PC to TV using VGA?

[Slammy1]

My friend is looking to upgrade his current display. He has an old junk computer monitor and wants both a television and computer display for his living room. The video card is pretty old, a Rage Fury Pro 32MB with VGA and S-Video outs, and currently runs it as his DVD player and jukebox. After some research, it seems people have varying degrees of success in connectivity, I was curious what people would recommend.

It seems from my research that his best bet is to upgrade his video card to DVI and either run a DVI to component converter (eg the ATI dongle) or possibly a DVI to HDMI cable (harder to set up?). Does anyone have any recommendations?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

So he's getting a TV and a monitor? I just want to make sure "wants both a television and computer display" doesn't mean a display that does both...

Is he getting an HDTV? If he's just getting a SD tv, a standard s-video connection should be just fine.
I've used the ATI component adapter from a 9800pro and the component out from my 6600gt into my receiver to projector and both have worked great. I haven't tried DVI or HDMI though.

 

[Slammy1]

Sorry, I meant that he wants one unit he can use as both a PC monitor and a television. He wants to get an HDTV of some sort, probably a flat screen based on his budget though connectivity seems the main issue as he only has the VGA connection. I guess something like an older AIW would allow him to use a monitor, but limit him to only watching TV on the computer. I guess he could do something like this:
http://htpcnews.com/main.php?id=transcoder_1
From what I'm reading, the component solution seems the easiest/most likely for success. It also is better clarity than DVI, but is not as good for televisions or movies. A direct VGA connection, and again this is from my understanding, has issues with synching when switching resolution and scaling complexities, especially on his older card. Thanks very much for your input.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I think a good option would be to get a new AGP card (like a 6600gt that comes with component out support) and use that for output. Then get a PCI capture card and use that for video-in.

I haven't used a capture card or tv tuner card, so I really have no good advice on it.

I like the idea of having the cards separate so if you want to change something, you don't need to keep buying AIW type cards.

What's his budget for a display?

I'm running a regular 19" crt for regular computer usage (internet, e-mail, typing etc.) and a projector for videos and games.
Using the projector for internet just feels really odd to me (and it's only ED so it only looks crisp at 720x480 while 720p is scaled and looks not so great for text but great for video).
I like having the two displays so each can do what it's best at.

 

[Slammy1]

I'm sorry for the delay in response, the last thing I did before I went to bed was write that. I agree abou 16:9 displays and surfing, as well things like writing in Word are more cumbersome. I was considering a projector, which seems the most used solution for HTPC arrangements specifically for the VGA connection, but the shape of his room would imply that the projector would be really close to the screen. Still a decent option to get around his entertainment center which I think won't hold more than a narrow 32" 16:9 display.

I also agree about the 2 cards; I've felt chained to my 9700AIW since I bought it right before I sold my friend this system. I saw a barebone 9700AIW for $115 on EBay buy it now from a seller with a really good reputation and who guarantees everything is fuctioning. It's a waste on a 2x AGP system, but for that brief period I tested at 7500 using 3dMork01 on that system with that card and it ran without any issues, not too shabby. Maybe I should sell him my card for $100, which I bought barebone for $350 not too long ago. I just hate the idea of 2 OS reinstalls, which would be the consequence of that action. He already has AnyDVD, which is necessary to playback copyrighted DVDs using the dongle, but I'd think the best solution would be an HDMI to DVI cable. The FCC mandated that all digital cable ready TVs sold after July 2005 must have DVI-HDCP or HDMI-HDCP capability, so I think it's a good time to invest.

So far as budget, he doesn't have much money. Assuming we update his video, I was thinking something like the Sanyo 32" Flat Screen.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=435721
I've seen people are having success with the connectivity, it has a lot of options. Thanks again for the advice!

EDIT: I agree about Bose, though I think the issue is mainly one of price. I bought mine in grad school, when I was too busy to research it properly and didn't have time to spend the money I was earning. In retrospect, I really wish now I'd built a Rocket system cheaper and it would've sounded better. Oh stupidity thy name is Slammy1.

 

[Peter]

My recommendation: TV card, proper widescreen format high resolution computer flatscreen. E.g. Dell's 2005 or 2405, which you may find extremely neat because they can pivot to upright format for document work and browsing.

That'll give you way better display quality, especially whilst computing, for about the same price as similarly sized LCD TVs. Plus it lets you use the PC you already paid for for things like digital TV recording, DVD viewing, etc.

 

[HDTVMan]

I use a PBY Geforce MX440 with Svideo out. Does a great job for standard TV. This was my standard TV PVR.

I use a Radeon 9500 with Component Adapter for HDTV output. Works great but not good for gaming because only a handfull of games are written with widescreen modes.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Slammy1
I'm sorry for the delay in response, the last thing I did before I went to bed was write that. I agree abou 16:9 displays and surfing, as well things like writing in Word are more cumbersome. I was considering a projector, which seems the most used solution for HTPC arrangements specifically for the VGA connection, but the shape of his room would imply that the projector would be really close to the screen. Still a decent option to get around his entertainment center which I think won't hold more than a narrow 32" 16:9 display.

