Switchview Dvi 4 Port USB KVM Switch USB 2.0 Hub with Audio

Average customer rating: 4.0

hates sleeping computers
Barely Adequate
great product
Works great...but understand the limitations.
Good Switch

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Switchview Dvi 4 Port USB KVM Switch USB 2.0 Hub with Audio

Manufacturer: Avocent
Product Group: CE
Binding: Electronics
ASIN: B000A7NR8A

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KVM Switches

Product Description

Avocent SwitchView DVI KVM switch easily manage up to four USB DVI computers from a single USB keyboard, mouse and DVI monitor. With video resolutions up to 1600 x 1200, the SwitchView DVI delivers crisp images for today's high-end displays. Audio and microphone support are added benefits for today's demanding user. The SwitchView DVI switch also features a sleek design that makes it a compact and versatile solution for the small office and home office desktop.

Customer Reviews:

hates sleeping computers.......2007-03-24

This switch works pretty well until one of your computers goes to sleep or the display sleeps, then you have to power cycle the switch to get it to display anything after waking up the computer or display.
Same problem occurs when you just turn on the computer.
Windows is especially bad about thinking it has no display if you boot Windows when it is not the selected computer.
If your computer never sleeps and never sleeps the display, then the switch works fine. Otherwise look for something else.

Barely Adequate.......2007-01-11

It does the job. But ....

Major peeve:
If you are not switched to the graphics card until the boot completes, the screen stays blank.

It does not appear to isolate the computer from the peripherals. You must have a keyboard / mouse attached. A "stupid" emulation until a real device is attached would be more useful.

Minor peeve.
You can only move the USB and Audio connections by moving "syncing" the audio and/or the usb to the keyboard and monitor. You cannot shift them independently.

Don't bother buying the avocent cable. It isn't a single unified cable, it is three seperate cables.

great product.......2007-01-04

I've been using this switch for 3 months now with not a single issue. It's very easy to use. Both keyboard controls and manual switching work great. I would definitely recommend this switch to others.

Works great...but understand the limitations........2006-06-14

This KVM switch works very well. It is exactly what I was looking for. I can now use one USB keyboard and one USB mouse to control my main PC, my work laptop, and my Mac Mini. The independent USB hub switching and independent audio switching is great (although the documentation provided with the switch is not great, so it does take some experimenting to figure out exactly how to do the independent switching). Basically, to do the independent switching, you have to "unbind" the hub switching and the audio switching from the PC switching. It's not rocket science, but the documentation doesn't do a great job of explaining it. Once you get the hang of it, it's fine. If you don't need to do independent switching (i.e., the KVM, audio, and USB hub will ALL always just be tied to ONE computer at a time), it'll be even easier for you and the documentation provided with the switch is fine.

The online support area (at Avocent's web site) is lacking for this item. Perhaps this is a newer product for them, but as of the time of this writing (June 13, 2006) the Switchview DVI is not listed as a separate product in the "manuals" and "knowledge base" areas in their support area.

I am using a Dell USB keyboard and a Logitech wireless mouse. The standard functions of these devices work fine. However, certain "special" functions (e.g., multimedia controls on the keyboard, volume controls on the keyboard, programmable buttons on the mouse) do NOT work through the switch. This has been documented in other reviews and I believe is pretty much "common knowledge", but I thought I'd mention it. I don't really use those special functions anyhow, so those limitations don't really bother me. My mouse's scroll wheel DOES work fine through the switch.

FYI, there was a firmware update released in April of 2006. It provides support for some additional Apple, Microsoft, and Logitech mice/keyboards. It can be obtained online in their "Product Upgrades and Options" area. The documentation provided for the firmware upgrade is pretty good (however, I have not done the firmware upgrade myself, so I cannot comment on if that process is problematic or not).

Overall, I highly recommend this switch.

Good Switch.......2006-05-13

I've had several KVM switches over the years, and this is so far the best. As noted in another review, the keystroke capture is very good, and 1920x1200 displays well. My Logitech trackball also works only as a regular mouse, without scroll features, etc. I haven't tried plugging it into the USB hub on the switch, but will soon and report back.

The other issue that was noted about the display not working if that particular port is not active is usually resolved by simply pressing a key: the display then comes back on after a second or two. I don't know if this is universal or not, but it works on my two desktops (Dell) and laptop (Sony.)

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