Connection delema

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thejavabuddha

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I recently purchased a GIGABYTE GA-MA78GPM-DS2H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard for my new HTPC. I currently only have a SDTV (a Sony Trinitron WEGA, support info here) What I did not take into consideration when making my purchase is connecting the onboard video up to my sdtv. My choices for video out are "D-sub" DVI-D or HDMI. My options for video in are S-video or component (or standard coaxial) I have googled all over and with the exception of converters that cost from $75.00 to several hundred dollars or cheap VGA to S-video/RCA cables which have terrible reviews about not working...I don't see what my options are besides a discrete video card or a new tv. Does anyone have any options for me? PLEASE? I'm planning on an hdtv in the next few months but need somthing to tide me over till then.

Thanks,
Bill
 
thejavabuddha said:
Yeah, I've seen these...but will it work? Lots of reviews, some say it works, some say it doesn't. Must be a "it works or it doesn't" situation...depending on your hardware. How can I be sure it will work?
Click to expand...

spending $9 bucks and find out. its a toss up really, but kind of your best and cheapest option.
 
You're going to need a vga scan converter at around $100 to convert vga to composite. Its going to look pretty bad.
I'd look into getting a hdtv when your budget allows it.

That $9 cable relies on the hardware allready producing a svideo signal and is simply pulling it out of the right pins, it doesnt do any conversion for that price.
 
ambientZ said:
You're going to need a vga scan converter at around $100 to convert vga to composite. Its going to look pretty bad.
I'd look into getting a hdtv when your budget allows it.

That $9 cable relies on the hardware allready producing a svideo signal and is simply pulling it out of the right pins, it doesnt do any conversion for that price.
Click to expand...

That's what I thought. I ordered the cable and am going to give it a try. if it turns out that my hardward does not do this, is there a software solution for this delema?
 
software isnt going to do anything for you if the hardware doesn't support it. You can get a vga converter like this one from newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814100010 or you can buy a video card with svideo out. Its going to look bad from the converter, mediocre from the video card.

640x480 is going to be the max res that looks reasonable, your tv may be even lower res if its a CRT.
 
I've used SVideo up to 1024x768 res on a SDTV and you can just about make out text.
Dont do it for long though, your brain will hurt.
800x600 is manageable for reading but isnt as easy as you'd like.

I found that playing films back at 1024 res gave the best quality.
 
I had a Trinitron WEGA, and 800x600 gave the best picture when hooked up via Svideo.. best being pretty bad, lol. =/
 
I think you are better off buying a cheapo card that has svideo out. You can probably find a pcie 6200 for around $15-20 in the FS/FT forums.
 
quique55 said:
I think you are better off buying a cheapo card that has svideo out. You can probably find a pcie 6200 for around $15-20 in the FS/FT forums.
Click to expand...

Just to update, that is exactly what I did. I tried the cable to no avail. So I ended up buying a SAPPHIRE 100233L Radeon HD 3450 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card for 29.99 on newegg. There were a couple cheaper, but if I wanted to use the crossfire option with the onboard card I had to get this one (which, by the way, I haven't figured out how to do...). This option works great. It's a fanless card so it doesn't make a lot of noise and video/tv is crystal clear. This will definitly tide me over till I get a better tv.

Thanks for all of your help.

Bill - thejavabuddha
 
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