connecting sz vaio to television (sz440)

i've searched the forums and haven't found a conclusive answer, has anyone been able to connect their SZ (specifically, SZ440) with only VGA output to a television (with RCA inputs)?

I've seen many cables on ebay and other places but they seem to get bad reviews... anybody had any luck?

thanks!!!!

 

Yes you are able to do that with your SZ. If your TV has a VGA (Sony sometimes labels it a "PC IN" on their TVs) input you will be able to hook the video up.

For the VGA (sometimes referred to as RGB), you can use a standard VGA cable. You might already have a HD15-15 cable if you have another computer hooked up to a monitor. In fact, some TVs even come with this cable, such as certain models of the Sony XBR series. Here is a list of possibly applicable cables:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10201


For the Stereo RCA (Audio) connection, assuming you are planning on connecting to the TV's own speakers, you need to only connect a 3.5 mm to RCA cable from the Headphone jack (male) of your SZ to the audio input of the TV where you have your red and white stereo RCA inputs available. You can use RCA (Red/white) or you could use a two-way 3.5 mm stereo mini plug (male) if your TV supports that type of connection. The following is a list of possible solutions:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218

If you can provide exactly what inputs your TV has then it might be possible to tell you exactly which cables you would need from among the above lists. You could even use a DVI connection (DVI -> HDMI) if you have a Docking Station (not supplied).

 

Die,
Thanks for the detailed help! My television ONLY has the RCA yellow/white/red inputs... No VGA, no S-Video. I know how to connect the audio, but the video is what I'm concerned with.. Does there exist a (quality) cable that can connect from VGA port to yellow RCA input?

 

I've never tried connecting that way but there are VGA to Composite (yellow video) cables and adapters available. There are some on eBay, and a few individual online shops seem to carry them. Their prices vary from very cheap to around ~$100 or so from brief browsing and googling around.

Here's just one discussion topic I found regarding this subject:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=53301

I have no idea on what you should expect in terms of video quality unfortunately; maybe someone else here has experience with this. I'm not sure what resolution you're going to wind up with on the TV because composite video (yellow) cable's max resolution is 480i (everything on the screen will look very blown up and low quality), and so if I had to guess, that's what you'd get. You're likely not going to get a good picture at all (probably with overscan issues?) no matter how great the quality of the cable/adaptor is just based on the resolution factor alone... Perhaps someone else can offer first-hand experience with connecting this way though.