Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with vga

Help me watch The Neverending Story on the bigscreen.

MithrilMongoose — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:57:33 -0800

FAQ about VGA to RCA. I want to use my TV as a monitor for my laptop. My laptop has a VGA output and I already have an RCA to analog widget.

So I've seen adapters that go VGA to RCA, and I've also seen converters, although I don't know what the difference is. I've also heard that to do what I want, the laptop has to be able to support a "TV out option" but I'm unclear on what that is. I've also read that your video card matters in this equation.

My question is: how do I get from my laptop's VGA output to an RCA input or, alternatively, what more information do I need in order to answer that question?

Thank yous guys.

Moving to the big screen.

venividivici — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:28:37 -0800

Need help connecting my Dell netbook to an external monitor. A friend has just given me her old 22" monitor (Acer, X223HQ) and I'd like to hook it up to my netbook to watch movies, play games, etc. I have a Dell Inspiron 1010, but unfortunately it's the model that doesn't have a VGA port. How can I go about connecting the monitor via USB or HDMI?

Google is giving me loads of conflicting reports, and the recommended options seem really expensive. Is there a way to do this cheaply? For example, would this work? Sorry if this is a dumb question; I'm not very tech-savvy and a lot of the lingo I'm reading is way over my head.

I can't even watch keyboard cat...

qxntpqbbbqxl — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:39:25 -0800

Laptop to HDTV with a VGA-to-SVideo adapter: Why doesn't it work? I want to connect my Linux Eee PC to a 720p HDTV. To do this, I'm trying to use a cheap VGA to S-Video adapter, but the TV receives no signal and I've tried all the VGA out resolutions with xrandr. Unfortunately, I didn't notice this stipulation on the Newegg product page:

This adapter works with graphics cards that have TV-Out function capability through the VGA connector.

I've never heard of TV-Out through VGA. How can I tell if my Intel 945GME chipset supports it? How would I tell xrandr to use it? I would really like to not have to buy an expensive converter box.

Wide Screen, Narrow Resolution

Xoder — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:20:37 -0800

I have a computer running Windows XP and I just connected it to my TV via VGA cables. The TV reports its maximum resolution as 1024x768, which Windows will happily provide, however my TV is 16:9. This results in an over-wide picture. I would like to have Windows use this 1024x768 resolution, but tell it to use non-square pixels, or something similar to bring everything back to the correct shapes.

Help me with VGA cabling?

wabashbdw — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:47:25 -0800

I want to plug a VGA cable into the wall and have the LCD TV on the other end of the room display the information. How do I do this? Not a lot to explain, other than it is for a conference room. We are thinking about putting two LCD TVs on one wall (for presentations) and would like to plug in a laptop into another wall and have the output go to both TVs simultaneously.

I know nothing about these things, but I have a feeling are important to consider:
1) Distance from wall-jack to TVs is 40-50ft. Do I need special cabling to keep from losing too much signal over that distance?
2)Presenting computer only has VGA output, but I'm willing to consider wiring for DVI at the same time if everyone feels it's necessary.
3)The signal needs to split at some point so that it can run to both TVs. Anything special I need to accomplish this?
4)I've seen VGA wall-mounts on the internet, but I don't know what the back looks like. Do I just basically plug a VGA extension cable into the back and run it through the wall?

Thanks for everyone's help. This probably shouldn't be a terribly difficult project, but looks daunting to someone unfamiliar with the requirements.

Can't switch between XBox and Computer on my LCD Monitor

ODiV — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:33:06 -0800

How can I switch between my XBox 360 and my Computer on my LG 22" widescreen monitor? I have a 3rd party VGA adapter for my XBox. It only works with the LCD monitor (Model L226wtx-bf) if there is no signal on the DVI from the computer.

I can run another computer into the VGA input and switch between both computers just fine using the Source button. If I try to do the same thing with the XBox, It will not switch to Analog. I get a black screen for a second or two and then it goes back to the DVI.

If I have the XBox running and displaying on the LCD, I can boot up the computer and the VGA continues to work until I switch over to DVI. Then I can't get back to the XBox.

