Lenovo T61 ouput to Rear Projection TV

Hey all,

I recently bought the Lenovo T61. I have a VGA out on my laptop but my Panasonic rear projection TV (Model PT-53WX53G) does not have a VGA port, although it does have a DVI input.

What is the best way to output video from my laptop to my TV? I mainly watch just movies. I'll spend the money on something that works. My TV supports 480p and 1080i.

I found things like this: VGA to TV but I don't know if the quality will be good.

I assume cables like: VGA to RCA Cable won't work?


If someone can suggest some hardware that will give me acceptable quality I would really appreciate it. Also, what cables I would need for this to work (yes I'm that dumb). Thanks in advance for any help that anyone can provide.

 

I am looking for the same information as well.

Planning to purchase Lenovo Thinkpad T61p and wants some way to hook up the T61p to TVs (either through S-Video, HDMI, or component video, etc).

Unfortunately, VGA out is the only option on the T61p.

Looking for anything out there that will help me with this dilemma. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

VGA to Component

This one has outputs for component cables, so I'm thinking it might be the one to go with. I'm hoping someone can at least tell me if these things work so I dont waste $100.

 

You should be able to find a cheaper cable. Component is just VGA with separate connectors for each signal.

 

DVI-to-VGA converters are available as well, and are extremely inexpensive (in fact, 2 are included with almost every modern desktop graphics card, meaning most likely you have a friend with an extra). Simply connect it to your TV's DVI port and you can use your ThinkPad's VGA out.

 

so DVI will give much better quality than hooking it up to component or composite?

Is it a box or just a cable? I did a google search and found so much stuff I got confused.

 

DVI is capable of better quality but VGA is the limit here.
DVI to VGA adapters might not work with all monitors to make them accept a VGA input.
A VGA to component cable should be fine. Is the component you're talking about 3 line or 5 line? If it's 3 line, can your video card output sync-on-green?

 

Have you considered a docking station? They have DVI ports on em.

 

Too technical for me Wish I could answer. I'm trying to output to a TV, not a monitor. Every VGA to component "cable" that I've found will apparently not work when outputting to a TV. I have to get a converter box, apparently.

Never thought about a docking station, that could work.

Edit: Damn $300 for a docking station. Ouch.

 

You can find much better prices on ebay ( if you dont mind buying there).
Just listing one by random, there's lots more : IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad Advanced Mini Dock 250410U for $139. Just do a search for 'advanced mini dock'.

 

I did that before but was a little scared that it wouldnt be compatible with the T61 because it doesn't say it.

 

It should , t60 and t61 share the same accessories but if you want to make sure...go to lenovo's site/acessories section..type in your model # and it will list the parts that are compatible with your model. Then take note of the docking station part number and compare it with the one on ebay.

edit: I should also add that the docking station has S/PDIF ports so you can connect audio to the TV. (DVI is just video)

 

Yep, same exact part number. Probably makes more sense getting the docking station than some 3rd party converter box. Thanks.

 

Is your xorg.conf file correct? Maybe it can only accept 480p or 1080i.
How many BNC connectors are there for component? If it's 5, it has separate syncs just like normal VGA. If it's 4, it has a composite sync. (That's pretty uncommon nowadays.) If it's 3, it has sync-on-green. Not all video cards support composite sync or sync-on-green, but most should.

Converting VGA without composite sync or sync-on-green into a signal that does is pretty easy, though.

 

It has 5.

And I've never even heard of a xorg.conf file

 

If it's 5, you shouldn't have any sync-on-green issues. In that case, do not use sync-on-green as it would be unnecessary.
Just as a test, try 640x480 60Hz just to see if it works.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xorg.conf