Once you have this hooked up you need to reboot your computer or it won't recognize the TV as a monitor. I was about to toss this across the room after hooking it up to two TV's and switching wires 4 or 5 times. Once the laptop rebooted, worked great. Lake PC to TV Converter Box compatible with Windows and Mac (VGA To RCA / VGA To S-Video)
I bought this to be able to use my non-HD TV as a second monitor so I could watch movies on a larger screen from my couch. This works perfectly. I have a DVI-I output on my PC, which I had to convert to VGA with this DVI-I Male to VGA Female Adapter. Then I used the VGA-to-VGA cord that came with this to connect the VGA to the converter, and a cable like this Cables To Go Value Series S-Video Cable (25 feet) that I already had, from the converter to the TV. I was freaking out until I remembered to plug the converter power cord into an empty usb port. I had a flipping screen image at first, but flipped the tiny, white switches until the picture was clear. I was in business!
The product was shipped quickly and in good condition. I would recommend it for this use. The picture is close to perfect with very little interference, which the instruction booklet says can be caused by too little power or too many electronics in the vicinity, whatever that means.
I got this unit today, plugged in the necessary wires and connections, set the dip switch to NTSC and started watching my computer screen on my analog tv (Sharp 27F543 tv with Macbook 13" v. 7,5).The picture quality was VERY disappointing. Very blurry and bad contrast and color depth. I tried adjusting the controls in the converter. Some change, but still unacceptable picture quality. Some folks might actually find the picture acceptable. I found it very annoying. I packed up the converter and wires and was going to return it to Amazon and write a one or two star review.
Then I got the idea of playing with the computer's display settings and gave it one last chance. Here's what I found. My Macbook automatically set the display to 800x600 at 60hz and standard "VGA Display" color profile the moment the Apple adapter is hooked up. The instructions that came with the converter were no help in trying to tweak the computer's settings to get the best picture. Seems that anything but standard "VGA Display" worked much better, giving much better contrast and color depth, and the blurry picture became much better as well. I then used the converter's controls to fine tune the picture. Now it's VERY acceptable. Same picture quality as with my older Macbook (v. 5,5) with Apple's mini-dvi to rca/s-video adapter.
This box is intended to work with older CRT TVs. It essentially turns your TV into a CRT monitor. If you are trying to connect an HDTV to your computer do not use this box, you will not be satisfied with the picture quality. For an HDTV explore other options (HDMI or DVI), s-video and RCA should be last resorts with an HDTV.
My box came configured for PAL output, if you require NTSC (The standard in North America) the box will not work unless both of the switches are in the down position (as stated in the included instructions). Aside from needing to switch the format to NTSC this worked right out of the box. The picture quality was as expected (don't expect to get monitor quality out of your TV, the picture quality limitations are due to the limitations of TVs not this box).
Making adjustments to the picture was easy. To adjust the picture position use the up, down, left and right buttons with the menu off. Enter the menu to make further adjustments (picture size, brightness, contrast, etc.). As stated in previous reviews, my box does not seem to hold its settings when turned off. If you need to make major adjustments to the picture I recommend purchasing an adapter to plug the USB power cord into the wall.
I found this little product awesome. It was easy to install by following some steps from other previous reviewers. However, I have to add that I still couldn't get it to work properly. The connections were all intact as shown on the instruction manual. What solved my problem was pressing the Fn and then the F8 button to get to work. lol After that it works wonders. Sure the picture quality isn't the best but it's the viewing that in the comfort of my own tv that does it for me.
On a side note, I also purchased a Belkin Audio Y Cable Splitter 1-Mini Plug/2-RCA Plugs (6ft), which allowed me to hear the audio directly from the tv and not from the computer.
Love it!
This product will take the signal from your computer (Mac or PC), and transmit it to your old style television set to be displayed. If you want to watch Netflix on your tv, but don't have a newer LCD type, this is just the ticket. You can't go with just a simple wire adapter, because your computer is sending digital data (0's and 1's) and your older TV needs analog data. This converts the two, which can be a big help. I use this for movie nights all the time in my dorm's TV lounge, and it couldn't be better.
The product itself also came with the wires necessary to make it work. I guess I should have expected this, but in today's world where you buy printers with no cables, who knows. It was pleasant surprise. The cables plug in easily enough, and the signal comes through fine. If you watch a DVD through your laptop to the tv, it won't look as good as a stand-alone dvd player, though. It definitely gets the job done, though. I especially love that the unit is powered not by outlet, but by usb. Great idea.
If you want, you can also get another wire to bring the audio of whatever you're doing to the tv (this unit only handles video). Get an 1/8 inch wire that splits to a red and white RCA ends. These are fairly common. Plug the 1/8 inch jack into your computer, and the two RCA ends to the TV, and you now have big TV sound rather than tiny, wimpy computer sound.
That's about it. I am very satisfied for what I got at this price. Good job no name Tech Company!'
Detail Products
Detail Reviews
Click here for more information
