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My monitor supports full-resolution display (2560x1440) only when connected to through either the DVI-D dual link port, or the DisplayPort.

My laptop, though, has neither of these two kinds of output. Instead, all it's got is a HDMI port (which is version 1.3, and I also read that the laptop's graphics chipset supports 2560x1440 at 60Hz).

So I'm wondering whether anyone has ever seen an HDMI-to-DVI dual link adapter, which will carry my ultra-highres signal to the monitor I just bought. So far I haven't seen any, and don't even know whether such an adapter (which I understand would have to be active, USB-powered and expensive (but I don't care)) exists.

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  • You're new to this site. Please read the faqs Shopping questions are not allowed.
    – wizlog
    Sep 5, 2011 at 14:35
  • Did you Google it, I got several hits...encrypted.google.com/…
    – Moab
    Sep 5, 2011 at 14:53
  • 9
    Those adapters are all "dumb", i.e. they claim to be "dual link" because they've got all the pins on the DVI side to look like a dual link cable, yet they only pass the entire HDMI signal through one of the two links of the DVI part. Hence they only support resolutions of up to 1920x1080 (and they all say so, I've never seen such an adapter claim to support 2560x1440 or higher), and won't work with the full resolution of my monitor (at least not higher than 35Hz refresh rate)
    – alex k
    Sep 5, 2011 at 15:48
  • What I need is an adapter that's "active", i.e. will split the HDMI signal to both links of the dual link DVI port. I don't expect such an adapter/cable to come cheap.
    – alex k
    Sep 5, 2011 at 15:49
  • Someone asked the same question at forum.gefen.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10001 and forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1479962
    – Ben Voigt
    Sep 5, 2011 at 16:26

7 Answers 7

42

I'm writing this on a 2560x1600 Dual Link DVI monitor connected to a computer using HDMI 1.4.

Stop searching for HDMI to DVI-DL adapters. All adapters that you'll find are passive single-link adapters, even though they may be advertised as dual-link.

Although a HDMI 1.4 to Dual Link DVI adapter is possible to implement using an Analog Devices ADV7619 297 MHz HDMI 1.4 receiver that does automatically split high pixel clock links into odd and even pixels and two ADV7513 165 MHz HDMI 1.4 transmitters to transmit the pixels over two separate links, no manufacturer is making such a device.

You need a device that generates Dual Link DVI output from a single link input. And the only one that's widely available is a DisplayPort to Dual Link DVI adapter, sold under several different brands.

Dual link to DVI adapter

With that, we've reduced the problem to converting HDMI 1.4 to DisplayPort 1.1. There were no solutions for this until recently, when the STMicroelectronics chip STDP2600 became available. Several brands sell adapters based on this chip. In case your monitor takes a DP input at full resolution, using only this adapter is enough - no need to convert to DVI-DL.

enter image description here

Connecting those two together should provide a HDMI 1.4 to Dual-Link-DVI solution. However, the Linux Radeon driver (xf86-video-ati) was still not happy with it, and ignored the 2560x1600 videomode in the list of valid modes in EDID. The reason was that the Linux Radeon driver would enable pixel clocks above 165 MHz only in case a monitor has a HDMI Vendor Specific Data Block in the Consumer Electronic Association extended block of EDID.

Obviously, a pure DVI monitor will not have a HDMI VSDB in CEA EB of EDID. I solved that by adding a S/PDIF audio de-embbedder for HDMI that I got off eBay into the chain that adds the CEA EB to add audio descriptors to EDID. A proper solution would be to provide a modified EDID file directly to the driver.

This works for Linux, on Windows you may not need the EDID change, or you may need a more extensive one. I don't have a Windows machine to test.

enter image description here

String all three together, make sure all are powered up via their USB connectors and voilà, beautiful full resolution 2560x1600 picture at 60 Hz refresh rate on my Dual Link DVI monitor.

