Hardware Reviews
Avocent SwitchView DVI 4-port KVM Switch We published a how-to article on keyboard/video/mouse switches some time ago. For those not familiar with the concept, these switches, also known as KVMs for short, allow you to use one keyboard, video display (or monitor) and mouse to control a number of computers. There have been a couple of primary advances over the last few years for KVM switches targeted for the home network (as opposed to those designed for corporate network rooms with many, many computers). First was the switch from PS/2 style connectors for keyboards and mice, to USB connectors. The Belkin switch we previously reviewed included USB connectors. The big advantage with USB connectors is that additional features of USB mice and keyboards will often work with the switch, such as multiple buttons on a USB mouse. The second major advance for home KVM switches is the move to DVI connectors for monitors. This is the digital interface used by many LCD monitors. Although many inexpensive LCD monitors use the same VGA connectors of older CRT monitors, the best LCD panels use digital connections to get the best possible image from computers on to the screen. The editors at homePCnetwork.com wanted to take a look at these DVI KVM switches and the first one we reviewed, the ATEN CS-1764 USB-DVI KVM, had so many problems we were compelled to put up a bug report about the issues. ATEN has promised a new, revised model and we'll look at that in the future. In the meantime, we turned to the good folks at Avocent for their SwitchView DVI 4-port KVM Switch (model 4SVDVI10-001). This is an outstanding KVM with nearly identical features to the ATEN without any of the issues. It retails for less than the ATEN (we found it for $234 at buy.com) but that price does not include cables unlike the ATEN. Be careful when shopping for cables as they can add significantly to the price but can also be found for quite reasonable prices. We found some good quality, low-price cables at Cables-To-Go. Unlike the ATEN, we found no compatibility issues with the SwitchView and were extremely pleased with the features, performance and value. In fact, as you'll read below, we found everything to like and practically nothing to dislike about the SwitchView. As such, it was an easy call to award this great KVM our Editor's Choice award. Read on for more details. Overview
The Avocent SwitchView DVI KVM switch manages up to four computers from a single USB keyboard, mouse and DVI monitor. It has video resolutions up to 1920 x 1200 which is the standard for 20-inch LCD monitors. The SwitchView has audio connectors so one set of speakers and one microphone can work across all four computers. Finally, a pair of USB connectors allows the SwitchView to be used as a USB hub, providing shared use by the four computers of any devices connected the hub, including printers, scanners, etc. The switch comes in a small, shoe-box sized carton with a power supply, a quick start guide and an installation manual. The switch itself is about eight inches long, by one inch high by about three inches deep. On the front are four push buttons to switch between computers and four LEDs to indicate which computer is being controlled. On the back are the USB ports for the mouse and keyboard, the DVI connector for the LCD panel and the audio connectors for speakers and microphone. The switch also has two extra USB ports for shared devices and a power supply connector. Along the rest of the back of the switch are the connectors for each of the four computers controlled, including a USB connector, speaker and microphone connector and DVI monitor connector for each computer. Installation Installation of the SwitchView was a breeze. With all computers off, we connected a USB cable, video DVI cable and speaker/microphone cable from each computer to the switch. With Avocent's cables, this is a single cable with connectors for each device at each end. For other cables, there might be a separate cable for each. Next, we connected a mouse, keyboard and LCD monitor to the switch at the designated connectors. Finally, since we wanted to test the shared USB device feature, we connected a printer and scanner to the respective connectors on the SwitchView.
One note: when using these USB hub connectors, the power supply must be connected. When using JUST keyboard, mouse, monitor and audio, the power supply is not necessary. With everything connected, we turned on the switch and each of our test computers. As each computer booted, it went through a small process of recognizing the switch and each of the devices connected to it. For none of our test computers, which have both Windows XP and Windows 2000 installed, were any drivers required for the switch. Of course, drivers were required for the mouse and other peripherals connected. Once the computers recognized the hardware, we were up and running without a hitch. A simple push on the respective button on the front of the SwitchView, switched control to the respective computer. At that point, we were able to control the computer and use the shared USB device from that computer. Simple. Bottom line: Installation could not have been easier. A couple of notes here however: It seems best to switch to a computer as it is booting. If not, sometimes we found that the video did not work. If that happened, sometimes switching to a different computer and then switching back helped. Sometimes, though, it seemed like it didn't. It was easy enough to keep the switch on the computer booting and that way we never had any problems. When we plugged our test mouse and keyboard into the SwitchView's keyboard and mouse port, we had no issues with basic control. However, we use a Logitech MX500 mouse in our test set up and that has a number of extra controls beyond basic mouse controls (for example, a separate button auto scrolls down a page instead of having to keep rolling the mouse wheel). Those extra buttons appeared to not work when the mouse was plugged into the mouse port. In fact, the SwitchView refused to allow each computer to recognize the mouse as a Logitech MX500, but instead recognized it as a generic wheel mouse. The solution was to connect the MX500 to one of the shared USB ports on the SwitchView. Each computer then recognized the mouse as an MX500 and we had access to every special feature on the mouse. We found the same thing to be true with our Compaq keyboard which has a row of special control buttons. Once we connected the keyboard to the shared USB port (not the keyboard USB port), we had use of the special buttons. We also had some lock up problems with this keyboard using the keyboard USB port, but those disappeared when we connected the keyboard to the shared USB port. Performance Performance of the SwitchView was outstanding. As we mentioned, once we connected our mouse and keyboard to the shared USB ports, we had no issues at all using all of the extra features on our test mouse and keyboard. Typical of other USB switches we've used, there is the slightest hesitation when switching control between computers. That appears linked to how Windows and computers recognize USB devices and has nothing to do with any SwitchView issues. In fact, compared to other USB KVMs we've used, the SwitchView changed control faster than any of them. That's a completely subjective measure, of course, but there really isn't any way to measure the time it takes to switch control. We're talking about microseconds, even with the delay. One minor nit pick is that we did find occasional noise in the video signal. This was represented by quick flashes of odd color pixels on the screen. They only lasted a microsecond and usually involved a row of pixels no more than an inch long. It appeared, however, that this was very much dependent on the video card of each computer. Our newest test computer, which uses the latest PCI-Express connector, had none of these problems. Our other test computers, which have older AGP video cards, had very infrequent noise. In fact, some users might not even notice the noise at all. A final nit is that the SwitchView does get quite warm if placed in a closed environment. We first placed it in a tight spot between our test monitor stand and the desk. In this situation, the switch often got quite warm. We then placed it vertically beside our LCD monitor which allowed air to circulate completely around it. In this set up, the switch stayed much cooler. Summary Overall, we were extremely pleased with the Avocent SwitchView DVI KVM Switch. Installation was easy and performance was almost perfect. In fact, the few performance issues we saw appeared linked to our computer hardware and not the switch. Besides, many users might not notice any of these issues at all. With great performance, good features and an affordable price, it was an easy decision to award the Avocent our Editor's Choice award. If you have more than one computer and recently upgraded to a DVI LCD monitor, we recommend you take a look at the new DVI KVM switches and put the Avocent at the top of your list. Grade = A+ Details
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