VGA, S-Video, or Something else to PC?

[smashedpumpkins]

Hey,

I have a pretty simple question. I like to hook my laptop up to my 37" LCD LG HDTV. Normally I just use the VGA cable. Is there any better options? How's s-video? Is there any way to pull the video out of a USB wire etc... Any funky adapters out there that could let me use HDMI? I'm just curious if anyone else has gone down this road. Let me know!

Randy

 

[NightSurge]

I believe they make VGA to HDMI adapters that could be worth looking into. However, unless you are running a good video card on your laptop that supports high resolutions, and you're running a 1080p resolution on the TV, it will look big and not as sharp as on your laptop.

 

[smashedpumpkins]

Hmm, now would VGA to HDMI pull any better than VGA to VGA? Yeah my laptop only has a GE Geforce 6150 video card. I know that's nothing great, but I figured I still maybe able to pull something better than regular VGA. Too bad I can't use my PC lol. The TV is only 720p though.

 

[NightSurge]

Yeah, I haven't actually used the VGA to HDMI adapters, but since the original signal would still be through VGA, it most likely would not be any clearer. The best bet would be DVI, but it sounds like that's the one type of port your laptop doesn't have. Can I ask what laptop you have? I aswell have a laptop with the 6150 onboard graphics and it is an HP Pavillion I believe... maybe we have the same one.

 

[smashedpumpkins]

Yeah, I haven't actually used the VGA to HDMI adapters, but since the original signal would still be through VGA, it most likely would not be any clearer. The best bet would be DVI, but it sounds like that's the one type of port your laptop doesn't have. Can I ask what laptop you have? I aswell have a laptop with the 6150 onboard graphics and it is an HP Pavillion I believe... maybe we have the same one.

Yeah I have an HP Pav dv2000. That's why was curious if I could pull something out of USB or something.

 

[veedubfreak]

vga to vga is going to look the same as vga to hdmi. Either way you do it, you are still feeding an analog signal to the tv.

 

[NightSurge]

It is possible to send files and video over USB. But all I can really think of is mostly the other way around. Going from the TV to the PC in order to capture video, etc. I believe IPTV does use a USB interface, though, so maybe someone here knows more about it and can offer more information.

 

[smashedpumpkins]

Yeah I was thinking there may be some type of program that can send the video out of the USB. USB is better than VGA right? If so some USB to HDMI cable plus a program to get it to work would be great. Of course that's some pretty far out thinking as I have no clue if it's possible.

 

[blackhawk13]

If both your laptop and TV have S-Video ports, then an S-Video cable would output a higher quality of video than the VGA does. Not a whole lot better, but it would be.