VGA Splitter or KVM for my Xbox 360 on my monitor AND TV?

xdeliriumx — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 07:02:52 -0800

Xbox360Filter: I have an Xbox 360 with a VGA output which I use on my Samsung computer monitor. I want to be able to have it hooked up to my TV (which has a VGA input as well) at the same time. In order to connect my VGA to both my monitor and my TV do I need a VGA switcher? Can I use a KVM splitter to do this? AND if I get either of these can I have my xbox displaying on BOTH at the same time as well as the option to switch back and forth? I would ultimately like to be able to play on either individually or both at the same time.

With that said, can anyone direct me to the cheapest solution for what I need? I like newegg.com but didn't know what I should be getting exactly.

Is there a fix for this dual monitor issue?

mephesta — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:58:07 -0800

If I turn on my secondary which is connected to a DVI to HDMI adapter and then turn it off it disconnects my primary which is connected via VGA. I have my Panasonic Plasma hooked up to my Nvidia graphics card through a DVI to HDMI adapter. My monitor is hooked in via the VGA port on the same card. I am trying to use the monitor as my primary and the television as the secondary. If i leave the television off when booting up, my monitor works fine. When I turn on the TV they both work just fine. However if I turn the TV off, I hear the device unplug sound that windows makes as if I disconnected a USB drive. Then my monitor goes black and loses the signal. I can only regain the use of my monitor by turning the TV back on. I have tried several combination's of booting with just the TV on or both off, etc. This is really inconvenient and I was hoping there is a fix, I know I have used this setup before and it has been fine but since I reformatted a few months ago the issue has been constant.

Any help will be extremely appreciated! I won't be able to thank you enough.

PC specs in case they are needed.
Mobo: Gigabyte EP45-DS3L
Proc: Intel Q6600
Ram: 4gigs DDR2-800
Graphics: Nvidia 8500GT 512mb (latest drivers installed)
OS: Tried on XP x86, Vista x64, Windows 7 x64
Currently using vista x64

Xbox to DVI or VGA?

BoldStepDesign — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:31:54 -0800

I have an Acer AL2216 W computer monitor with VGA and DVI inputs. I'm thinking about getting an Xbox for things like halo 2 and 3. Is there a way I can feed the xbox video into my monitor and the audio into my computer's speakers (LogiTech LS21)? What would it cost? Such as converting it from a standard video and audio format that you'd plug into your tv to a DVI and 3.5mm female connector. Or HDMI to VGA or DVI and Audio to 3.5mm?

VGA-output woes with old laptop connected to HDTV

kampken — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 11:11:22 -0800

I've connected a VGA-cable from my old Packard Bell Easynote (Windows XP) laptop to my Samsung HDTV but it doesn't display anything and the tv detects no input from the computer at all. I've tested the cable and tv with my Eee netbook and it works perfectly.

The PB laptop has a few hotkeys for switching screens but all they do is disable the laptop screen and nothing happens.
In Windows it only has 1 screen installed in Device Manager and Display Manager, which is the laptop LCD instead of having 2 screens like on my netbook and other computers. I suspect the problem is here.

I went to the Packard Bell website and got a list of all available drivers/utilities and reinstalled without any change. I think there is some sort of ACPI utility missing which would enable the hotkey function. However all the other hotkeys work just fine..so im not so sure. I no longer have any driver/restore cd's from the manufacturer so i can't reset the computer (cause i faintly remember it used to work back then)

I tried to install some Linux distros via LiveCD to see if the VGA-port would work there, but so far i've been unsuccessful since the cd-drive is malfunctioning and the BIOS is too old to boot from USB-drives. I've also checked the BIOS to see if the VGA-port is somehow disabled, but everything seems fine there.

So what are my options? I hope someone has a solution :)

What specs are important in a PCI video card for a livingroom media computer?

brenton — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:02:10 -0800

My livingroom media computer onboard video can only reach 1024x768, and the mobo has ONLY has PCI slots. So I need a PCI video card. It will be used mainly for playing / streaming video to a 1920x1200 HDTV, and perhaps occasionally for stuff like Nintendo64 emulation. What specs will be the most important to ensure no choppiness or other problems when playing videos full screen? Is DirectX 10 or above important? Keeping in mind this must be PCI, am I doomed to choppy videos no matter how fast the card processor or how much memory it has?

