Trying to Ouput from Laptop to HDTV through vga to rca component cables

[tjmudder]

I have a Dell Inspiron 1720 with a GeForce 8600gt video card and a VGA out port and I wanted to output to my HDTV. The TV only has HDMI, component, and composite inputs. After reading around on the internet I figured I could pretty much output to my tv using VGA to RCA component cables (RGB). However, now that I've received my cables I cannot get this to work. I actually saw a little signal at first but the color was completely off as if the signal wasn't right. Well I have searched and searched all over the internet and have tried so much. I'm beginning to think that this won't work so I thought I would get a direct answer to my particular situation. I even consulted the manual but no luck. The TV is a Panasonic 50" Plasma TH-50PX80U. I also saw that there are programs that help with outputting the signal but I can't remember their names so maybe someone has a suggestion. Well I was wondering if anyone could help and if I do in fact have the wrong cable, what should I buy then?

 

[tjmudder]

Bump. I'm sorry but I really want to find out whats wrong.

 

[imported_darb]

You'll need a converter if your tv takes Y, Pr, Pb and not rgb. Unless the vga port on your computer can output Y, Pr, Pb instead of rgb.

 

[rbV5]

You'll need a transcoder to adapt the signal, and perhaps a utility like powerstrip to adjust the timings properly.

 

[tjmudder]

OK Thanks! This definitely helps. I went and looked and found an S-Video cable that I already had and actually got it to work. But the resolutions were low and as expected the quality wasn't great. So it looks like I may need to get a transcoder so what would be a good one that I would allow me to have higher resolutions if not HD resolutions? I've seen a lot around the web but I cannot figure what a good one is.

 

[postmortemIA]

there's adapter from s-video to component so that you can use component input on tv and S-out on the card. This adapter comes with most video cards in retail versions.

or you can buy it at the egg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814999019

however, if you don't have VGA input on your TV, chances are that your TV will not work great with PC resolutions. I hope it is 1080P because i know my LCDTV that has native 1366x768 can't be used with PC because it is not supported resolution (!?). i tried even HDMI, it still would scale every single input which makes it look horrible. On the other side, my LG 42" that has VGA in looks like PC monitor.

S-video cable can accept up to 480i, which is at best 1024x768.

 

[rbV5]

S-video cable can accept up to 480i, which is at best 1024x768.

s-video is "always" 480i or 480 lines of vertical frame resolution. 1024x768 refers to pixel resolution and while it is commonly the "maximum" resolution for TV-out of a PC video card, it is still "mapped" to 480i for actual output (640x480 pixel resolution for 4:3 aspect displays)

ATI made an adaptor for some their specific cards in the past which is cheap and works well (I've used one quite a bit), I'm not sure if Nvidia has a similar part for your card (I'm not seeing any). I know you can spend some money on something quality from Key Digital (Check this one at digital connectioncheck digital connection), or even DIY (check AVSforums). There may be good solutions I'm not aware of as well (been out of the loop for the past couple years)

You may be able to configure the output with Nvidia drivers, ATI's custom resolutions worked "OK", not sure if Nvidia still has custom resolution support..I'm guessing maybe (you might check to see if they have a transcoder for you specific card as well)

I've used powerstrip and I know it works (It can be a PITA, but with a decent guide like they had at AVSforums, you can get it to work.)

if you don't have VGA input on your TV, chances are that your TV will not work great with PC resolutions

I've had good results with VGA and Component Y-Pb-Pr connections, so he can probably get it to work.

You might post the question at AVSforums as well, someone there is doing exactly what you want to do...quaranteed

 

[Modelworks]

VGA can't connect directly to anything that does not have a VGA connector. The reason is that the colors, red, green, blue, and the sync lines, horizontal, vertical are all on separate wires and you cannot just combine them with a simple cable. Component has the sync information mixed with the colors.

Is it a VGA port or a DVI port ?
VGA ports are usually blue in color. If it is VGA then the only thing you can do is buy a converter box.
http://www.hdtvsupply.com/vga-to-hdmi.html

If it is DVI then you can buy a cable to convert DVI to HDMI.
http://www.monoprice.com/produ...id=2284&seq=1&format=2

If the card does not have DVI connectors it would be better to just replace the card with one that does.

 

[postmortemIA]

From my experience, VGA works best for HDTV because there are no overscan issues from card or TV. LCD TVs do not treat VGA input as one of HD inputs which are limited to combinations 480i/p, 720P and 1080P/i. In other words, anything you send from laptop via component cable is going to be 720P, 1080i or 1080P.
If you use component or HDMI, then your video card and or TV usually perform overscan. It makes picture not match 1:1 to screen. From what I have seen with few different TVs, best way to make LCD TV to look like monitor for games and desktop is to use analog VGA.

I have 4870 with HDMI out. When I display to 42" LCD TV on 1080P, ATi makes about 10% underscan so picture does not cover whole screen. When I change overscan/underscan to 0% it covers whole screen, but again Ati ignores this setting when in games...

I'm not claiming that is not achievable to make LCD TV behave and look like monitor, just sharing what I have learned.