VGA to Scart cable for PC to TV output?

tvout · 21-12-2008, 12:28

Hi all,

I bought this long cable from some bloke a while back who had it as part of a setup in a betting office and was no longer needed. It has a male VGA connector on one end with two wires coming out which go into a scart connector.
I was told it was to connect a PC to a normal TV which sounded great. I had doubts though as I thought the signals were very different and it wouldn't work.
I've just tried it from my laptop and nothing... although the channel does auto switch across when the laptop boots up.

Have I got a useless cable or do you think this could work and I'm doing something wrong with the graphics options on the laptop?

xpod · 21-12-2008, 12:57

No Tvout for tvout

Sorry.Cant you use the display properties to extend/clone the desktop in some way??.I`ve never used that particular kind of cable but i do use Svideo to Scart on the older TV in my bedroom ok.

caph · 21-12-2008, 13:07

As far as I know the VGA signal and the SCART signal you are talking about are completely different as you suspected. A single cable without any fancy electronics will not do the job. They do exist but are expensive. There are however some devices which need a straight through VGA to Scart. I believe projectors are one example because they can accept a standard TV (SCART) signal on their VGA port (maybe that was the setup in the betting office?), however the signal is the same at either end of the cable, which is not the case with a VGA port on a PC and a SCART port on a TV. Sorry. I stand to be corrected but I'm pretty sure what I've said is correct.

tvout · 21-12-2008, 13:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by caph

As far as I know the VGA signal and the SCART signal you are talking about are completely different as you suspected. A single cable without any fancy electronics will not do the job. They do exist but are expensive. There are however some devices which need a straight through VGA to Scart. I believe projectors are one example because they can accept a standard TV (SCART) signal on their VGA port (maybe that was the setup in the betting office?), however the signal is the same at either end of the cable, which is not the case with a VGA port on a PC and a SCART port on a TV. Sorry. I stand to be corrected but I'm pretty sure what I've said is correct.

Hmm, I agree. I think it was a bit of a waste of money. Maybe someone somewhere might have a use for it, it's about 10 metres long anyway!!! Maybe another betting office :o)
It was an attempt at alternative TV viewing whilst waiting for my cable box to be replaced. I've got a little USB box plugged into my disused sky dish to get freesat channels on my laptop (one of the interesting little ebay gizmos I've bought from China).

Hom3r · 21-12-2008, 13:26

On a laptop I have to press the "Fn" button and "F5" this cycles through the video outputs.

21-12-2008, 13:38

VGA is compatible with Composite

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hama-SCART-T.../dp/B0002W69MY

http://www.amazon.co.uk/vga-compsite...9866785&sr=1-1

so your cable may work

you will need to set extend mode or clone mode in your driver to use 2 screens

caph · 21-12-2008, 13:40

As XPod and Hom3r have mentioned. Have you definitely not got an Svideo connector on the latop (little round yellow port with a DIN style plug)? That does output the correct signal for a TV.

I got one of those gizmos too. It worked well with XP but is really flakey with Vista. Amazing gadet though. I got a bit cheesed off with having to drape coax everywhere though :-(. I've since got a Sony Location Free player (like a Slingbox) and it's absolutely fantastic.

21-12-2008, 13:42

and as I said vga is compatible with composite and svideo for that matter

caph · 21-12-2008, 13:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

VGA is compatible with Composite

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hama-SCART-T.../dp/B0002W69MY

http://www.amazon.co.uk/vga-compsite...9866785&sr=1-1

so your cable may work

you will need to set extend mode or clone mode in your driver to use 2 screens

Those cables are like the one that tvout already has and are not suitable for connecting a VGA port on a PC/laptop to a Scart port on TV. They are only to be used with devices that output a TV signal on to a VGA cable, or devices that take accept a TV signal on a VGA port.

The clue is in the text on the pages:-

"Notes: the VGA must have TV out directly through VGA port function."

and

"For example, connects a DVD player to a projector/video projector" (i.e. NOT a PC).

21-12-2008, 14:01

did you read what amazon says?
you are wrong simple as that (Edit no your not lol )

Quote:

This is the high quality VGA to S-Video cables For PC Laptop to video output to any TV with S-Video input

it will just work as a second screen

you will need to set this up in the gfx driver

---------- Post added at 14:01 ---------- Previous post was at 13:53 ----------

Upon research it will work with some cards and some tvs. I am partly incorrect in my assumptions and put my hands up to that. Will like to get hold of a cable to try it though

Stuart · 21-12-2008, 14:02

If your VGA port does not support TV out (and it is not part of the standard, so it may not) and you use one of these cables to plug the PC in to the TV you risk blowing the line driver on the TV (if it's a CRT based TV). Trust me, I have done this.. Admittedly, I did this on a monitor by feeding it the wrong resolution/refresh rate (this was before monitors had automatic shutdown protection), but the same warning applies to TVs.

As Zing says above, if the VGA supports TV out, it may work. Check the manual for the laptop..

caph · 21-12-2008, 14:34

Didn't know that some cards could output TV on a VGA port these days. You learn a new thing every day (on this forum anyway). I stand corrected.

tvout · 21-12-2008, 15:05

just to clarify here, my laptop is a Medion (cheap basic job with an Sis graphics chip). I don't have an S-Video out on it, I'm using the VGA port on the laptop for an external monitor.
The graphics options are quite basic. It sees a Plug and Play monitor and a default monitor. I tried selecting number 2 and did 'extend my desktop' and ended up booting into the extended desktop on my laptop and had to disconnect the cable to restore the normal desktop.
The cable says on it:
"CAT.5E Patch Cord --- STP". Like a network cable??!

---------- Post added at 15:01 ---------- Previous post was at 14:59 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

VGA is compatible with Composite

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hama-SCART-T.../dp/B0002W69MY

http://www.amazon.co.uk/vga-compsite...9866785&sr=1-1

so your cable may work

you will need to set extend mode or clone mode in your driver to use 2 screens

It's the same as the top one - VGA connector to Scart, only it has two cables between the two connectors as opposed to one.

---------- Post added at 15:04 ---------- Previous post was at 15:01 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stuart C

If your VGA port does not support TV out (and it is not part of the standard, so it may not) and you use one of these cables to plug the PC in to the TV you risk blowing the line driver on the TV (if it's a CRT based TV). Trust me, I have done this.. Admittedly, I did this on a monitor by feeding it the wrong resolution/refresh rate (this was before monitors had automatic shutdown protection), but the same warning applies to TVs.

As Zing says above, if the VGA supports TV out, it may work. Check the manual for the laptop..

Doh - still seems to be ok. It is a CRT TV. I think it's F2 on my laptop to output the signal to an external monitor.

---------- Post added at 15:05 ---------- Previous post was at 15:04 ----------

It's a 100Hz TV - is that going to further complicate things???

caph · 21-12-2008, 16:54

Tvout, I've had a look around and I can't find any card/laptop that outputs composite via its VGA port (they all use an S-Video port if they support TV at all), so I'm guessing they're probably pretty new. In other words, I wouldn't hold out hope that your trusty old Medion can do it. You can buy hardware equivalents that will do it for you but you're looking at about Ã‚Â£45. Bit pricey for a temporary fix.

josef1975 · 19-02-2009, 13:56

hi to all, I have made an interesting guide on how to build a vga-scart cable (in italian), this is the link:

http://digilander.libero.it/venturi1975/

lots of schemes expalins how to combine sync from vga (all graphics card, not only radeon) to get the cable work on every pc.

you can traslate it with google... hote it helps.