I also agree about the 2 cards; I've felt chained to my 9700AIW since I bought it right before I sold my friend this system. I saw a barebone 9700AIW for $115 on EBay buy it now from a seller with a really good reputation and who guarantees everything is fuctioning. It's a waste on a 2x AGP system, but for that brief period I tested at 7500 using 3dMork01 on that system with that card and it ran without any issues, not too shabby. Maybe I should sell him my card for $100, which I bought barebone for $350 not too long ago. I just hate the idea of 2 OS reinstalls, which would be the consequence of that action. He already has AnyDVD, which is necessary to playback copyrighted DVDs using the dongle, but I'd think the best solution would be an HDMI to DVI cable. The FCC mandated that all digital cable ready TVs sold after July 2005 must have DVI-HDCP or HDMI-HDCP capability, so I think it's a good time to invest.

So far as budget, he doesn't have much money. Assuming we update his video, I was thinking something like the Sanyo 32" Flat Screen.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=435721
I've seen people are having success with the connectivity, it has a lot of options. Thanks again for the advice!

EDIT: I agree about Bose, though I think the issue is mainly one of price. I bought mine in grad school, when I was too busy to research it properly and didn't have time to spend the money I was earning. In retrospect, I really wish now I'd built a Rocket system cheaper and it would've sounded better. Oh stupidity thy name is Slammy1.

Glad to see you're checking out AVSforum :thumbsup:

Is a 9700 AIW compatable with AGP 2x? I know there can be some issues running newer cards on older boards. I know my 9500pro and 9800pro boxes both state "4x/8x" for compatability.
Here's some info.

And about bose, yeah, I would also say overpriced is the main problem. If Bose sold them for a quarter of their current prices they would have a really great product for their niche (really small speakers that disappear into a room). I guess the "crap" is more of an attention getter to counteract all the marketing saying they're basically the best system money can buy

I've had no problems using my component adapter for non-widescreen games. The image just crops to the 4:3 portion of my 16:9 screen on my projector (so it has black bars on the sides).
I can also do stretch mode if I want to fill up the whole screen.

Sounds like your friend isn't going to be playing a whole ton of new games on his system though...

 

[kylebisme]

Originally posted by: Slammy1
Maybe I should sell him my card for $100, which I bought barebone for $350 not too long ago. I just hate the idea of 2 OS reinstalls, which would be the consequence of that action.

All you need to do is uninstall the drivers and swap the cards, run driver cleaner if you are parinoid but reinstalling the OS for a card swap is way overboard.

Also, I use VGA out to my plasma display and it works without issue for just about any resolution you can imagine between 320x240 and 2048x1536. I have heard that some TVs do have troubles syncing with PC VGA signals, but you might as well settle on a TV before worring about whether or not his current videocard will work with it or not.

 

[Peter]

The 9500/9700 series cards were still backward compatible to 2x AGP. 9600/9800 were the first out that ditched the 3.3V signalling mode you'd need for it. (NB: 9550 is a 9600 series chip!)

 

[Slammy1]

Originally posted by: TheSnowman
All you need to do is uninstall the drivers and swap the cards, run driver cleaner if you are parinoid but reinstalling the OS for a card swap is way overboard.

Also, I use VGA out to my plasma display and it works without issue for just about any resolution you can imagine between 320x240 and 2048x1636. I have heard that some TVs do have troubles syncing with PC VGA signals, but you might as well settle on a TV before worring about whether or not his current videocard will work with it or not.

This is good information. I'd just as soon find a set with a VGA input that I could expect success with, but I was concerned his card would not handle PowerStrip too well for scaling. It wasn't top of the line when it was new. I guess if I make the criteria a native resolution that I know the card supports it would account for that.

Part of the reason I got the 9700 was its compatability to the 3.3V slot. The 9600 and 9800 both spec for a minimum 4x AGP slot. Hmmm, the idea of upgrading video without reinstall concerns me, of course, but I guess if I parallel upgrade (say a 9800Pro card) it'd be fine. It's just habit anymore, I think it'll at least signal the need to reinstall in a couple of months The one advantage of the AIW cards over a separate tuner card, from my understanding, is it can record straight into mpg. It'd open the possibility of sticking with a bigger screen LCD monitor assuming he got a break in box for running the console in. I just thought selling him my old card would be a good upgrade route, though I have to wonder.

My friend is primarily a console gamer. Surprisingly, he likes the fps games a lot he just prefers the arcade type games on consoles. AVS is a great forum in a lot of ways, but sometimes it seems they're only interested in high end tech so it's almost impossible to get help on this type of question. Which is why I so appreciate this forum. Thanks for the advice.