its own video driver.

 

My pc is equipped with a radeon x1950 which has 2 dual link dvi ports. One of them is connected to the 30" lcd. Could i use the spare one to connect it to the vaio with a dual link dvi -> hdmi cable and hope that the vaio screen can be extended to the lcd screen?

 

Hi Nembrot,

I have the same notebook (Asus G51JX with Nvidia GTS 360M) and want to make a connection to the Dell u2711. What cable did you use (type, manufacturer, shop)?

Thanks!
ReinH

 

sounds like remote pc...

 

Ugh. Guess 2560x1600 isn't possible without using ViDock. Anyone had any luck with a new Z13 model at 2560x1600 without using ViDock or an external card?

 

Well I am trying to setup vidock with vpc1290x for 1 month now without success. Village Tronic people apparently have given up on helping me with this. I wish if someone can recall the steps to this successful setup. For now, I have given up on this.

 

what brand name HDMI-DVI-DL cable did you use?

 

Sorry for hijacking this thread.

I have ordered a Vaio Z (VPCZ13X5E): i7-640M - 256 GB Quad SSD - 8 GB - 1920x1080 - Backlit KB - W7 Ultimate - PCF - Docking station

And I am looking for a nice, affordable external monitor(s). Do you guys have any suggestions? Our IT here have the Dell Ultrasharp U2410 available and recommended, but looking at it from other people using it here, I am far from impressed with the monitor.

I want to have a simple solution where the monitor(s) will work from the docking station without having to resort to rebooting, installing non-supported software and the such.

I understand, using 2 monitors isn't really possible without some gimmicks and/or extra hardware?

The maximum resolution possible on an external monitor is 1920x1200 without resorting to some tricks?

 

fmboisvert,

look at IPS 23's. Color is head and shoulders above the 6-bit TN panels, + way better viewing angles. I got the Viewsonic; nice because its stand holds it above my Vaio F (without books.) Dell and a couple others have them too. Mine is the best color I have ever seen on a monitor, way better than my 30" Samsung.

 

Colleagues,

How do you setting up 1920x1200 resolution on external monitor via HDMI? I have maximum resolution 1080p with NVidia and VAIO Control Center's. If I use analog one - I reach 1920 x 1200 on my Samsung 245t with strong dazzle.

 

how is display performance for you guys?
I'm running 1920 x 1200 extended with the 1600 x 900 and this puppy's chugging...

how is it running for y'all?

VGN - Z6XX 8G ram

---------

Nevermind... guh.
trillian update has been making my whole system chug all day today.

 

Hi Guys,

I just read all posts in this thread but I'm still somewhat lost.
Hoping for some help. Appoligies in advance for my limited technical knowledge.


****


Situation:

I have two Vaios, VPC-Z12 and VPC-F12.
Both with Nvidia 330m as you all probably know.
I also have a couple of 30" HP3065.


The problem:

I'm trying o connect my F12 with one of my HP3065 using a HDMI->DVI cable. I would obviously prefer 2560*1600 but knew it would not be supported. Is there is still no fix for this for someone with normal/little technical understanding?

Anyway, things would be ok as long as I got 1900*1200 but all I get is 1200*800.
Why is that? How do I fix it?

The computer works fine putting out 1900*1200 on a 24" samsung monitor. The monitor works fine doing all resolutions up to 2560*1600 on my colleagues desktop.


****

To sum up:

How to get at least 1900*1200 from the VPC-F12 (or the VPC-Z12) to a HP3065?


Thx in advance!

 

CasperFC, unfortunately the HP 3065 does not have a built in scaler like most other monitors, and it only accepts its native 2560x1600 or 1/4 of that: 1280x800.

 

Thank you for your reply Mahir!

So this means that there is no way for me to get it running on 1900*1200?
An extra hardware/software that will do the scaling for me?


(or better, any way to get 2650*1600 working would be fantastic)

 

has anyone tried the hacked BIOS with the latest nVidia drivers.

I am pretty sure it would work, I only have a 1080P monitor but I can make all sorts of custom resolutions. I can run 2560x1600 over VGA to my 1080P

took a screen shot of it

Hotfile.com: One click file hosting: 2560x1600VGA.png

 

I don't believe VGA cable will support than much resolution. VGA is crud on mine anyway, compared with HDMI digital - bad enough to be a deal killer.

 

DELL U3011 working nicely with ViDock4Plus and GeForce GTX 570 HD
WOOT

The trick is to boot the Z and plug the ViDock in when you see the laptop backlight come on just before/as you see the VAIO logo, then it works great!

 

I wonder if there is a BIOS setting that I can do that will enable the Z1 to boot with the ViDock attached. I have the advance BIOS menu unlocked with the BIOS hack... anyone have any ideas?

 

If this software is the same one that I've used it's called Maxivista.

Multi Monitor - Dual Monitor - KVM switch

 

Hello. Has anyone tried to connect 2560x1600 monitor to Vaio Z through DVI-D dual link on the docking station?? Would it work?

 

I have a VPC1290x and tried the DVI out of the docking station. It maxed out at 1920 x 1080 with my 27" Samsung Series 9. No luck there.

Can anyone share how inconvenient is the boot up and connection with the Vidock if I move my laptop every day?

 

The Sony Vaio SVZ13 docking station VGP-PRZ20A has an AMD 7670M graphics adapter in it.

According to AMD's web site this chipset can support up to 2560x1600.
AMD Radeon

Also according the AMD's web site this chipset has HDMI 1.4a, which according to Wikipedia HDMI - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia should be able to support a very high resolution indeed.

So the bummer is that AMD's web site for the chipset also says that for HDMI output the max resolution is 1920x1200.

I'm *guessing* that with the appropriate driver/resolution hacks similar to those the developed by ComputerCowboy for the Z2 it *should* be possible to drive a 2560x1600 resolution monitor.

Now part of the problem, and perhaps why the SVZ13's PRZ20A dock can only put out 1920x1200 out of the box is probably due to the fact that the HDMI port on the SVZ13 is a 19 pin HDMI type A port. I *think* that to do resolutions higher than 1920x1200 requires a 29 pin HDMI type B port, which is electrically compatible with dual link DVI.

The HDMI type A port is electrically compatible with single link DVI. According to this wikipedia article on DVI Digital Visual Interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia the max resolution that can be driven at 60hz on a single link DVI is "1,915 × 1,436 pixels (standard 4:3 ratio), 1,854 × 1,483 pixels (5:4 ratio), or 2,098 × 1,311 (widescreen 16:10 ratio)."

I'm looking for a solution as well, but will probably just buy some more monitors since the SVZ13 with dock can drive 3 1920x1200 monitors at once.

Now, the question is can the laptop's Intel HD Graphics 4000 drive something as high as 2560x1600 or x1443?