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Product Description
Want to hook up your computer to your TV but your TV doesn't have a VGA input? Then this is your solution. This converter box will convert a VGA computer display signal into a composite (Yellow RCA) and/or S-video TV display signal. It even has a VGA pass through so that you can keep your computer monitor connected while sending a signal to the TV. All outputs are driven simultaneously. Its simple to use. It has fine tuning controls to adjust the picture to your preference. It draws power from an available USB port using a supplied USB power cable. Video cables are also included. Box contains: User manual 4ft s-video cable 4 ft composite (yellow RCA) cable USB to power cable 4ft SVGA/VGA cable
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
196 of 199 people found the following review helpful
By J. Black
Works great right out of the box. Works great for watching Hulu and other streaming video sources. Picture looks just like its from a cable box or dvd player.
As someone else noted, you'll have to make sure to switch from PAL to NTSC if you're in North America (default is PAL). This is configured with dip switches.
I did not have to deal with the problem of the settings having to be readjusted after every use (that WOULD be annoying), because I didn't really have to adjust anything. Of course, the edge of the desktop was rolled off the edge of the screen on all four sides, but this is because of the nature of old-fashioned SD CRT televisions: they are actually designed to cut off some of the picture so that there is no "wasted" space. If I wanted to, I could have probably fiddled with the "zoom" and positioning controls, but for what I wanted to use it for: watching streaming video (primarily old tv shows) off the web full-screen, that was unnecessary. The edge-to-edge effect with the tv cutting a bit off the edges is how we have watched tv for decades.
I am running mine through a Philips HDD DVD recorder, simply because that was the device that had convenient A/V jacks on the front in my rack. Probably it helps with some of the signal processing as well.
It is important for buyers to have correct expectations with this device, however: you should not expect crisp PC-monitor-like graphics and easily readable text fonts. Your old-style CRT television is simply not capable of producing a high-res image and was never designed to display computer output. Likewise if you use an LCD with this device it will be the same because the composite and S-Video inputs on even an LCD tv are designed to accept and display a signal of CRT-tv quality. Sorry but that's just the nature of this beast. Do not expect HD quality!
To the person who gave this a bad review because they ran the composite output of this into a dvd recorder and tried to upscale it to 720p with an hdmi output: your doing it wrong! If you want crisp, hi-def output on a hi-def tv that has hdmi, then why not just get a gadget that converts VGA directly to HDMI (they do exist, I believe), or get an HDMI output card on your computer? Many hi-dev tv's even have a VGA port, so you can just plug your PC into it directly (or a DVI port, which can be easily converted as well). There are many better ways to do it with a hi-def tv than with a scan converter; scan converters are meant for old-style standard def tv's which have no other input options than composite or S-Video. Of course you are going to get bad results when you take a hi-res computer image, shrink it down to DVD or VHS-quality video, then try to magnify it through "upconverter" circuits. Its like taking a 10 megapixel still photo, printing out a postage-stamp sized print on your ink-jet printer and then scanning it back in and then wondering why the quality is degraded!
But if Standard Def is fine for you (as it is for me), and you understand the limitations, then this will work well. I only rarely watch television, and I have not felt the urge yet to go out and spend hundreds or thousands on a super-duper 95 inch super ultra 1080i LED flat screen. I bought this to show old tv reruns to my kids on demand, and it works great for that! We just got done watching the third episode of the original 1960's Addams Family on my 32" Zenith CRT I bought for $25 at the Salvation Army, and it worked perfectly!
Bottom line: if you don't require high-def, and you understand the limitations, this will work well. Don't expect to use your TV as a computer monitor with this device--its for displaying power-point slides, video and still photos. At 800x600 with a big enough tv, it might work reasonably well as an ok monitor for occasional things. If you want PC-monitor-quality output with a hi-def tv, look for a different solution.
As someone else noted, you'll have to make sure to switch from PAL to NTSC if you're in North America (default is PAL). This is configured with dip switches.
