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(More customer reviews)One of the chief reasons I purchased a 27" iMac was the hope of using it as a monitor for several other PCs. Like many people, I regularly use several different computers, but I don't have the desktop space to fit monitors for each of them. The beautiful display on the iMac and the promise of an external video input seemed to be just what I needed.
Well, as most people figured out, the fly in the ointment is that Apple only includes their Mini DisplayPort (MDP) input on the iMac, and few computers can output this type of video. Even more disappointing, converting from things like VGA, DVI or HDMI isn't straightforward - it's not just a fancy cable...you need more serious conversion. Enter the Kanex XD, one of the first affordable ways to convert HDMI into the MDP input needed by the iMac.
My intent was to put the Kanex behind a simple HDMI video switch, and for my older systems that lack HDMI (or DVI), add a VGA to HDMI converter. The switch lets me select among as many feeds as I want, and now I have a way to connect just about any video source to my iMac. HDMI comes through natively, DVI can be converted to HDMI with a simple cable, and VGA goes through my converter (I use the excellent Atlona VGA to HDMI scaler). Yes, there are issues with sharing the keyboard and mouse, but that's for another review.
The Kanex XD basically does what it says it will. You plug it into the back of your 27" iMac, attach an HDMI video source, press Command + F2 on your iMac keyboard - and viola, you've got external video on your iMac. Still, while I'm thankful to have achieved this much, I have three complaints about the unit:
1. The included documentation is rather sparse. There's more information on the Kanex web site, but it's not particularly clear either.
2. The unit itself tends to get quite hot in operation. Too bad it's not self-powered somehow.
3. It's limited to 720p HDMI.
Of these, the 720p limitation is the most frustrating. Although I might argue that on a 27" display, there's little visible difference between 720p and 1080p, this is quite an inconvenience when connecting computers to the iMac. PCs tend to work in terms of screen resolution and refresh rates, and it's not always clear which settings will get you a 720p output. With the Kanex, you'll be guessing, looking at a blank screen until you stumble across the right setting. Indeed, what I ended up doing was connecting my PCs to a 1080p TV, and then cycling through all the settings until the TV told me I was outputting a 720p signal. As another reviewer suggests, it would be helpful for the Kanex to either scale 1080p (or 1080i, for that matter) to 720p, or at least display the 1080 source letterboxed on the iMac.
Other than this limitation, the Kanex seems to be about the only reasonably priced solution out there these days, so if forced to choose between it and nothing, I'm happy to go with the Kanex. Still, I hope to see future products with better 1080p support, and then I'd be able to give the product an unqualified recommendation. And lets not forget that the real issue is Apple's for not including native HDMI inputs on the iMac in the first place.
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Turn your Apple iMac 27 inch into a HDTV. Connect and play Blu-Ray DVD, PS3, and Xbox games at HD format. Fully utilize the backlit LED display to work and play hard. Audio pass through is enabled for a full screen HD experience.
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