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Listener David in Sarasota, Florida wants to know about video output solutions on his computer:
I have a brand new top of the line Dell Alpha computer. It only has I believe 4 USB ports and one HDMI. I’m a disc jockey. This is the computer I use to do my DJ and karaoke work. With my old computer that this is replacing, I would go VGA out to a distribution amplifier and I could go out to a monitor that I use for the singers, and I could go out to a projector, or another monitor. I tried to use the same thing with the Dell Alpha. I took my distribution amplifier to a VGA to USB adapter. It would not work. I need to find what kind of adapter or device to go out the USB output of my computer, where I can split the signal and go to my VGA monitor and another VGA or another video source, through either an adapter or whatever. I’m using the HDMI output for my main computer monitor. I did not try using the HDMI output for the second monitor, because I’d rather use it for my main monitor. What can I do?
What you need is a USB to VGA adapter, which is likely what you already tried. If that didn’t work you may need to check that you have the right drivers for it, you may need an update.
Keep in mind that even if it does work, USB connections are usually pretty slow for what a display needs and you may find you get a very jumpy picture instead of the smooth movement you expect.
You may find hubs with additional display ports that you can use, but again, anything that is not built to output video may do a poor job at it. The faster the port the better though, so a USB 3 adapter will be much better than a USB 2 adapter, and a Thunderbolt adapter should just work fine if you happen to have one of those ports..
You may be able to stream to an external display if you happen to have WiDi enabled devices. The truth is that you seem to need a new video card with one more output.