I did not have to deal with the problem of the settings having to be readjusted after every use (that WOULD be annoying), because I didn't really have to adjust anything. Of course, the edge of the desktop was rolled off the edge of the screen on all four sides, but this is because of the nature of old-fashioned SD CRT televisions: they are actually designed to cut off some of the picture so that there is no "wasted" space. If I wanted to, I could have probably fiddled with the "zoom" and positioning controls, but for what I wanted to use it for: watching streaming video (primarily old tv shows) off the web full-screen, that was unnecessary. The edge-to-edge effect with the tv cutting a bit off the edges is how we have watched tv for decades.
I am running mine through a Philips HDD DVD recorder, simply because that was the device that had convenient A/V jacks on the front in my rack. Probably it helps with some of the signal processing as well.
It is important for buyers to have correct expectations with this device, however: you should not expect crisp PC-monitor-like graphics and easily readable text fonts. Your old-style CRT television is simply not capable of producing a high-res image and was never designed to display computer output. Likewise if you use an LCD with this device it will be the same because the composite and S-Video inputs on even an LCD tv are designed to accept and display a signal of CRT-tv quality. Sorry but that's just the nature of this beast. Do not expect HD quality!
To the person who gave this a bad review because they ran the composite output of this into a dvd recorder and tried to upscale it to 720p with an hdmi output: your doing it wrong! If you want crisp, hi-def output on a hi-def tv that has hdmi, then why not just get a gadget that converts VGA directly to HDMI (they do exist, I believe), or get an HDMI output card on your computer? Many hi-dev tv's even have a VGA port, so you can just plug your PC into it directly (or a DVI port, which can be easily converted as well). There are many better ways to do it with a hi-def tv than with a scan converter; scan converters are meant for old-style standard def tv's which have no other input options than composite or S-Video. Of course you are going to get bad results when you take a hi-res computer image, shrink it down to DVD or VHS-quality video, then try to magnify it through "upconverter" circuits. Its like taking a 10 megapixel still photo, printing out a postage-stamp sized print on your ink-jet printer and then scanning it back in and then wondering why the quality is degraded!
But if Standard Def is fine for you (as it is for me), and you understand the limitations, then this will work well. I only rarely watch television, and I have not felt the urge yet to go out and spend hundreds or thousands on a super-duper 95 inch super ultra 1080i LED flat screen. I bought this to show old tv reruns to my kids on demand, and it works great for that! We just got done watching the third episode of the original 1960's Addams Family on my 32" Zenith CRT I bought for $25 at the Salvation Army, and it worked perfectly!
Bottom line: if you don't require high-def, and you understand the limitations, this will work well. Don't expect to use your TV as a computer monitor with this device--its for displaying power-point slides, video and still photos. At 800x600 with a big enough tv, it might work reasonably well as an ok monitor for occasional things. If you want PC-monitor-quality output with a hi-def tv, look for a different solution.
126 of 134 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
The converter box has one input (VGA) and three outputs (VGA, TV, S-Video). It it powered off a USB port.
The pros are that it is small and works quite well for video. I tried it with three different pcs and the quality of the video input will determine what you get out of it.
Cons include the quality of text output to the screen and the use of a USB port for power. If you use large fonts and icons, a lower resolution setting (800x600) and a quality video card you can read text well enough to surf the web (but you will have to use scroll bars at that low resolution) - I am using an older 36" Toshiba (pre-HD)
I am overall pleased with my purchase. I would recommend it for the price.
The pros are that it is small and works quite well for video. I tried it with three different pcs and the quality of the video input will determine what you get out of it.
Cons include the quality of text output to the screen and the use of a USB port for power. If you use large fonts and icons, a lower resolution setting (800x600) and a quality video card you can read text well enough to surf the web (but you will have to use scroll bars at that low resolution) - I am using an older 36" Toshiba (pre-HD)
I am overall pleased with my purchase. I would recommend it for the price.
80 of 88 people found the following review helpful
The device came set to PAL, but once I switched it to NTSC it was easy to configure.
