Filed under: Hardware, Reviews
The ViBook, additional displays via USB
I reviewed the Village Tronic ViDock a while back, and I was happy to have the opportunity to take a look at one of their more entry-level solutions for adding additional monitors to machines without an additional video port. This one, the ViBook, is a USB-to-DVI solution.
As was the case with my previous experience with Village Tronic products, I was duly impressed by their classy packaging. But I won't dwell on the shell here (no more rhyming, I mean it!). The device itself is compact, well-engineered and, yes, shiny. It connects to your computer via a standard USB cable plugged into any powered USB 2.0 slot.
It's designed to connect in one of several ways to the monitor: directly attached to the monitor's video port via a compact male-to-male adapter, via a cable directly connected to its embedded female adapter, or -- in a related manner -- via a short cable with the body of the device semi-permanently mounted on the back of the monitor with the included cradle and 3M adhesive pads. It's designed well enough that no matter where you put it, it will fit nicely and stay put (it has a studded rubber base, too). It is, by the way, both Mac and PC compatible. Read on for the rest of the review ...
Aesthetics and design are all well and good, but I should probably talk capability, huh? I've been through several versions of the USB->DVI offerings of various manufacturers, and have never been very impressed. Resolutions and refresh rates are improving, to be sure, but I haven't purchased or tried one that I've found really usable for the long haul. Taking into account that I had very low expectations, the ViBook proved to be a refreshing experience, even holding up to tasks which it doesn't purport to handle ... namely, video playback. I'm not going to say it will pass even the most rudimentary test a videophile would throw at it, but in comparison to some of the other solutions I've looked at, it provided smooth playback and great color.
In trials more geared toward its areas of strength, color, refresh rate and resolution were all impressive for such a small (and relatively inexpensive at $129US) device. The ViBook has the necessary capabilities to be a usable, long-term solution for everyday, additional display needs on a laptop, a Mac mini, or wherever you might need one.
While the drivers for OS X are not as full-featured as those for Windows, installation only takes a minute or so with the included CD. Then, it "just works," and you have a hot-swappable, USB-connected display. More words would be a waste. A video, however, might offer a more concise summary of usability and quality than prose:
The ViBook is currently selling for $129US and is available on its own site or from Village Tronic.
Correction: I had previously listed the price at Euro 129, converting to $175US. The ViBook can actually be purchased for $129US, as the article has been corrected to show.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
oZ said 10:09AM on 5-11-2009
You didn't even mention that this device does NOT support Quartz Extreme or Core Image, which means no accelerated QuickTime playback, no iPhoto, no iDVD, no Final Cut Pro, nothing besides images on a screen.
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Brett Terpstra said 10:18AM on 5-11-2009
True. I did make the assumption that it would be a given that there is no hardware acceleration on a small USB device, which may not be obvious. I did indicate it was for "everyday" use. I was able to play quicktime video, edit documents, and perform other day-to-day tasks with little latency and great resolution. I didn't even try Final Cut ... I assume that, like myself, most people editing video are doing so on a machine capable of multiple displays.
oZ said 10:19AM on 5-11-2009
Thing is, they do have basic 3D acceleration. I think their lack of QE/CI is due to Apple keeping display APIs really close to their chest. CI would at least be doable on these devices. Maybe Apple will have some official support for these devices soon?
Jon said 10:31AM on 5-11-2009
Final Cut must have multiple monitors connected to the SAME card. If you connect them to different cards, it will either crash at launch or certain plugins will report errors.
So this adapter probably wouldn't work even if it did have Quartz Extreme support.
ianm.martin said 12:11PM on 5-11-2009
ACK...good God man. DEINTERLACE.
/nerd
Cool gizmo. Would use one but the only thing I'd need it for is attaching it to a television set for video purposes.
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ball said 2:05PM on 5-11-2009
Agreed. OW.
Brett Terpstra said 2:09PM on 5-11-2009
You'll note that the banding is only in the areas where the motion was sped up beyond 200% from the original framerate. If it were not deinterlaced, you'd see a lot more jagginess in the slower motion areas. The interlacing that does show up appeared during the blip.tv conversion, not in my final h.264 render. Any idea how to prepare for/fix that?
Michael Jones said 10:15AM on 5-11-2009
It's nice to see USB video devices finally coming to the market. They are really handy for a quick fix, especially on the laptop side of things where you can't easily add another video card.
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Byran Newell said 10:16AM on 5-11-2009
What finder replacement is it that you're using that can display the left-hand finder view, the main icon/list view, a quicklook view, and a coverflow view all at the same time?
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Brett Terpstra said 10:21AM on 5-11-2009
Path Finder (http://www.cocoatech.com/). It's not for everyone, but has an insane number of fully-configurable features. I won't go off on it here, but my all-time favorite feature is actually the drop stack, where you can drag files to collect them and then perform operations on them en masse, or pull from the stack in reverse order. Also, new split pane view :).
james said 10:50AM on 5-11-2009
anybody want a peanut?
Reply
Brett Terpstra said 11:01AM on 5-11-2009
I'm sure everyone thought it in their head, but James posted it. We have winner! No prizes, unfortunately...
Wharffy said 1:04PM on 5-11-2009
I wasn't sure if I was the only one to catch that. Obviously not. "Inigo Montoya: Fezzik, are there rocks ahead? Fezzik: If there are, we all be dead."
stooke said 11:02AM on 5-11-2009
These things are pretty generic now (you can get them for $56 if you look in the right places, so the only differentiator is the shell. Perhaps you _should've_ dwelt on the shell. That and, oh, the price - which is insane.
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Brett Terpstra said 11:07AM on 5-11-2009
Did I mention that I've been through an array of these? (yes). The ViBook is the only one I've tried that came close enough to having a monitor attached to a real video output that I didn't notice the difference, at least in standard office-type work. I'm not sure exactly which manufacturer you're referring to, but I've got an $80 Sewell that was basically a waste of $80.
stooke said 12:08PM on 5-11-2009
I had good luck with another brand that ended up about $80 CDN.
My complaint was that sometime it wouldn't wake properly from sleep.
scott Newton said 4:12PM on 5-11-2009
Thanks for reviewing this product, I have been keeping an eye on any products which allow for adding multiple monitors to laptops as well.
I think it is worth mentioning the resolution is limited to 22" monitors. I use 24" monitors, so I am hoping one day for a solution which will drive them, but it could be a bandwidth limitation inherent to USB?
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Kevin said 11:47AM on 5-11-2009
Were you going to mention supported resolutions? How about trying things like Expose and Spaces to see how the animation is?
This "review" is weak.
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Brett Terpstra said 11:53AM on 5-11-2009
Up to 1600x1200 or 1680x1050. Sorry for the omission.
oZ said 11:53AM on 5-11-2009
The animation will stutter, as the animation will be done solely in software.