The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    VGA to AV/S-video converter?

    Discussion in 'Accessories' started by Yoyoman, Jan 21, 2010.

  1. Yoyoman

    Yoyoman Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    6
    Messages:
    132
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Yoyoman, Jan 21, 2010
    #1
  2. JCMS

    JCMS Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    455
    Messages:
    4,674
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    Yes it will work but there should be an S-video out on your laptop.

    But S-video/composite can only do 720x480 though.
     
    JCMS, Jan 21, 2010
    #2
  3. Yoyoman

    Yoyoman Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    6
    Messages:
    132
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Why would I need an S-video out on my laptop? I want to use VGA to connect to my laptop and the composite video wire to a television/projector to display the image.

    Crappy resolution is not really a problem...well it is, but I can cope. :eek:
     
    Yoyoman, Jan 21, 2010
    #3
  4. chillerman625

    chillerman625 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    23
    Messages:
    216
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Are you sure that will work? I think these kinds of cables require a special video card to actually convert the signal being sent across.

    Yeah I think it does actually:

    "It will work with laptops and desktops with VGA cards that has TV-Out function capability through the VGA connector" on the link.
     
    chillerman625, Jan 22, 2010
    #4
  5. Pitabred

    Pitabred Linux geek con rat flail!

    Reputations:
    3,300
    Messages:
    7,115
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    206
    You're going to need something like this: http://www.abccables.com/vga-rca-svideo.html

    VGA is not compatible at all with the signaling that S-Video or RCA connections use, so a simple cable won't suffice. You have to use an active converter (that one is powered via USB)
     
    Pitabred, Jan 23, 2010
    #5
  6. Yoyoman

    Yoyoman Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    6
    Messages:
    132
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Thanks Pita, that's what I had suspected as well. I just don't understand how they can make the claim that Chillerman refereed to in his post.
     
    Yoyoman, Jan 23, 2010
    #6
  7. Pitabred

    Pitabred Linux geek con rat flail!

    Reputations:
    3,300
    Messages:
    7,115
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    206
    Some laptops have a special VGA setup that you can switch on that allows it to output S-VIDEO over the VGA connector. It's a very non-standard configuration that's not terribly common.
     
    Pitabred, Jan 23, 2010
    #7
  8. lite2

    lite2 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    30
    Messages:
    108
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I got one of these and it works great, just know that you're not gonna get HD res out of anything like these. I use it to send karaoke to an old tv.
     
    lite2, Jan 24, 2010
    #8
  9. ViciousXUSMC

    ViciousXUSMC Master Viking NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    11,461
    Messages:
    16,824
    Likes Received:
    76
    Trophy Points:
    466
    go to monoprice.com they have the best and cheapest converters. you will need a converter not just an adapter cable unless your gpu supports tv out via vga and if it did it would include the cable almost always plus its super rare
     
    ViciousXUSMC, Jan 25, 2010
    #9