HD to HDTV from laptop with VGA/S-Video....

[snadge]

I have a HD 32" TV,
A DivX DVD Player (non-HD)
and a laptop with VGA and S-Video outputs..
is it at all possible for me to watch the HD content on my laptop on the TV?

I have a VGA to YPrPb cable (whatever it is...VGA one end and 3 RCA type connectors on other end)
which my 32" HDTV has but when i connect em up and choose the channel for that connection
theres no picture whatsoever....
I can only get poor fuzzy picture with S-Video

I might add that the TV DOESNT have VGA input...
it has YPrPb / s-video / HDMI / Component

Can somebody help and shed some light on this for me?

thanks

[yoda313]

Since you don't have a vga port you either have to use the component adapter to get 720/1080 or get a dvi-hdmi adapter. I got one for 30-40 dollars and it works perfectly. It allows me to get native resolution of 1366x768.

In order to use your component adapter make sure your laptop is setup to output to an hdtv. It would be in your display settings menu. Though I would recommend a dvi-hdmi adapter instead - you can get a vga-dvi converter if you don't have a dvi output on your laptop.

[snadge]

i dont have DVI and VGA (analogue) to DVI (Digital) converters cost £300... id rather build a PC with HDMI graphics card at that cost...

The laptop has VGA and S-video out and has ATi Radeon XPRESS 1100 graphics chip

So if i Use my cable that has VGA-YPrPb and set the FX card to output 720p it should display???

[yoda313]

Yes.

Actually you should be able to get them quite inexpensiviely online I imagine. They come with just about anything these days. Go to any of your favorite online retailers and you'll probably find them relatively inexpensively - by the way they make ones that are just a change adapter and not a full on cable.

But select hdtv as your output and you should be able to enable the output through the ocmponent adapter cables you have. Just follow the prompts. Good luck.

[snadge]

I have setup the graphics adapter (ATi Xpress 1100) with HDTV support @ 720p and its detected the monitor attached (HDTV) but the TV says NO SIGNAL... it seems everything is setup on laptop ok..i have desktop enabled on 2nd monitor etc but NO SIGNAL on TV...
I have Y=Green Pr=RED Pb=BLUE on the connections

[jagabo]

One thing to keep in mind, those VGA to YPrPb cables do not convert VGA signals to YPbPr. The 15 pin VGA connector has several pins that are normally unused. Some graphics cards manufacturers have provided YPbPr on those pins and the special cable like you have. If your graphics card doesn't have those YPbPr signals on the connector the cable will be useless.

If your graphics card is detecting the TV then it probably does have the YPbPr signals on the VGA port.

You probably just have to find a resolution and refresh rate that both the computer and HDTV support. For example, if your graphics card is sending out 1280x720 at 85 Hz your HDTV probably won't accept it. Changing to 60 Hz will probably work.

You could use s-video but any high def source will be converted to standard def (and probably poorly) for transmission over the s-video cable. So you won't see high def on the HDTV.

[snadge]

S-Video is poor

VGA/YPbPr is being detected by laptop once connected to TV and doesnt if not connected and i have forced HDTV @ 720p @ 50Hz...no matter what resolution i choose it says "NO SIGNAL" on the TV... I have tried EVERYTHING in ADVANCED on the ATI Control Center....

Ive a feeling you may be right about the ATI card not having the YPBPR enabled on the pins....

When the cable is attched to TV and laptop the Laptop/ATi detects as VGA Monitor... when S-Video is attached its detected as TV... now VGA Monitor sounds about right and put on 720p x 50hz output has NO SIGNAL

[edDV]

You should really be talking to your laptop maker. The ATI Radeon™ Xpress 1100 chipset may have support for component YPbPr 1080i but offering this over the VGA connector is rarely found in a laptop.

TV Out
Integrated TV encoder with an on-chip DAC (simultaneous output for TV and CRT is not supported)
-HDTV component output for modes up to 1080i
-NTSC or PAL output of resolutions up to 1024x768 32bpp
-Support for Macrovision 7.1 copy protection standard
-CGMS-A copy management support in VBI
http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonxpress1100dskintel/specs.html

The documentation provided for a laptop usually specs TV out. Wishfull thinking seldom helps.

PS: In that era, ATI sometimes offered YPbPr pins on the DVI or VGA connector on their own cards but required a dongle adapter with dip switches to set resolution. NVidea always routed YPbPr out extra pins on the "S-Video TV Out" connector (7 or 9pin). None of this is standard. The only reference for what was done is your laptop maker.

[snadge]

Thanks edDV....
Looks like its not gunna happen...unless I just build a media centre PC with a HD FX Card and link up that way...

thanks guys

[edDV]

Thanks edDV....
Looks like its not gunna happen...unless I just build a media centre PC with a HD FX Card and link up that way...

thanks guys

Email your laptop maker. It may be there but they need to tell you the procedure.

[snadge]

thanks

ive contacted AMC/ATi via online form... was lucky because they wouldnt let you sign up unless you registered your product (which i didnt buy its a chipset in a laptop) so i tried the online form during signup and it worked and i got a ticket number and email confirmation

cheers