VGA to RCA Video

MeSteve

Member
Has anyone found one of these converters that does a good job converting an RCA video signal to an RCA signal?
 
Are you really speaking of VGA to Composite ("RCA" jack)? It never will look good for PC application.

VGA to Svideo is not great either, but much better than composite

VGA to Component is excellent
 
DavidL: I currently have a dual output graphics card and am using the S-Video out to connect to the TV. I'm using Leviton S-Video Quickport Connectors and Cat5e over about 40 feet to make the connection. I'd like to improve quality. You say that VGA to component is excellent. What would I need to make the connection from VGA to component? I have Cat5, 4 or 8 pairs available.
 
Wife is telling me we gotta go to dinner - so quick answer - use a Cat5 Balun pair. Gefen makes some good ones. About $150 or so.
 
That does the VGA over cat 5, were you thinking of something like this on the far end as well?

https://www.audioauthority.com/indexh.php?r...More&iProduct=2

The other option is to convert to component at the PC (I hear ATI cards have a $30 dongle that I have not tried yet to convert DVI to component) and then use baluns for the component part (but then you need 6 baluns I think just for the video)..

In looking for the dongle I found this (which doesn't look ATI specific):

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=405-011&cat=CBL

I was thinking of trying this and linking my MCE machine into my 'component video distribution project' that uses coax connections and distribution amplifiers and the like (haven't finished looking at extenders though, which may provide a better experience). Cable heavy approach, but if it is point to point, much cheaper than baluns (if you are doing the cable running yourself).

If this is for a media center pc, an extender might work, to the above point. I haven't looked much at them and I think there are some limitations but it might be a better solution if the PC is a MCE machine.

I'm going to have to start testing the dongle approach myself (and figure out how I am distributing my MCE machine).
 
Thanks Mike. So I guess there are a few options...

Option 1... Use a pair of VGA baluns to get the signal near the TV and then use the AudioAuthority Model 9A60 VGA to Component Video Converter to connect to the TV's componenet input. Total price is ~115 for baluns plus $129 for the converter.

Option 2... Use the DVI to Component Adapter near the computer and then use three pairs of component baluns to get the signal near the TV and connect to the TV's componenet input. Total price is ~$120 for baluns plus $17 for the adapter.

Cost of Option 2 is about half that of Option 1. Are there performance differences? does that DVI to Component Adapter from geeks.com work with non-ATI cards?
 
I would be interested to hear how Option 2 works. The color should be wrong.

The Geeks.com add seems to imply that Component-Video and RGB are the same, but they are not. A DVI signal is RGB, with three pins containing the intensity of red, green and blue. Component-Video has the overall picture intensity "Luminance" on Y (the black and white image), red on Pr and blue on Pb. Any left over luminance is green.

From a theoretical perspective, the resulting image from that Geeks.com adapter should be an image that lacks some green.
 
rocco: I don't know enough about this stuff to know any better. Sounds like DVI and component are too different to convert between them. Yes/no? How about conversion between VGA and component?

So what is the best way to connect? The TV has available DVI, component, S-Video, composite and RF inputs, although manufacturer (Sony) says not to use the DVI input to connect a PC. If I avoid DVI, seems like component is the preferred input to use on the TV. The PC has an nVIDIA dual head graphics card with VGA, DVI or S-Video outputs available. PC is about 40 feet away from TV and up to 8 pairs of Cat5 are available for the connection.
 
Pete, Component video and analog DVI aren't that different (same with VGA, which is a form of RGB). The red and blue are almost the same, it's the luminance and green that differ. It is possible that that difference can be accommodated in a passive device, like the one from Geeks.com. I think it may be worth a try. It may work fine, and it is certainly cheap enough.

Component and DVI are the only inputs with enough bandwidth to do your VGA output justice. I wonder why Sony doesn't want you to use the DVI input. Maybe it is digital DVI only, and many computers output analog DVI, since it's almost identical to VGA. DVI would certainly be the most appropriate one to use.
 
independentpete said:
Cost of Option 2 is about half that of Option 1. Are there performance differences? does that DVI to Component Adapter from geeks.com work with non-ATI cards?
It mentions nothing about using ATI cards (which is what I had seen earlier). I'll have to order one and try it out. My media center PC is using an ATI card, but maybe I can move one of the other computers to try it out (which have nvidia cards). When I get it, I'll post my results here.

One thing you noted may rule out option 2: You said you have only one cat5 cable to use for this. If so, you would need 3 runs for the baluns to work.

The way I will be using this if it works is to pipe it over coax with female RCA adapters on the end. I don't see why it wouldnt, and if there are no problems it will get me high quality video distributed through the house as well.

Where did you find that price for baluns? Seems low (but I haven't spent a lot of time looking at baluns so maybe I've just seen more expensive ones).
 
Mike said:
The way I will be using this if it works is to pipe it over coax with female RCA adapters on the end.
Three coax cables should work great.

The cheap baluns are limited to composite and S-Video bandwidths (around 6MHz). The more expensive baluns have higher bandwidths for component, VGA or DVI, but none of the baluns come close to the bandwidth of plain old RG6.
 
That explains the price difference I noted.

I'm hoping this setup gets me motivated to finish my earlier project. I already ran 5 runs of coax to the living room and pipe component video from a Tivo in the basement to the LR with audio. I just havent hooked up the distribution amps yet, nor have I gotten the remote controlled component video switch yet.

Since I need to run more cables up into the attic to install the smoke detectors, I think I may try and pull the coax runs for the bedroom.
 
Mike said:
It mentions nothing about using ATI cards (which is what I had seen earlier).
Geeks.com doesn't say anything about ATI, but I found what looks like the same adapter here - http://www.hdtvsupply.com/dvtohdcoad.html - and they only list ATI cards.

Mike said:
One thing you noted may rule out option 2: You said you have only one cat5 cable to use for this. If so, you would need 3 runs for the baluns to work.
Component baluns only use two wires, so you can use three pairs of baluns and still have one pair of wires left. See here - http://www.muxlab.com/products/ve_vga_component_balun.html. They say, "The product allows three coaxial cables to be replaced by one Category 5 twisted pair cable."

Mike said:
Where did you find that price for baluns?
MuxLab VideoEase Component Video Baluns (product #500021) are $19.67 each at Worthington.
 
Back
Top