I just bought a HDTV last night. The salesman told me I can use the VGA-VGA cable to connect it to my laptop. It turns out the one I brought home has no VGA output. He said they are totally the same!!! Now I am wondering whether we can use the VGA to RCA component video output cable. Did anyone try this way? If it works, it is definitely cheaper than buying a signal converter. Like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/VGA-to-TV-Conve...ryZ41999QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I'm in a similar situation. The component to VGA cable you purchased does not do any conversion; many projectors support "component over VGA". You need a converter to go from VGA (RGBHV) to component (YPbPr), such as the Audio Authority 9A60.
Atlona Technologies has just released a unit that is has VGA input and audio input ( optical or mini stereo ) and hdmi output. The difference between other products is that the Atlona unit has a built-in scaler, which means that you would not have to adjust your video card to native resolution of the TV in order to get video. The Atlona box will scale anything that is being sent from laptop or desktop to HDMI and you can select the resolution that you want out of 20 available. There are 2 models: AT-HD500 and AT-HD510VGA The AT-HD510VGA has a local VGA output so that if you are using a desktop then you can still have a local monitor working.
i have read most of the thread so forgive me if this has already been suggested. The Belkin High-Speed Docking Station seems to be a decent solution to any connectivity issues for laptop owners. I wonder if anyone has an idea what impact this dock would have on graphics performance as the video card outputs are not used. Would using this dock bypass my graphics card?
ya a scalar box....wtf why does everyone want to convert vga to hdmi??? makes no sense to me http://www.hdtvsupply.com/vgwiautohdfo.html 219$ FOR NOTHING..... honestly -tripplite
ya ok 720p pissish posh crap! you might as well invest in a new video card with DVI to hdmi, and with the proper video card (only around 100$) you can get 1080i/p running with a DVI-HDMI, why buy a scalar box thats going to have sooooooooo mannnnnnny issues running and that is cheaply built is beyond me am just saying getting a scalar box has got to be the biggest waste of money... -tripplite
am looking forward to the next gen graphics cards that might have female HDMI, but at the moment that looks like it wont be coming around with DVI being capable of 1080p
Do you think that digital necessarily means "better quality" than analog? If so, why? ...just curious.
With all due respect, sir, what you have said here is somewhat inaccurate/incomplete. Back in 1987, if you had said "VGA display is only up to 480P" then that would been technically correct, but when we talk about VGA today, we are primarily speaking of the analog video transmission line and associated 15-pin D-sub connectors which were created for the VGA standard. The limitations of this transmission line are not well defined like they are for HDMI. At any rate, current VGA configurations are capable of transmitting resolutions which are quite a bit higher than those offered by HDMI V1.3. I believe something on the order of 2560x1600 is available. Also, when you convert a VGA signal to HDMI, there is no associated increase in quality. However, depending upon the analog signal source, there may be loss of information due to quantization and scaling.
Have you tried a docking station hooked upto the HDTV? I have a dell laptop docking station with DVI hooked up and works a treat!