The size and position for horizontal and vertical are easy to set, but the device forgets my settings every time I turn it off. Since I am powering the device from the computer's USB port instead of using a separate power supply, this happens every time I turn the computer off.
Since the device sits behind my computer and TV, I find it easier to live with only being able to see the top 60% of my lower panel (GNOME) or task-bar (Windows) than it is to re-configure the device every time I turn on my computer.
My TV is about 37 inches and not high definition (free at the dumpster when my neighbors got a HD flat-screen :-) ). I find that text is too fuzzy to read without large fonts for the OS when I use 1024x768, so I keep my computer set to 800x600.
A word of advice, do not let your computer automatically adjust your display size because it will automatically detect 1152x864 which is an unsupported resolution. At this resolution, my TV flickers and there is double-image with most text un-readable. Depending on your OS, this may or may not be possible to prevent, and it can be very difficult to override since the screen is garbled when you try to change the settings (especially if you don't know the keyboard commands for your OS).
The size and position for horizontal and vertical are easy to set, but the device forgets my settings every time I turn it off. Since I am powering the device from the computer's USB port instead of using a separate power supply, this happens every time I turn the computer off.
Since the device sits behind my computer and TV, I find it easier to live with only being able to see the top 60% of my lower panel (GNOME) or task-bar (Windows) than it is to re-configure the device every time I turn on my computer.
My TV is about 37 inches and not high definition (free at the dumpster when my neighbors got a HD flat-screen :-) ). I find that text is too fuzzy to read without large fonts for the OS when I use 1024x768, so I keep my computer set to 800x600.
A word of advice, do not let your computer automatically adjust your display size because it will automatically detect 1152x864 which is an unsupported resolution. At this resolution, my TV flickers and there is double-image with most text un-readable. Depending on your OS, this may or may not be possible to prevent, and it can be very difficult to override since the screen is garbled when you try to change the settings (especially if you don't know the keyboard commands for your OS).
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Works great so far!
Didn't even need the directions. Hooked it all up and got a black and white scrolling picture... hmm, there are dip switches, let me try those. Great picture then. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Some Guy
4.0 out of 5 stars
WORKS GREAT
WORKS GOOD, NO PROBLEMS HOOKING IT UP, IF YOU GOT OLD SCHOOL STUFF (ANALOG) AND WANT TO CONNECT IT TO A OLDER T.V., THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED.
Published 3 days ago by Craig Franklin
5.0 out of 5 stars
All problems were easy to solve.
Everything seemed horrible at first. The screen would flicker pieces of my desktop, and yet show the menu perfectly. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Kyle
3.0 out of 5 stars
Inexpensive, but not Monoprice and not great quality.
This item is not a Monoprice item. I am not sure why they are selling it with that name. I was able to get it to work a few times, but, after a few minutes, it would just give me... Read more
Published 3 days ago by Maggie
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well
It's a good product.I use it to connect my computer to the tv so I can watch videos on a bigger screen.it converts videos in different formats
Published 7 days ago by Gabe
4.0 out of 5 stars
works ok for the money
works ok. displays whatever is on your computer screen. seemed to be a little fussy. and doesn't fit screen perfect but is still ok. Read more
Published 8 days ago by Ang
1.0 out of 5 stars
Awful.
It worked one time. It was a waste of money so it's gone to file 13. I won't be purchasing something like this again.
Published 8 days ago by Donna Harris
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not what I expected
From reading the ad I thought this product would be able to convert RCA to VGA, I was wrong.
Company said I could ship it back to china but the shipping charge would cost as... Read more
Company said I could ship it back to china but the shipping charge would cost as... Read more
Published 8 days ago by Rodney Carrigan
1.0 out of 5 stars
Great - if you don't mind your image looking like garbage
I hooked it up and got an image. It would look ok if you were about 50 meters away and partially blind. Don't waste your time (or money) :(
Published 10 days ago by J Scott Gilmore
4.0 out of 5 stars
Converted OK
Was able to pull movies off my laptop and play on the TV. Had to tweek the settings a little but minimal work. Good product.
Published 10 days ago by Storm
