~ INTRODUCTION ~
I got this product to be able to watch video from my computer on my tv. After a bunch of research, this product seemed to get the best reviews, esp for the price, and overall I agree. Once I finally put it together and tried to use it, I found a few nuisances that you should be aware of, especially if you are a NTSC (e.g., U.S.A. users).
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~ PRODUCT DETAILS ~
First off, just to be clear, the item that shipped is a Manhattan PC TV Converter Model #150095 (UPC 766623150095)
The product is shipped decently packaged but there's nothing in there that can't handle a little rough and tumble anyway. It includes:
- the converter, which is just slightly larger than a cigarette pack
- 1 yellow video rca cable
- 1 usb power cord
- 1 vga cord
- 1 instruction manual, which is alright. It's not 100% clear on everything but the essentials are there.
- Note: there is NO S-video cable provided.
On one of the short end of the converter, there is a VGA-in port.
On the other short end, there is the plug for the USB power cable plus a pair of jumper switches labeled 1 & 2.
On one long end, there are all the output ports. You have one each of video out, s-video out, and VGA-out.
On the opposite long end, there are buttons to adjust settings for the converter. There are buttons for "LEFT", "RIGHT", "DOWN", "UP", "MENU", and "ZOOM".
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~ SETUP NOTES ~
I recommend that the first thing to do is to check that the jumpers are set for your needs (noted very simply in the instruction manual). If you are an NTSC (e.g., U.S.A.) user, be sure that both jumpers 1 & 2 are both down.
Next, plugging in the wires is pretty straightforward. The long side contains all the output ports and the single vga end is the input. I don't think it matters but I plugged in the black vga head to the converter and the blue end to the computer.
Once it's all in, turn on your components and check that it works. It didn't take me long to get up and running but be sure that the jumpers are set properly.
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~ IMAGE QUALITY ~
The image quality isn't too bad but it seems that it might depend partly on your computer and the TV.
Please note that it is UN-LIKELY that you will be able to do things like edit documents or surf the web unless you drop the resolution from your computer quite a bit. At 1024x768 (the setting I have on my computer), the image projected onto the TV is too unclear with the text way too small for you to be able to do any kind of reading. If you really want to use your TV for reading such find details, then it's more likely you'll need to buy a TV that can take regular VGA signals without conversion.
You can play around with image quality with the on-screen preferences but it doesn't seem to improve the quality too much. The menu that comes up provides options to adjust horizontal/vertical size, brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, sharpness, and onscreen display background. In reality playing with these won't affect image quality clarity too much and it's difficult to know where along a 0% - 100% scale that you are adjusting a setting since there is no bar to indicate that for each of the settings. For example, I can't tell whether I've hit 30% or 80% saturation. I just have to guess where along that scale I am at.
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Reminder of the most important point...
!!!! For NTSC (U.S.A. users), be sure that the jumpers 1 & 2 are both down. My converter came set by the factory with both jumpers up, which won't work on US TV's. !!!!
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Recommendation: This product works for my goal of watching videos/movies on my TV. Just be sure to check your setup before thinking it won't work. I got a few scrambled screens before I finally got the thing to show up properly but since then, the product works like a charm. Don't expect perfect image quality. I'd estimate the quality compared to my computer monitor is probably around 75%. The conversion from regular VGA to a TV is not an easy or perfect conversion. Nonetheless, if you just want something that simply works, this will do and as such I can recommend this product.
Price paid: ~$45 + shipping Videosecu PC to TV Converter VGA to RCA S-Video Mac Computer Laptop to Composite Video Switcher VGA2TV 1L7
I just purchased one of these VGA to NTSC >("Never-Twice-Same-Color") "scan converters" to set up a secondary computer system for home theater VIDEO internet streaming. I'm a well seasoned electronics engineering tech and do a fair amount of experimenting with audio/video, etc. I've tried several different (and MORE expensive) brands and types of scan converters on the market in the interest of obtaining the best overall VIDEO picture quality. This unit works EXCELLENT!
PROS: this unit has ALL the "necessary" setting adjustments to allow scan size, posistioning, color intensity (saturation), tint (hue), anti-flutter (flick) and sharpness control. Overall the unit (and I imagine it's "clones") performs excellent especially for VIDEO usage. Using an "S-Video" hookup with a decent TV receiver renders the best overall picture quality although the 75 ohm "composite" RCA output works as well as expected for any composite video signal. ALL adjustments have decent and usable range--better than many others on the market. If used for fine computer graphics/text it performs ok if computer resolution is set at it's lowest settings and/or DPI is increased. NONE of "any" these so called VGA to TV "scan converters" on the market will ever approach HI-DEF or the fine resolutions obtained from a real computer monitor due to the frame timing/scan rate conversions from VGA necessary to properly feed an NTSC signal to a typically slow "interlaced" TV receiver/monitor, however this unit DOES work "very acceptably". This unit (and most others) power from the 5 volt source of the computer's USB port which makes for a neat, quick and easy hook-up.
CONS: when the computer shuts down so does the 5 volt source to the scan converter thus losing the "touchy" flick & sharpness settings which are probably the most important settings of any--at least in my situation. Depending on where these settings need to be on the individual users TV's and computers and where the scan converters default settings end up at power up/down, may or may not be of issue. The best and easiest approach to remedy this "pesky" problem is to "constant" feed the scan converter's power source with a separate,small, 5 VDC/500mA plug in AC "cube" type power supply such as found with many common consumer items. Be "certain" it is 5 volts DC @ 500mA, of proper polarity and well filtered. I'd rate the overall performance of THIS scan converter of *8 out of score of 1-10. - Pc To Tv - Video Converters - Laptop To Tv - Laptop Or Pc To Tv'
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