Ran across this video and decided I wanted to take full advantage of my 34UM95 LG monitor

[G+_Rud Dog]

Ran across this video and decided I wanted to take full advantage of my 34UM95 LG monitor. It revealed this particular monitor has a built in KVM switch.

This video runs a PC and a Mac using DisplayPort and the Thunderbolt port. His USB mouse, keyboard, microphone are plugged into the USB A ports on the back of the monitor and the USB Type B connector is plugged into his PC via type A USB Connection. The Mac is connected only via the Thunderbolt port.

When switching between computers via the LG monitor switch switch, his connected items follow the display and connected machine.

My question is how does this work? Also once I know how it works via Displayport and Thunderbolt ports maybe it will help understand if it can be carried out using HDMI ports as the monitor in question has four connections for video, Display, Thundolt and 2HDMI ports.

 

Here is the link that should clear up the setup.

 

[G+_Ben Reese]

Thunderbolt is - I believe - an expansion of the PCI BUS with some link to the graphics chip. That means it can handle generic data (like USB) alongside the video data. Display Port and HDMI can handle a little extra data, but I don't think it has been implemented anything like Thunderbolt which is why the USB is also necessary for his PC.

 

From what I can tell, this monitor only has one USB client port meaning it can only be connected to one PC at a time. This means the KVM switch capability that he showed off only works if one of your devices is Thunderbolt capable.

 

IMHO, this is kinda a kludgy setup for KVM anyhow if you plan on switching between the two very often. It looks like 3 or 4 button presses to get through the menu to change inputs. Unless there's another USB Type-B port that I'm not seeing, this wouldn't really work for two HDMI/Display Port machines.

[G+_Rud Dog]

Need a USB Type A switch which will help avoid the manual swapping of the red cable as this does work.

 

 

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[G+_Ben Reese]

Sounds like you just need a HDMI/USB KVM switch. I'm using an old VGA/PS2 KVM to have 2 computers connected. I don't have enough experience with the HDMI/USB variants to recommend an affordable one.