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Belkin OmniView SOHO Series 4-Port KVM DVI Switch with Audio ( F1DD104U ) | 
 enlarge | Brand: Belkin
Category: CE
This item is no longer available
Rating:  4 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 6
Dimensions (in): 14 x 4.5 x 8.5
Warranty: 5 years warranty
MPN: F1DD104U
Model: F1DD104U
UPC: 722868452912
EAN: 0722868452912
ASIN: B0000ALFB0
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| Features:
| • | Device Type - KVMP Switch | | • | Form Factor - N/A | | • | Dimensions WxDxH - N/A |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The new OmniView SOHO Series KVM Switch with Audio from Belkin allows you to control up to four DVI/USB computers from one USB keyboard and mouse, and one DVI monitor. It makes choosing your connected computers easy with convenient switching through either the press of a button or a simple keystroke. Its innovative design offers built-in cable management and creates a sculpted new look for your desktop - while saving you time, space, and money.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Belkin's Switches Have Gone From Best to Worst January 7, 2007
W. Estes (Bay Area, CA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
The Belkin analog 2 and 4 port switch products that use DB15 and PS2 connectors are as good as any made. We have 20+ of these in use at our company and they have given years of reliable service and just work as good as you would want an analog switch to work.
With its digital product, Belkin's product has fallen off a cliff. Where do I begin to complain about this product?
First is the physical design. The only nice feature about this product is its visual design. Visually it looks very nice. Unfortunately, this quickly becomes a negative when you actually use the product. Amazing, Belkin's own DVI video cables don't fit in the first position. Unless you want to spend something outrageous for a proprietary cable, you have to physically carve out the side of the DVI connector to get it to fit.
Forget trying to get all of the cables to come out nicely with the top on: there is not enough room for that.
So let's start with a complete redesign of the physical enclosure.
Second, usability for unusual cabling situations is horrible. For example, you cannot use this switch as a DVI switch only. Unless you attach a keyboard it beeps. In several of our systems we still had PS/2 keyboards and we wanted to use the old Belkin switches for keyboard and mouse and this new switch for DVI only. It's ridiculous they didn't take the time to think about and test for common use cases for this switch.
Third, the visual image is just bad. On both systems we used these switches on, we had weird visual artifacts on the screen. The limitation to 1600x1200 for DVI was just plain dumb. The clear winning video standard for the next five years is HDTV that requires 1920x1080, and most widescreen PC video is going with a 1920x1200 resolution. Anyone with a Dell or HP 23/24 inch widescreen LVD is going to be upset getting this switch.
Fourth, Belkin's tech support is non existent. The extremely low quality of the documentation and web site, and virtual non support by phone, has permanently compromised the value of the Belkin brand in my mind.
For a 1920x1200 DVI switch that simply works, we ended up with Avocent.
Waste of money. May 10, 2006
Jeff Lindborg (Seattle, WA United States)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Easily the worst KVM I've ever used. We bought 2 here in the office and both went back after a couple of frustrating weeks. Where to begin?
1. It's wildly expensive when you factor in the special cables requires.
2. There's a firmware upgrade listed for it but the instructions are actually off another link on their site and even following them and putting the goofy NT port stuff on there that it wants, both of them threw up the "transfer failed" message on multiple boxes. We finally gave up - the firmware upgrade thing is nothing but eye candy.
3. Several USB keyboards had trouble - and using PS2 keyboards with a USB adapter is right out. Multiple times we would lose the keyboard and/or mouse when switching back and forth and many times "garbage" characters would fly out on the target machine you switched to. On a couple of occasions it got confused and just started spitting out repeated characters and would not stop till you switched keys again.
4. support is just nonexistent. Emails go unanswered, their search engine is a joke and their docs are pathetic.
5. twice one of the units was beeping incessantly when we arrived in the morning and had been going all night - driving a couple of early arrivers nuts. We never did figure out what caused this but you had to unplug everything and then plug it all back in again and it was OK for a while.
6. Several times we "lost" the mouse or the keyboard we had to shut down the computers are restart them to get it back in synch.
7. The cable management is awful. You'd think with custom cables you pay through the nose for they'd make sure the stuff fits well in their box and you can get the lid back on. With 4 computers hooked up, you're pretty much doomed in this endeavor.
Short story - we'll never be getting Belkin KVM equipment here again! We went out and got some Iomega gear that worked fine out of the box. Lesson learned.
Can you say: Rip-Off!!! December 3, 2004
Joaquin Menchaca (San Jose, CA USA)
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
I'm evaluating this one, and discovered that this KVM has NO cables?!?! How can you use a KVM without cables. The DVI cables from Belkin cost like $80. This raises the price to over $500 for full functionality. Rip Off!!!
Lastly, I heard so many horror stories about poor performance, bad video, connectivity, and also that the cables block the USB ports.
Seems that Belkin doesn't quite have a clue with this product...
Everything is wrong about this product June 14, 2004
32 out of 32 found this review helpful
I'm extremely unhappy with the Belkin OmniView SOHO Series 4-Port KVM DVI Switch with Audio. 1) It is nearly impossible to connect a cable to the console DVI Connector. Belkin had to overnight a special extender to connect the monitor DVI cable to the KVM.
2) Connecting the Power Adapter to the KVM blocks one of the peripheral USB ports.
3) It's absolutely impossible to put on the cover (i.e. cable management cover) if you connect the four (Belkin) cables to it.
4) Connecting only two PCs with a resolution of 1600x1200 to the KVM resulted in green shadows for one connection. (both NVidia cards GeForce 4 (4200 series) and a Geforce 5 (5200 series)
5) The Microsoft Wireless Keyboard doesn't work as stated in the manual. I did manage to plug in the wireless dongle connector to the USB mouse port on the KVM but now I can't use the hotkeys to switch between computers. Belkin has also indicated that wireless keyboards don't always work as stated in the manual 6) There isn't a FAQ or software/firmware upgrade listed for this device. That was a shock.
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