Is VGA that bad on an LCD?

smackfu — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 07:48:21 -0800

Is it worth upgrading to a 22" or 24" widescreen LCD if I'll be hooking it up with VGA rather than DVI? I know DVI is better, but is VGA that bad?

Windows Vista Doesn't Work with VGA to HDMI Converter Box

ao4047 — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:46:02 -0800

We have an HP Slimline machine running video with an Nvidia Geforce 6150 SE graphics card. We are wanting to use a VGA->HDMI box to convert the video output of the desktop and connect it to our television: 1) We know the VGA->HDMI box works correctly.

We tested with an Asus EEE Laptop running Windows XP and the video successfully outputs to the TV.

We tested with a Macbook Pro laptop and the video successfully outputs to the TV.

2) We know the HP Slimline desktop works sometimes.

When we boot up the desktop the 'HP INVENT' splash screen shows on the tv.

Then, the green status bar with 'Microsoft Corporation' displays.

Then, something happens to the video and the signal stops. I'm guessing that once the boot begins and then Vista settles in something is interfering with the signal being sent to the the VGA->HDMI box.

Any ideas? Thanks!

I found this previous thread but I think we're a bit further along in our testing.

What have I missed troubleshooting my VGA problem?

Kraki — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:50:25 -0800

I'm getting a video display error when i try and boot up my computer. Is there a solution I'm just not thinking of? If not, can I still buy a Socket 939 motherboard to replace a malfunctioning one? A little history. I built my computer a few years ago, and Its been fine. I finally decided I wanted to upgrade to a newer video card, and that was an ordeal in itself because I need an AGP card, and can't afford to upgrade my CPU, Motherboard, RAM and Video Card all at once.

Basically, I put in the new video card, and booted up. It looked and sounded normal at first, beginning to boot up, but stopped checking memory. I turned off the computer, fiddled with the ram to make sure i didn't dislodge it at all, reseated the video card, and tried again. the next time i didn't even get that far.

Now when I turn on the computer it beeps at me. One long, and two short, followed by a lower mid length, and a still lower tone. i've heard the "long-short-short" before, and in fact, when I looked it up in the motherboard manual, it says Video Display Error. I've tried my old AGP card and even the video card I had before that, and all 3 cards get the same error.

I also have an old linux box i play around with from time to time, so I've tried all 3 video cards in there, knowing that the latest one shouldn't even boot up since it require more power than the old PSU puts out. It did start booting up and got all the way up to initializing the video card (which it failed, but i'd expected it to.

At this point, I'm assuming there is something wrong with my Comptuer's AGP slot on my main computer's motherboard. I don't have access to a PCI video card, or I'd try that out to see if that worked.

I'm hoping i'm forgetting something stupid, so let me know what I missed!

Assuming it can't be fixed, the other problem I have is that I can't find a Socket 939 motherboard anywhere to replace my old one.

Capturing video from VGA...

stackhaus23 — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:38:23 -0800

Capturing video from VGA to either HDMI/DVI input or Component Input? A colleague at work needs to capture some footage but the output is VGA (which I assume is analog). We have two inputs, one is a DVI/HDMI into his Mac, the other is component or maybe composite into a DV Tape Deck.

Am I correct in thinking the VGA will not be compatible with either of these? Are there any alternatives or cheap/easy methods to get this to work?

Thanks!

Graphics driver issues for XP on an iMac

mdonley — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:29:03 -0800

We can't boot into Windows XP, except in VGA mode, without the screen going black after the Windows XP "loading bar screen"; we can still hear everything, though. This is on an Intel iMac running Boot Camp, and the Mac side (Leopard) works fine, which leads me to believe this isn't a problem with hardware. Here's the chronology of what's happened so far. I'll try to provide as much detail as possible, which means I might include some red herrings; we're relative novices with Windows, so bear with us.

1. Upon restarting into Windows from the Mac side last night, an error message was displayed before any of the Windows warm-up/loading screens came up: "Unable to find Windows/system32/config/system" and asked us to insert the Windows XP disk to reinstall this file. (We're not totally recalling the phrasing here.)

