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VGA - Component or other


lx2010

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hi guys im looking to run a pc on one of my Panasonic flat screen tv's however it does not have a vga in on the rear I know vga cant be converted to hdmi (easily) because it is analogue to digital however im wondering if there would be a way to convert a vga signal to component ?

I have found this [Link] on the tinternet and just going to see if it will acctuly work before I purchase it thanks

 

OLI

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hi guys im looking to run a pc on one of my Panasonic flat screen tv's however it does not have a vga in on the rear I know vga cant be converted to hdmi (easily) because it is analogue to digital however im wondering if there would be a way to convert a vga signal to component ?

I have found this [Link] on the tinternet and just going to see if it will acctuly work before I purchase it thanks

 

OLI

 

 

VGA type signals can be converted to HDMI and YPrPb (3 channel component) using external converter boxes. When you say easily, I assume you mean cheaply. Indeed there is a cost to conversion. If you put the model of your Panasonic tv on the forum, it might be possible to check from the user manual exactly what connections are available for you to use.

 

Also, you might like to tell us how important it is for you to get the best picture quality which is more expensive, than getting a basic picture which would usually be cheaper.

 

 

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I'm rather confused. In a recent show, a pile of bits (from XL) arrived - a mac powerbook. The output went to a Kramer device (sorry Nick, no idea what one). The output on VGA was fed to a large Panasonic flown display. The other end of the VGA cable was split out into 6 phonos using a vga/phono cable. 5 of these went to the monitor. I plugged it up, matching the labels on the plugs to the labels on the monitor - from memory, the one not needed was a sync source. It worked fine.

 

It never occurred to me it shouldn't have - I simply assumed that the monitor automatically adjusted itself to the scan rate - I certainly did nothing at all apart from selecting component input on the remote. I assume the Kramer unit was a scaler of some kind to convert the mac output to something more conventional?

 

I'd always treated VGA as just component in terms of levels. The other output from the Kramer fed another computer style monitor - and just worked exactly as expected.

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Mac's output the same kinds of resolutions and rates as PC's. There is no need to convert from a 'Mac' output to a 'PC' output. Most modern Mac's will use a Mini Display port connector, or if it's bit older a MiniDVI connector, but it's still essentially the same signal type either Analogue RGBHV or Digital as DVI on DVI or Display Port connector.

 

VGA cables carry RGB colour signals and Horizontal and Vertical Sync (HV), so generally a VGA to 5BNC cable will be used. I've never seen VGA to 6 BNC's or Phono's.

 

It sounds like the Kramer box would have either been a scaler switcher or a line driver, possibly used to enable a switch away from the Mac if needed.

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The important difference to remember when talking about VGA (analogue RBG + H and V sync) and Component is the different way the signal information is being sent.

 

With VGA you get a red green and blue level along with a horizontal and vertical timing signal, it is possible to get analogue RGB with the timing included in the green channel (SOG or sync on green)

 

Component works a different way you may get 3 connectors colour coded red green and blue, but the signal is actually Luminance Y carried on the green connector which determines the overall brightness of each pixel and carries timing information, and the difference between Red and Luminance (Pr on the red connector) and Blue and Luminance (Pb on the blue connector).

 

This is generally set in most equipment by selecting the appropriate colour space RGB or STMPE This useful link explains how the different colour systems work.

 

There is some confusion caused as some professional equipment, such as the Image pro that uses the 15pin sub-d format connector commonly referred to as VGA to input and output component video through a 15pin - 5BNC conversion cable.

 

So essentially if you put the wrong colour space signal into a type of monitor you may get an image but the colors will appear strange, assuming your analogue RBG signal is at a resolution and timing that your monitor will accept as a component video signal.

 

This brings up the next issue. A Component video input will expect to see 576, 720, 1080 lines of information per scan whether interlaced or not depending on timing, where as analogue RGB works on some very different formats, some well known ones being 600 lines and 768 line (800x600 and 1024x768)

 

So essentially to get an output from a PC into a component video monitor you need to convert it from red green and blue, plus timing to YRB, and then make sure its at a resolution or format the monitor can understand, essentially a native video format that the monitor is capable of, generally 765x576, 1280x720 or 1920x1080 and at a refresh or scan rate you monitor can understand often 50hz interlaced or 25hz or 50hz progressive.

 

My laptop has and output that allows me to switch colourspace and resolution to work, and my samsung telly is very capable in understanding various resolution so a simple cable conversion works for me, if your not so lucky you need the right box to do what you need, either just a simple colour space conversion, or a scalar to change the resolution or a scan converter to get the right refresh rate, or a combination of the three depending on budget and requirement.

 

This post has wound up a little more long winded than I had intended, but I hope it will help those endless "where do I get a VGA - insert video connector name here" question that keep cropping up.

 

Take care

 

Charlie

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Should work. Ideally, you'd go from HD-15 (ie "vga") to RGBHV rather than RGB - as this is usually the plug and play solution.

 

 

Unfortunately this will not work. I would instead take a look at something like this: Maplin VGA to HDMI convertor and check the input and output resolutions available.

 

Regards,

 

Dave

 

Did the OP mention HDMI?

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