VGA to S-Video and/or composite video in one handy cable!

[*Bix*]

I was looking at some of my old posts at VideoHelp while looking at this folder here and figured this would be perfect:
http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/3...ters?p=1988825

VGA to composite and VGA to S-Video cables are available from a ton of places online, including reliable vendors like MonoPrice:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

The feature, which was never common (that it was mostly on some Matrox cards a long time ago was the best guess I could find) hasn't been around in at least a decade. MonoPrice's listing is pretty much all disclaimers:

Quote:

IMPORTANT, Please READ! Before Buying.
This item is a VGA VIDEO Card to S. Video or Composite TV Adapter Cable.
Use it to connect the video card on your computer to a TV input. Your video card MUST be able to support s-Video or Composite out through it's VGA port. This is known as a TV out function. If you don't know if your video card can do this, then call the card manufacturer and ask them "Does my video card support S-Video or Composite Video out through its VGA port?" If it does, then buy this adapter. If not, then use Product # 4724 http://www.monoprice.com/products/se...p?keyword=4724

Connector: VGA(HD15) Male to S-Video Female and RCA(Composite) Jack
Cable: UL 2919 Coaxial Low Voltage Cable

It will work with VGA cards that have TV-Out function capability through the VGA connector.
Check your Video Card manual or manufacturer to make sure that your VGA card has TV-Out function capability.

IMPORTANT:
- THIS ADAPTER WILL ABSOLUTELY NOT CONVERT AN S-VIDEO OR COMPOSITE VIDEO SIGNAL TO VGA.
- IT WILL NOT WORK BACKWARDS. YOU CAN NOT USE IT TO DRIVE A VGA COMPUTER MONITOR WITH A CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DEVICE SUCH AS A DVD PLAYER OR VCR.
- IT IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH NETBOOKS OR ANY CURRENT GRAPHIC CHIPSET.

Yet they carry it and manufacturers make tons of them (check other cable vendors, whether they have their own sites or are on Amazon, eBay, etc.). Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any reason other than ripping people off.

[admin]

Quote:

Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any reason other than ripping people off.

I've always been wary of any product that claimed it would convert a signal with a simple adapter -- be it audio, video, or computer connections (hard drives, graphics, etc). This is a perfect example of why I suspect most devices of being misleading at best, fraud at worst. I think probably 8 out of every 10 adapters I've ever seen are either non-functional or only partially functional (noise, lost signal, dropouts, etc).

Computer graphics output has always been a messy situation because of all the available connectors, as is video output, thus creating a desire for conversion. However its conversion is generally no more technically possible than is converting a frog into a human prince.

Meritline, Amazon, Monoprice -- otherwise excellent merchants for quite a few digital media and computer products -- sell a lot of this hucksterish crap on their sites. (In their defense, I think they often do not realize the items don't work, having been hornswoggled into buying it from the low-budget Asian tech markets. After the sales have come back to bite them in the ass -- losing them customers, gaining them bad reviews, and costing them returns -- their product pages fill up with warnings and disclaimers.)

I get rather tired of seeing, and fielding questions about, things like "USB to VGA adapters" or "composite to s-video adapters". No folks, it doesn't work reliably or fully. At best, the devices work with partial bandwidth, giving you a crap experience (example: intermittent video, choppiness). At worst, the devices are completely non-functional, like the example posted by Bix.

Thanks for sharing, *Bix*.

You've given me an idea for a new post -- a list of adapter devices that generally do not work.