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  • 2
    0_0. Nice answer. Not quite a product recommendation, explains the process. Mr Goldburg would be proud however. Three usb ports?
    – Journeyman Geek
    Nov 7, 2015 at 23:50
  • 1
    Would these also work with Apple 30" cinema display? I need to connect a Chromecast to it.
    – Nimbuz
    Dec 24, 2015 at 7:33
  • Yes, it should work.
    – Vojtech
    Apr 23, 2016 at 21:43
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I normally shy away from shopping recommendations, but this is not your run of the mill requirement and requires a bit of specialist insight. These are the guys to talk to about standards conversion:

Kramer Electronics

They have a distribution amp that takes HDMI and sends it out on HDMI + displayport at resolutions up to 2560x1600 but it states hdmi 1.4: http://www.kramerus.com/products/model.asp?pid=1213

As I understand it, there are technical issues converting hdmi to true DVD-D, but these are the guys to advise you.

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  • Thank you very much. I sent them an e-mail, let's see what they suggest.
    – alex k
    Sep 5, 2011 at 19:56
  • 7
    They said they have nothing for my case. :-(
    – alex k
    Sep 11, 2011 at 13:31
  • Downvoting because this solution is not helpful (and wasn't for anyone so far). I needed to solve similar problem before I read this Q/A and the only thing that was possible to find (and which works, although with its limitations) was device similar to one mentioned in other answer. (In my case it was USB3 to DisplayPort.) I'm also staying away from shopping recommendations – view this Q/A primarily as a way of achieving results.
    – miroxlav
    Jun 27, 2015 at 8:28
  • 1
    @Linker3000 The Link is down Jul 15, 2022 at 13:24
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For 2560x1440 you need an active adapter but it also have to explicitly support the resolution and dual links. This requires an additional power source.

This is the only adapter i found that really supports this resolution and even a bit higher (2560x1600).

http://eu.startech.com/AV/Displayport-Converters/Mini-DisplayPort-to-DVI-Dual-Link-Active-Adapter%E2%80%93USB-Powered~MDP2DVID

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  • 1
    The link provided is for Mini-DisplayPort not HDMI...
    – Lucas
    Mar 6, 2014 at 21:33
  • HDMI doesn't support dual-link to dual-link conversion, only displayport and dvi does. At least in the current spec, that's why you can't find a converter on the market in this high resolution.
    – t.mikael.d
    Mar 7, 2014 at 14:38
  • I follow that, just confusing to have a link to a Mini-DisplayPort adapter when the question is specifically about HDMI. This is not really a solution to the OP.
    – Lucas
    Mar 7, 2014 at 16:31
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    It's a solution because it's the only alternative that currently works. I shall edit and add this, thanks for pointing it out.
    – t.mikael.d
    Mar 11, 2014 at 7:58
1

Passive Adapters and Cables can't handle DualLink-Dataconnection

Acccording to Wikipedia: HDMI (19pins) is compatible with DVI-D-SingleLink (19pins) without conversion.

As written by vojtech: A DVI-D-DualLink (max 2560×1600@60Hz) would need an active converter with power-supply.

Difference between DualLink-Plug and DualLink-Connection

Many manufacturers claim "DVI-D-DualLink-Plug (25pins)" which means the Plug has 25 pins (19 pins for Single-Link-Connection and 6 dead pins that you can't mount it into a single-link-port). That's the reason why you should prefer single-link-plugs for cables capable of only 1920×1200@60Hz.

Seller that claim 2560x1600@60Hz or 4K@30Hz or similar

Club3D 3840 x 2160 at 30 Hz

Delock 2560x1600@60Hz:

Delock 3840 x 2160 @ 30 Hz

Delock 3840 x 2160 @ 60 Hz

Delock FullHD +Audio via 3,5 cinch

Delock tripple-shield High Speed HDMI with Ethernet-cable:

Hama: Ultra-HD 4K

inline: 4K2K @30Hz

2direct.de 2560x1440

Wentronic 2560 × 1600p

Clicktronic Advanced 2048 x 1536

Lindy 4096x2160@60Hz 4:4:4 8Bit

Amazon 4K

Amazon 4K@30Hz

Amazon 2048x1152 HDMI-to-DVI

Amazon 2560x1440

Amazon 4K 60hz

Amazon 2560*1040@60hz 1440p@60hz

Alternatives:

You convert HDMI something else e.g. HDMI to Displayport and Displayport to DVI-D-DualLink.

