FL90 GF8600GT vga to dvi adapter problem

[Blasph23]

I have an FL90 notebook with gf 8600 gt in it. The problem is, this card doesn't have a dvi port, only vga. I have an LG 42LC2R TV display with 2 hdmi ports and a bunch of other video ports (s-vid, rgb etc.). I have a DVI - HDMI cable but no way to connect it to my notebook. So I bought a vivanco converter - male vga to plug into my notebook and female dvi to connect with the cable and then with the TV.

The problem is, my notebook and nvidia panel instantly found the new display and recognized it, but I have no image nevertheless, same is if there was no signal being sent from the notebook. I set my tv on dvi mode and made sure my laptop was switched to use dual display, everything seems ok on the software side. I'm not sure where might be the problem, I read somewhere that newer nvidia drivers have some issues with dual monitors and there is some fix available around, approved by nvidia that makes it all work. Another issue might be the cable. I had a stationary PC with radeon 9200 tv out some 1 year ago and it had dvi port in it. I connected the same TV with the same DVI-HDMI cable and it was perfectly ok, everything worked, signal 100% digital.

So now I'm wondering if it's either the converter's fault or maybe it's the issue with the cable itself, being a DVI-D dual and not necessarily DVI-I? That way maybe it can only transmit digital signals? I'm not sure that's the case since I believe the dvi-vga adapter emulates a digital signal from the analog vga port to send via the dvi-hdmi cable to the tv. Or maybe I'm wrong and it does try to transmit analog signal using the dvi cable/hdmi tv port incompatible with analog signals? What difference would it make if I just bought both sided RGB/VGA cable and made the connection completely analog without the need for converters/adapters and without using the HDMI port in the TV? Is there some significant quality change? If I have to use a cable connection to view HD content directly from the computer's hdd, does RGB/VGA (I believe vga and rgb are the same here, I mean the 3 rows of 5 pins port both in my TV set and notebook output) connection mean a large quality loss if I decide to use it instead of HDMI/DVI?

 

[SNGX1275]

Yep, the problem is even though you have a cable to change the connection types you are still starting with an Analog signal and using a connection that only works for digital. You can take digital and convert to analog real easy (hence all the free DVI->VGA adapters people get with video cards). But you can't easily go from Analog to Digital, you'd need a real converter box.

Your TV doesn't have a VGA in? I think your last sentence indicates you do, if so that is by far the best option and the quality will be pretty good unless you go up to 1900x1200.

Otherwise your other option is to find a VGA-> Component video cable and use that. If you go to S-Video or Composite your quality is going to be terrible. If you go to component you should still be able to push out an HD signal and it will look decent.

 

[Blasph23]

Thanks for that, I suspected it was a digital exclusive port. Anyway I have an s-video cable but I'm not using it for the reason you stated - terrible quality. And yes I do have VGA port in the tv so I guess I just need to get a dual VGA cable and use that. By the way, any ideas where can I take a look at such a more sophisticated converter? I guess these toys would cost a lot, more than it's in fact worth but still I'm curious if there's a way of utilizing that notebook vga port in purely digital way. Also I was considering obtainment of an external vid card with dvi, connectable via express card slot since it's pci x1 and can technically be used in such manner, but the devices needed for that cost a lot of $$ so it's rather cost/gain ineffective.

 

[SNGX1275]

Well, analog only is what comes out of that VGA spot on the notebook, so even with a converter box you are taking analog then converting to digital, so that won't give you any quality gain over just running the analog VGA to the tv directly.

What resolution are you wanting to do on the TV and what is it going to be used for. If its just for movies, you may not be able to tell vs a pure digital. But if its for 1900x1200 and you are using the TV as a monitor for doing web browsing or office related stuff with small text you might have some problems.

VGA isn't that bad really. People were running 21" CRTs and larger with VGA at pretty high resolutions without complaints. If you are only doing 1366x768 to the tv (or something around there) I don't think you'll see any difference between VGA and DVI/hdmi. Of course for a comparison you'd need someone elses notebook that does output the digital signal.

So bottom line is, I don't know offhand where to buy a converter box and you probably aren't going to have unacceptable quality using the VGA.

Check out www.monoprice.com for a VGA cable at a reasonable price.
Edit: I did find a VGA to DVI box, $123.25. It is totally not worth even $1 for you though because you gain nothing, and you end up using an HDMI port on your TV when you could just run the line to a port on the TV specifically made for what you are trying to do.

 

[Blasph23]

I suppose its for movies mostly, eventually gaming but then just like you said vga is not that bad. Max resolution would probably be around 720p anyway since that's the limitation of the tv. From your info it seems like a completely pointless solution using such a converter.
I'm just gonna have to make it a top priority next time I'm gonna buy comp hardware, to get a decent graphic with dvi output. A friend of mine had a choice between 8600gt without dvi and 8600gs with dvi. He's now a happy HD viewer. No idea though why wouldn't nvidia add a dvi to the GT version.
Although I can tell the performance difference if it comes to more demanding comp games, between his and mine comps, with similar cpu and ram. GT is better of course.

Fair enough for me, gonna get vga cable next thing in the morning and hopefully enjoy high enough quality big screen tomorrow