2. Upon inserting the disk, we ran "chkdsk /r". This took hours and it was late, so we headed to bed.

3. This morning, the process looked finished, so we restarted.

4. The problem, as described in the lead-in above, occurred.

5. We went to VGA mode, and upon trying to go through the Appearance>Display control panel, were given an error message which told us that "the current graphics display driver cannot be used because it was written for a previous version of Windows" (which makes no sense, since we've never had another version of Windows on this computer...) and that we need to either "contact our hardware manufacturer to get an upgraded driver" (presumably this is Apple?) or "select one of the Microsoft provided drivers."

So the question seems to be: how do we procure this new driver? We can't get on the internet from the Windows side, and if it's telling us the driver that came with XP is somehow not compatible anymore, I'm not sure what we need to do. Where do we look?

One other thing that may be worthy of note, based on what I've read in other forums, is that this computer is used for some pretty heavy MMORPG playing, so perhaps the video card or graphics hardware may be reacting to being really hot and giving us display problems? We don't have any cooling system set up other than what came with the iMac.

If it makes a difference, I'm typing this question on a Macbook without Windows/Boot Camp.

Computer video cables in NYC

senterstyle — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:40:55 -0800

Computer video cables in NYC I need to find either a DVI-D Male to VGA Female Adapter or a DMS-59 Female to DVI-I (Dual) Male Adapter in Manhattan.
I have all these cables and all I want to do is set up a dual display that goes from a DVI-I Male to 2 VGA Females.
Help? I've looked everywhere, and I'd rather find it today than get it delivered. At the very least I want to find some kind of adapter/cable haven.

audiovox D1730

raphael19 — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:14:59 -0800

how do i use audiovox D1730 as a pc monitor? this device have 3.5mm audio and video plugs at the back along with an in/out switch. the problem is that i don't know any 3.5 video jacks, except the ones used with ipods/video-cameras, etc. (the 3.5mm jack with 3 rca output). do i use that cable, or any other cable which i am not aware of? (i will take the video input from the vga port of the pc with the audiovox's back switch at out position, so as to have a very light lcd monitor)

How do I watch my laptop on my television?

Jenesta — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:49:18 -0800

How do I view my Sony VGN-NR160E laptop (VGA output port) on my Philips 42PFL7432D/37 television (many ports)? A while back I purchased a VGN-NR160E laptop. I now want to be able to watch the G-Force visualization program on the Philips TV while listening to iTunes. However, I don't know the best way to connect the female VGA port on the laptop to the television, which has several types of ports. I have tried to research this on my own, but I think I've succeeded in confusing myself.

How can I watch my laptop on this television, preferably without sacrificing too much picture quality? What do I need to buy? I'm wondering what the cheapest way is, and what the most effective way is (I know this may very well be two different techniques). I don't have a lot of money to invest in this, but am willing to do some creative budgeting if it's worth it. :)

Other details:
Laptop: Running Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Television: 2xHDMI, CVI and S-Video inputs

How do I get my Mac to auto-detect my monitor again?

odinsdream — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 08:36:25 -0800

My Mac no longer auto-detects monitor and resolution after trying out SwitchResX. How can I get this working again without reinstalling OSX? I have a Mac Mini with 10.4.11 hooked to an HTDV (resolution 1366x768) with a VGA cable.

The first time I hooked it up the Mac automatically detected the correct monitor (the model name and number showed up in the Display preference pane) and it set the resolution correctly to the native.

I wanted to try and get it working on one of the HDMI ports, and part of that process led me to install SwitchResX. I gave up on this and went back to the VGA port and uninstalled SwitchResX, then restarted the computer.

Now the Mac no longer detects the display correctly. Instead it's shown as a "VGA Display" and the native resolution is not one of the options any more.

I tried reinstalling SwitchResX since it shows product and vendor information too. However, this now shows up as "unknown" as well.

I've tried to repair disk permissions without any luck.

Can I reinstall something from the OSX disc, perhaps with Pacifist, to get this working again? Are there preference files I can delete so they will be recreated?

Thanks very much!

Makeshift production monitor from a computer LCD?

UnnotciedTypo — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:12:52 -0800

Can I use my computer monitor as an HD production monitor? I'm putting together a camera package with a Sony PMW-EX1 camera and a 35mm lens adapter. My budget, however, cannot support a decent professional production monitor (yet). My interim solution (which will be used for focusing, not color/exposure evaluation) is to use my LCD computer monitor instead. Obviously not an ideal solution, but could this possibly work?