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0

http://www.ldlc-pro.com/fiche/PB00034665.html or similar; price < $10. It's usually provided with new laptops anyway, I didn't even have to buy one. Such adapters really work (tested yesterday), but of course you need a dual-DVI-D cable. And a female HDMI to female HDMI adapter.

If like me you can't get a higher res that 1080p, this is most likely due to the HDMI component of the motherboard; but there is a neat workaround for this : simply go in the drivers settings, and create a new custom resolution.

At least NVIDIA has such an option; I don't know about AMD. It will display a "we take no responsability for this !" warning, btw. Some users report that using 60Hz work fine at first, but crashes at restart. Use 35Hz instead.

For information, I have a Dell laptop with NVIDIA Optimus ( GTX 525M and Intel GMA 3000 at the same time ) and a Dell U3011 monitor. This solution works at 2560x1600 @ 35Hz

The follwing is an edit by user joevt. I'm not sure I agree with it.
Note that the adapters listed are single link only even though they may say dual link DVI. 2560x1600 @ 35Hz works because it's slow enough for single link DVI (pixel clock is less than 165 MHz). Anything faster for DVI such as 2560x1600 @ 60Hz requires dual link DVI which these HDMI adapters do not support. HDMI is single link but allows for pixel clocks up to 340 MHz (HDMI 1.3 or greater). To convert dual link (e.g. 2 pixels @ 134 MHz) to single link (e.g. 1 pixel @ 268 MHz) requires additional circuitry in the adapter.

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  • Care to explain the downvote ? This really saved a big presentation for us.
    – Calvin1602
    Mar 15, 2013 at 22:28
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    DVI-D single link is capable of 1920x1200@60Hz which is more than 1080p. Jul 15, 2022 at 13:22
-3

I used to have one of these to play a PS3 on my computer monitor. I think I got mine from Best Buy. They also appear to sell them on Newegg though.

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  • Thanks, but those only support resolutions up to 1920x1080 or 1920x1200. I need something that can do 2560x1440 or 2560x1600. See my comments above for more.
    – alex k
    Sep 5, 2011 at 15:50
  • I looked at all the HDMI cables & adapters (with both displayport output or DVI output), and none claim to reach resolutions above 1920x1200. Thank, anyway.
    – alex k
    Sep 5, 2011 at 20:10
  • @Robert Please delete your answer. DVI-D single link is up to 1920x1200@60Hz and this is compatbile with HDMI en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#Compatibility_with_DVI But If you want to use dual link 2560×1600@60Hz you need an active converter. Jul 15, 2022 at 13:20
-7

It does exist. Search DVI-D to HDMI in Google

DVI-D Dual Link Male to HDMI Female Adapter - Adapts DVI to HDMI - Vice Versa

You want it to look like this, right?

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  • 7
    If you look at the DVI part of the photo you attached, it's got teeth missing, which is what a single-link DVI cable looks like. Besides I need a HDMI-to-DVI cable, not the opposite, since I need to convert my laptop's HDMI signal to a DVI port.
    – alex k
    Sep 5, 2011 at 15:53
  • @alex: I have a dual-link version of the above cable. I got it from eBay.
    – paradroid
    Sep 5, 2011 at 16:38
  • 9
    Most of these cheap cables have "fake teeth" that make them look dual-link, when in reality the entire HDMI signal goes through one of the two links of the "dual-link" cable. Until someone tries and sees that they can get 2560x1440 resolution (which is highly unlikely) they should all be considered plain HD (1920x1200).
    – alex k
    Sep 5, 2011 at 17:35
  • 2
    AFAIK missing pins in the centre = single link DVI.
    – Al Kepp
    Jan 25, 2013 at 16:55
  • @wizlog Please delete your answer. DVI-D single link is up to 1920x1200@60Hz and this is compatbile with HDMI en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#Compatibility_with_DVI But If you want to use dual link 2560×1600@60Hz you need an active converter. Jul 15, 2022 at 13:20

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