no thrills video to vga adpater

[rampart]

hi

our mp3 jukebox pc which I was planning on utilising as a htpc for all video sources to the projector (apart from vhs ;-) has taken it apon itself to retire permenantly with a motherboard fault. therefore we have decided that for the time being we will be using a dvd player (plus occasional vhs). we could use s-video but since I will be making up a vga to port 3 lead for eventual use with htpc or laptops, I thought perhaps a vga converter would be a good idea.

now I am not talking about some expensive scaler or anything but I don't really know what I am talking about (now there's a change).

I found these things going cheap and thought they would do the job...
http://www.highway.net.au/parts/converters/2003.html

alternatively there is some xbox looking multipurpose vga/xga converters sold on ebay for about 25 quid.

eg. "http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Multi-Purpose-VGA-Box-Converter-Media-Receiver-Centre_W0QQitemZ8736477451QQcategoryZ180QQrdZ1QQcm dZViewItem"

or "http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Multi-Purpose-XGA-Box-VGA-Box_W0QQitemZ8241865215QQcategoryZ187QQrdZ1QQcmdZV iewItem"

I'm hoping this kind of thing would allow various sources to be plugged in at an easy to reach place and then just one vga cable to port 3 to be used for all sources?

[AlexPap]

Hi rampart,
my opinion is that use of s-video connection from dvd-p to projector is... only for an
emergency!
Although I'm not aware of the local market, I'd say that you could find a
70-80£ dvd-p that has a vga connector with a fair internal scaler (for its price),
and also plays mp3 and divx.
Besides the scaling quality of these devices is highly questionable, I'd rather
connect through s-video and leave the scaling for the projector proccessor.

Avoid these VGAboxes at all cost - they are truly horrific! Not only do they do a lousy job of upscaling, they completely destroy contrast and brightness and generally make a complete hash of the entire picture. I'm just glad I bought one through work and discovered this rather than spending my own cash! Better to try and find an iscan pro on ebay for around £100.