Hi everyone, I have been curiously reading the blog, and I have found it very interesting and informative. I have recently bought myself a Dell inspiron 1720, which when I ordered it, I had beefed up a significant amount from the standard. This included (among other things) A NVidia Geforce 8600M GT discreet video card. Even more recently I bought a Samsung PS50P91FDX. (sweet) After trying a the s-vid connection from the laptop to the Plasma, and got a really crappy resolution. I then almost bought a vga to HDMI converter, until I read this blog. I have since tried the VGA to VGA connection, and I get 1920 x 1080 resolution plus a whole bunch of others under that. sweet. I even get the option of using the Nvidia advanced settings for the plasma screen. My advice to all trying to go from PC/laptop to TV, use VGA where possible. The quality I get from this is definitely better than watching a normal DVD through AV cables. This method is easier and cheaper than buying converters and scalars. Nicko
Yeah, S-Video really isn't much better than plain-old composite. Glad you were able to have success with your VGA connection, Nicko! I really think it is a powerful video transmission format, and it is very consumer-friendly in that it is unencrypted. However, i wanna caution everyone, don't just take Nicko's advice!! Experimient for yourself to find what works best with your equipment! A high quality VGA connection depends on several factors: source D/A converter, connectors/connection at the source, quality of the VGA cable, connectors/connection at the display, display A/D converter (where applicable)... If any of these are of poor quality, then they need to be replaced or you prolly should avoid using VGA. For example, my laptop has a pathetic VGA port; when I use it, there are wiggly lines through the screen and there is very noticeable crosstalk between the channels (colors bleed). However, when I use the same cable with the same display and connect it to my desktop computers, the picture is fine. even the kind of display is a factor. CRT is best, followed by plasma; LCD is probably the least well suited for VGA. I'm using an LCD right now to type this, but really a DVI to HDMI works slightly better with this display; I just don't have a DVI port on this computer.
Yeah that sounds pretty fair Maitland. I can see that there are endless combination's for interconnecting PC/laptop to TV. I guess each individual has to test there own connections to find the best display, and if that requires having extra hardware, so be it. What would be a great idea, someone should start a thread where people add there configurations of there individual set ups, giving specific details. With this, other users would be able to read the thread and match to someones existing config, or mix and match with a whole bunch of configs to get the best one for them. Ill start the thread now, and come back to post a link to it. Nicko
Here is the link to the thread I have just created. Its called "PC / Laptop to TV configurations" I hope you make the most of the thread. Nicko
Hi Guys, Good thread. But I am still not clear how can I connect my laptop to my new LCD HDTV. My TV does not have VGA input. But has Svideo, Component, HDMI, RCA etc My laptop Dell inspiron6400 has Svideo and VGA only with intel 945 graphic card. which is very basic graphic card I have another Dell D620 with Nvidia Quadro NVS 110M 224 MB dedicated graphic memeory - Only VGA port no Svideo when I connect Inspiron Svideo to Svideo quality is horrible. Any other options to connect any laptop to get good quality over TV. any RGB or HDMI should be better then Svideo. I saw something on ebay like VGA to HDMI converters around 50-60 bucks. Are those worth trying to get better quality. Any input will be helpful. I have gone through entire forms and threads and there are no clear solutions
Hi, The low cost converters which you see on ebay might work, but you would have to adjust the resolution on your video card to output the native resolution of your display. In most of the cases you need additional software to do that. The name of the software is: PowerStrip. There is a good chance that the video card is not going to support the native resolution of the display. I would suggest an Atlona AT-HD500, it is a scaler box which would scale whatever is being sent to it to the native resolution of the display. You would not need any software or special adjustments to be with your laptops/desktops.
Thx for solutions, but I would be insane person to spend $300 for nothing just a scaller. I saved some buks on TV to get a good deals without VGA input and now I spend 300 to make it good. It will be crazy idea. I would better stick to Svideo to Svideo - $5 cable only or better get a new desktop/laptop around 400-500 with DVI or HDMI output. This scaller box manufacturer are fooling people trying to sale $300 converter boxes when a person can invest another 200 and get a new PC with HDMi/DVI output.
My problem, like others, is that I have a laptop that is Blu-Ray capable (Duo-Core-2 T8100 processor & Blu-Ray ready Intel graphics) but it only has a vga output. I'd like a *cheap* way to connect it to my Philips 47" 1080p TV, and get a cheap USB external Blu-Ray player (Lite-On, $149) to watch Blu-Ray discs. Obviously some of the VGA-HDMI options mentioned here are expensive... I could build a new Blu-Ray capable desktop computer with a DVI video card for around $200. It looks like I could pick up the Belkin dock with a DVI-D output for less than $50 US, and then run the DVI cable from the dock to my HDTV, but will that allow me to watch Blu-Ray disks? Any other new options? USB-DVI adapter perhaps?