It's an older model with only VGA inputs, and I'm using a DVI-to-VGA adapter on it now, as I'm using a newer video card.
The camera (which has yet to arrive) has analog component outputs. The most detailed information I've found states the following:

The EX1 uses the same micro-D-shell connector used by most Sony HDV cameras for analog component outputs, and another micro connector carries stereo analog audio and composite video. Y/C is not provided.

The camera also has an HD-SDI output. My background is in film, so I don't have a good enough handle on video signals to figure this out. Can I convert an HD analog component signal to DVI somehow (which would then be adapted to VGA)? My fear is that this will take an expensive converter box that costs just as much as a real production monitor. Does anyone know if this is true?
Thanks so much, in advance.

Please monitor don't blow up...

SpacemanStix — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:01:37 -0800

If I hook a monitor up to two devices (using a different video port for each device), will it be able to tell which one is using it (assuming just one device is on), if I keep both plugged in? And is there any potential harm to the monitor, if it's plugged into two active devices at once? I'm planning to use my LCD monitor for both my computer and a console gaming system. One would utilize the DVI port, and the other the VGA port. I'd like to keep them both hooked up without having to change the connections when I want to use one or the other. Is it reasonable to expect that I'll be able to do this without problems? I'll have all of the required cables to make use of the ports.

I'm assuming that the monitor will be able to tell which device is giving it input, but I'm not super tech savvy. I'm sure this is a question that makes tech people chuckle, but I'd hate to wreck this monitor, for the same reason.

Also, if there is a better that I'm not thinking of here, I'd be happy to hear it.

VGA to Ethernet device?

yellowbkpk — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:24:05 -0800

Where can I find a standalone device that has a female DB-15 VGA port on one side and a female Cat-5 on the other, with a VNC server in between? I work away from the office a lot, and I have yet to find a simple software solution for sharing screens over the net. I've tried oneclick VNC, NetMeeting, and the company's "solution."

Therefore, I'd like try and find a hardware doohickey that takes the VGA signal given to it, shoves it into a VNC server, and out the Cat-5 port on the other side. Has anyone heard of something like this? I suppose it doesn't have to be VNC.

If such a thing doesn't exist, how hard do you suppose it would be to make one? Think I could decode the VGA signal with a Gumstix-grade CPU?

Da da da da da da-da-da da da! Freeze Frame!

ostranenie — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 09:02:23 -0800

Help me freeze my VGA video signal...as cheaply as possible. In a saturated market of switchers and projectors, what's the cheapest possible way to freeze a 1280x1024 24-bit color analog (RGBHV) image? How much circuitry is required for a device inline in a video feed that can toggle between "hold" or "pass" modes? I don't need it scaled, color-corrected, distorted, brightened or otherwise modified - just froze. Has anyone taken on this problem as a microcontroller project? Or is there a device that "just" freezes video?

Lots of projectors do this, but some plasma screens and LCDs don't have the feature...and I want it and I'm willing to throw money at the problem, but I thought since AskMe saved me thousands of dollars by directing me to a certain online retailer (after I asked about putting HDMI 'ends' on cheap Cat5 cable) I thought, you know, maybe...

If it's too hard to build or guaranteed to be expensive, I understand. Thanks!

How is desktop formed?

Naberius — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 16:49:59 -0800

How is desktop formed? How do icons get on scraen? But seriously, folks. I've got an older PC that I've been stripping down, trying to reduce its heat and noise levels. I'm removing anything I don't need to perform a couple specialized applications.

So. In a normal PC setup, the desktop data (names and locations of icons, color settings, all that) is generated by the processor itself and output to the video card, which generates a VGA signal and sends it to the monitor and I see the visual representation of the logical desktop. Right so far?

The machine in question isn't hooked up to a monitor right now. It's connected to my network via wi-fi, and when I want to talk to it I do so via VNC from my laptop. I get a window and in that window is what looks just like the desktop I used to get on a monitor via a video card.

So here's my question. Under that scenario, is the video card actually doing anything? What I'm ultimately asking is, if this is the only way I plan to interact with that machine from now on, can I just pull the video card completely and run without one? Or will there be no desktop without it? Will it freak out Windows in some way, or cause other unforeseen problems? (Sorry if this is a really dumb question but I've never come across this idea before.)