Projector used as 2nd monitor. Blurry unless both on together..

[swiftpete]

Hi, I've just bought a vga splitter and am running my regular old crt monitor and my projector from the same pc. If i have both on simultaneously then everything is fine but if i try having just one on, the pic is blurry.
I only want to use the projector occasionally to display downloaded films etc, but its a big pain having to turn it on to pc mode when i want to use pc on normal monitor, which i do a lot!
Any ideas? The best solution I've found so far is to power projector, then pc, projector on pc input, projector onto standby, use pc. then the pic stays fine. But any other way and I have problems. Big pain in the back end though doing that every time obviously.
What do i need to buy or change?!
Cheers in advance if anyone can help.

[Liam @ Prog AV]

Get rid of the VGA splitter and get a 2nd graphics card.

[dholden]

I think Liam's probably right. I suspect the VGA Splitter is introducing some form of impedance mismatch when the projectot is switched off.

[symanski]

Any splitter is a bad thing, it's not giving independant signals to both screens.

Look for something that provides an active buffering of the VGA signal. We only offer this for component and SCART, but there are solutions for VGA from other manufacturers.

All the best,

Dr John Sim.

[swiftpete]

well i'm not going to get a second graphics card yet, but i've just ordered a 7600gt for the new system im building and that has dvi and vga output. Now if i get a dvi-vga adaptor and use vga for normal pc monitor and dvi for projector (with adaptor and long vga lead) simultaneously, will that stop the problem?
is that even possible?!

[gtg60]

Yes, that should do the trick.

Keith

[swiftpete]

Excellent! OK then off to ebay. Thanks for help