[narukthul]

Hi I have a scarlet ~40" LG lcdtv 1080p and I want to display what I'm doing on my lenovo T61 laptop on my tv. I have been able to do this with a regular old VGA cable however the highest resolution I can display it in is 1280x1024 because my laptop cannot itself display 1920x1080, which is the next higher up resolution accepted by my tv.

From my research I have found items such as the Mega-Cool: Review: XCM 1080p Mega Cool VGA Box - DCEmu Forums:: The Homebrew & Gaming Network :: and the VGA to hdtv component video converter:http://www.allaboutadapters.com/pcvgtohdcovi.html :: that say they can convert your laptop resolution output to a 1080p input displayed on your tv. First, does this work hooking a laptop up to a tv display. Second, does the input resolution matter (will it be lower quality output on the tv if I use a lower input resolution on my laptop)? Third, does the quality of the VGA cable hookups for it or other types of cables have an impact on the quality of the output display (what is the ideal cable to use)? Fourth, is the converter necessary at all? When I googled VGA cables some were called 1080p VGA cables. Does that mean they convert the signal to 1080 automatically or that that is the best possible output that the cable can provide?

Here is a picture of the back panel hookups for my tv:

I see that there are additional hookups besides VGA. would any of these others be compatible with my laptop and its hookups (like a splitter cable with vga one end and component on the other...etc.)?

Here is a picture of the side panel hookups for my tv:

Here is a picture of the hookups for my Lenovo T61 XP laptop:

So in summary:

• Is the Mega-Cool or the VGA to hdtv component video converter what I need to display my laptop output on my tv and convert the input signal to 1080p?
• What cables do I need (do i have the right hookups on my laptop and tv [and what is the best and most reasonable cable in terms of quality and price])?
  
  Thank You in advance for you help. Any and all input is appreciated. Sorry for the lengthy post I just wanted to make sure I put in all the needed info.

P.S. I'm not trying to force my laptop to display 1080p on my laptop screen I know that isn't possible. I'm trying to convert the output resolution signal to a 1080p input resolution signal when it is displayed on my tv!

[daveaka]

Do you really need to start 6 threads to ask the same question ?

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

Everything is displayed as 1080p on your display, regardless of whether you send 576i, 720p, xga, or 1080i to it. All you are doing in choosing to do this conversion outside the tv.

Why do you want to send 1080p from the laptop to the tv? Is it that it is displaying the 1280x1024 res as square with black bars and you want to get rid of them?


The box in the second link doesnt output 1080p so I'd avoid it.
The box in the first link has vague specifications. It says it supports pc resolutions, hdtv and sd tv but it doesn't say whether it supports these as INPUT our OUTPUT signals.....

[Niteman1969]

Seconded, Opening 6 threads is just ridiculous and smacks of wanting
instant answers to your question.

Patience is a virtue, and if anything by duplicating your post in 5 other
sections of the forum, you are scattering any answers you do get
between 6 different threads.

Personally to upscale a vga output not capable of 1080p
with an external device will probably give you a worse
output than you have already, unless you go for a very
expensive scaler.

Probably be cheaper and more effective to get a new laptop
with hdmi out already built in.

[narukthul]

Originally Posted by andyUK101

Posting the same question in 6 different threads isnt the best way of asking for help

In response to your question your TV is already doing the upscaling and displaying a 1920*1080 image - assuming the screen is filled so you dont need anything else to achieve what you want

sorry about the sextuplet post my query just seemed to apply to all those forums. I'll delete them if I can figure out how... there seems to be no delete function under edit post.

I guess I didn't describe what I was looking for correctly. When you change the resolution on your laptop it alters the number of pixels contained on the screen right? so 1680x1050 has more room to display content than 1280x1024 right? I don't care so much about 1080p as I do about having more room to display whatever I'm doing. I was hoping to get 1920x1080 pixels so I have a better chance of displaying the wholes of pictures and movies w/o changing the scale/zoom of the movie/picture causing distortion. Is that possible or am I grasping at straws? The description of the features for the VGA to hdtv component video converter and the Mega-Cool seem to imply that they convert the resolution from w/e you start with, say 1280x1024, to a higher resolution like 1920x1080 (thus giving you more screen space).

[narukthul]

I guess I didn't describe what I was looking for correctly. When you change the resolution on your laptop it alters the number of pixels contained on the screen right? so 1680x1050 has more room to display content than 1280x1024 right? I don't care so much about 1080p as I do about having more room to display whatever I'm doing. I was hoping to get 1920x1080 pixels so I have a better chance of displaying the wholes of pictures and movies w/o changing the scale/zoom of the movie/picture causing distortion. Is that possible or am I grasping at straws? The description of the features for the VGA to hdtv component video converter and the Mega-Cool seem to imply that they convert the resolution from w/e you start with, say 1280x1024, to a higher resolution like 1920x1080 (thus giving you more screen space).

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

Originally Posted by narukthul

so 1680x1050 has more room to display content than 1280x1024 right? I don't care so much about 1080p as I do about having more room to display whatever I'm doing.I was hoping to get 1920x1080 pixels so I have a better chance of displaying the wholes of pictures and movies w/o changing the scale/zoom of the movie/picture causing distortion. Is that possible or am I grasping at straws?

If say your laptop outputs 1280x720 and you send that direct to the screen it will upscale that to 1920x1080 (or I presume it will if it's not in a dot by dot mode)
If you send the exact same 1280x720 to one of the linked boxes and it turns it in to 1920 x1080 you will still have EXACTLY the same amount of realestate on screen from the desktop of the pc. All you have done is changed where the upscaling happens.

If it's that the pc input of the display always works in dot by dot mode then you need to find a device to take in the highest res your pc will output (up to 1920X1080P) and then trasncode that to one of the video inputs (component or hdmi)

[narukthul]

Originally Posted by Gordon @ Convergent AV

If say your laptop outputs 1280x720 and you send that direct to the screen it will upscale that to 1920x1080 (or I presume it will if it's not in a dot by dot mode)
If you send the exact same 1280x720 to one of the linked boxes and it turns it in to 1920 x1080 you will still have EXACTLY the same amount of realestate on screen from the desktop of the pc. All you have done is changed where the upscaling happens.

If it's that the pc input of the display always works in dot by dot mode then you need to find a device to take in the highest res your pc will output (up to 1920X1080P) and then trasncode that to one of the video inputs (component or hdmi)

so it automatically upscales it to 1080? Hmm the picture just seems to get bigger but it seems to look the same and have the same image quality of the 1280x1024 resolution on my laptop (for instance my wallpaper looks less pixelated/boxed on 1680x1050 than it does on 1280x1024). There doesn't seem to be any more "real estate" on the tv. so the PC VGA RGBHV to HDTV Componet Video 720p/1080i Converter: PC VGA RGBHV to HDTV Componet Video 720p/1080i Converter won't buy me more land? Am I doomed?

P.S. thanks for linking my posts, it was silly of me to post so many

[narukthul]

I found a way to convert my tv input signal to 1080 via my video cards Nvidia control panel. Hurrah! More real estate. Thank you for all your help guys.