Connecting laptop to LCD TV (S-Video or VGA) ?

Just joined the forum and I have a question:

So I just got a Sony Bravia 46" LCD recently (1080p). I want to connect my laptop to it.

My HP laptop has S-Video and VGA video outputs. What is the best one to connect to the LCD (which has VGA, S-Video, HDMI, and Component) ?

I should add that my laptop's resolution is 1280x800. So what would give me the best quality?

Thanks!

 

VGA would be best...if u had HDMI , u could go up to 1920x1080... if ur lucky , ur TV might support a VGA mode of full HD res but it won't look that good.

 

Always use the highest output your devices will support. HDMI is especially applicable to for tv use. If both devices have that connection, use it.

 

Well, if he can get 1920X1080 over VGA, it will at least likely look better than a lower non-multiple res scaled.

 

1980x1080 on VGA will look exactly like if it's through HDMI or DVI as long as you don't have a unshielded or extra long VGA cable.

 

A video scaler 'good enough' to hook a PC up to an hdtv costs around $50-. It will give you some fine adjustment options unavailable with a simple cable-only hookup.

 

OK thanks for the replies. The laptop's video card does not have HDMI output unfortunately. I was looking at a VGA to Component cable but I'm not sure if my laptop's video card will support the component output. Is there a way to find out? Otherwise I will probably just go with the regular VGA.

The video card is the NVIDIA 7150m.

EDIT: Disregard the above. I am just going to buy a 12 foot VGA to VGA (male) cable. That seems to be the best option for my video card.

 

well you should haven no problems.

 

Yes, the VGA will give you the same picture quality that an HDMI would. I know from personal experience.

 

so VGA output is better than s-video output?

 

I believe that's incorrect. VGA is not High Definition. Whereas HDMI is.

The VGA picture out of my 1810T looks crappy compared to the HDMI output.

 

Yes anytime...

 

VGA ( is a video size standard). The VGA that everyone is talking about is the interface (Dsub25) which can easily exeed 5 times the resolution of HDMI output.
Also, you'll need to set the resolution to your LCD tv/monitor's native resolution in order to achieve the best picture quality. On my plasma TV, VGA beats HDMI's video quality any day because VGA allow 1366x768 resolution where as HDMI doesn't allow it.

 

I was under the impression that at a resolution like 1920 x 1080, HDMI would be much better. The VGA DAC on most cards is not enough to drive 1920 x 1080 at high quality through a VGA connection.

 

use video scalers folks......

 

Incorrect VGA is happy WELL past 1920 X 1080, look at your high res 24" monitors or larger it is the same interface, just a different screen.

as for quality as long as you dont have an absurdly long VGA cable ( 75+ feet ) your picture will be as crisp as and DVI or HDMI interface.

nah I like using every available bit of resolution I can squeeze

 

OK my VGA cable arrived today and I'm using it right now! It works wonderfully with my laptop and TV with very good quality. There is however one problem. There seem to be these horizontal lines/blotches running down the screen. Anyone know why this is happening? I tried unplugging the cable and blowing to check that it is dust free. Anything to do with the quality of the cable?

Thanks for all the info guys

 

Ok, let's stick to 1920x1080.

My understanding is (and I'm by no means an expert) that DVI and VGA will look almost identical on a CRT. A CRT uses the same signal as VGA (each pixel is formed using the RGB color model). This is not the case for a digital panel.

The additional DA/AD conversion that has to take place results in corruption in the signal. This always happens when you go through a DA/AD conversion (even for audio, which is considerably simpler, some people spend thousands of dollars to get the highest quality DA/AD converters).

Even at resolutions as low as 1280x1024, the difference between VGA and a digital connection is typically visible to the eye: the analog signal will be less sharp, there might be some ghosting, etc.

If you are more technically inclined, read up on digital sampling methods. Quantization errors make perfect reproduction of the original signal practically impossible.

 

I have rarely seen distortions below 1600X1200 for VGA, and even for proper calibrated photo editing monitors they can not differenciate between DVI/HDMI and VGA inputs. and some of those screens are calibrated at a much finer resolution.

 

I can absolutely tell a difference between an analog vs. a digital connection on an LCD at higher resolutions. Even at 12x10, the difference can be noted, and the discrepancy grows as the resolution increases. VGA is just less sharp, particularly for text, with varying degrees of blurriness depending on the particular combination of source and input.

With a dual monitor setup, one connected via DVI or HDMI, and the other over VGA, the difference is quite noticeable, particularly once you hit 1600x1200 or higher.

 

Used to have a problem like this, caused by an electrical problem (search "ground loop"). I never bothered to fix it though, just changed the connection I was using to get rid of it.

 

My ASRock Ion 330 can do 1366x768 over HDMI on my LG Plasma (Its HD Ready ) and it looks awesome when i run XBMC. xD

But i also recommend using VGA over S-Video.

 

I like running GTA 4 over SVGA cable from laptop, for some reason viewing it on a 32" 16:9 TV makes the whole graphics/appearance of it look better than when playing it on the laptop screen, must just be nicer colour and contrast ratio.