How is DVI formed? How is DVI formed? How laptop get co-nnect-ed?
July 15, 2010 8:06 PM   Subscribe

I need to figure out: the correct cord with which to connect my MSI Wind netbook to an older Toshiba tube-style HDTV (a... DVI-D Dual thing, or something, maybe?! + a ???), and where I can purchase such a cord. I am cord-illiterate. Halp!

The plug the output is coming out of looks something like this (a standard VGA out, maybe?). The input plug looks something like this, the DVI-D Dual Link. (Or, does the fact that the input resembles the dual-link in the drawing just mean that the TV is set up to receive the dual link, but doesn't necessarily needs to?) I already have a cord that both begins and ends in the "monitor input/output" endogenous to the MSI Wind laptop. What the dickens am I looking to purchase, and where can I get it?
posted by Keter to Technology (9 answers total)
 
going from digital to analog is easy. DVI to VGA adapters almost always work. But going from analog to DVI...really tricky.

What i want to know first is if you have an HDMI port. I'm assuming not because im pretty sure that a MSI wind is not an ION netbook. Look and see if you you have one. If not, we will get there.

I'll check this tomorrow night most likely. Let me know :D
posted by NotSoSiniSter at 8:30 PM on July 15, 2010


Yuck.

If I remember correctly, going from analog to digital is unpleasant.
This implies I'm right.

So you'll need a converter, which are pretty expensive. I wouldn't suggest it at all.

Are you sure that your Toshiba doesn't have a VGA input? That would be your easiest and cheapest route, by far.

The other easy route is to get a USB graphics adaptor, and then it'll output DVI and you're all set.
posted by Lemurrhea at 8:33 PM on July 15, 2010


It looks like what you need is a female vga to male dvi-d converter or cable: I was able to find one here.
posted by Illumina at 8:33 PM on July 15, 2010


DVI-D is digital-only; DVI-I can carry analogue signals. Note the left hand connectors on that diagram. The MSI Wind is VGA (analogue) out only. This isn't easy to bridge.

If the TV input turns out to be DVI-I a simple adapter will suffice. If it's DVI-D, which seems to be the case with Toshiba HDTVs pre-HDMI, you'll need additional hardware to do the analogue to digital conversion, like the USB adapter in Lemurrhea's answer.
posted by holgate at 8:40 PM on July 15, 2010


oo whats his face is very right. Get a USB to vga adapter. It will be the cheapest thing and should very well work. But make sure you check the maximum resolution on the adapter you want and make sure its bigger than your TV. It would suck if you couldn't run your TV at full resolution.
posted by NotSoSiniSter at 8:45 PM on July 15, 2010


From Illumina's link : You need a display card with the VGA - DVI-D conversion function on your PC.

AFAIK, the MSI Wind models that don't have a DVI connector don't output DVI on the VGA connector.

Is the DVI input the only input on your TV? Locally, I don't recall any Toshiba CRT models that only had DVI or HDMI; they all had at least a component input as well and handled (up to their native resolution) HD over component - but US models are alien to me, and so may have included ones with DVI inputs only.
posted by Pinback at 8:45 PM on July 15, 2010


I should add that it's incredibly (if not unfathomably) unlikely for a Tube-style TV to have a DVI input.
posted by schmod at 9:19 PM on July 15, 2010


Not unfathomably; IIRC, the later versions of the Sony KVHR series had an HDMI input - alas, in the US only, not Aus.

(Quite nice sets, BTW; 800+lines discernable resolution, and could handle up to 1080i over RGBhv [mini-D] or component inputs. Around here they can be had second-hand for not much more than the price of the sore back you'll get from carrying it away ;-)
posted by Pinback at 9:30 PM on July 15, 2010


I have a toshiba hd tube tv. also keep in mind that even though its 1080i the resolution is some weird lower rs due to the tube . You can find the exact res to set your notebook to.
posted by majortom1981 at 4:41 AM on July 16, 2010


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