Home Theatre

General Information

I want to be able to hook up the VGA port on my HTPC’s graphics card to the component input on my Yamaha RX-V1500B receiver.

How To Connect a Computer To Your TV
Video converters
- http://www.ramelectronics.net/HTML/video-to-vga.html
- http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/howto-pc-tv.html
- http://www.ramelectronics.net/HTML/9A60.html
- http://www.ramelectronics.net/HTML/PC-TV_video_adapter.html
- http://www.ramelectronics.net/HTML/40-880.html
- http://www.ramelectronics.net/HTML/kd-vtca2.htm (discontinued; replaced by KD-VA5)
- http://www.ramelectronics.net/HTML/KD-VA5.htm (replaces KD-VCTA2)
Video convertors in Aus
- Key Digital VGA to Component Transcoder $275 at hometheatrepc.com.au
- Avermedia AVerKey Lite $88 at AusPCMarket
Good thread on different video connection types
- “VGA and Component video are essentially the same thing. If you pull apart a VGA cable you will see that inside there is a RED, GREEN and a BLUE wire inside. All VGA is is component with additional wires to control the monitor from the computer. A VGA to Component adapter can easily be made simply by splicing pins 1 and 6, 2 and 7 and 3 and 8 while shorting 4 and 5 as vsence (ground). Each of those pairs in that order are; RED, GREEN and Blue.”
- http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/3/7446.html
Make your own VGA to component cable using CAT5 cable

Equipment:

Home theatre PC specs:

Coolermaster black case (accepts microATX motherboards)
Zalman quite PSU
AMD Duron 2200+ (socket A)
Corsair 512MB PC3200 ValueRAM
Albatron microATX socket A motherboard with integrated GeForce MX440 graphics and onboard sound
Maxtor 200GB HDD
Pioneer DVD-RW
Netgear WG311 802.11g wireless
Logitech MX3200 wireless keyboard & mouse
Windows XP Pro

In April 2007 looking to upgrade my Samsung 47” widescreen SD rear pro to one of the following:

Samsung PS42Q7HD, 42” plasma, 1024×768
- http://www.samsung.com/au/products/tv/plasmatv/ps_42q7hd.asp?page=Specifications
- 2 yr warranty, with HD tuner built in
- Around $2100

Samsung PS50Q7HD, 50” plasma, 1366×768
- http://www.samsung.com/au/products/tv/plasmatv/ps_50q7hd.asp?page=Specifications
- 2 yr warranty, with HD tuner built in
- Around $2900

Samsung LA40S71BX, 40” LCD, 1366×768
- http://www.samsung.com/au/products/tv/lcdtv/la40s71b.asp?page=Specifications
- 3 yr warranty, no HD tuner
- Around $2200

Samsung 46” LCD, LA46F71BX, 1920×1080
- http://www.samsung.com/au/products/tv/lcdtv/la46f71b.asp?page=Specifications
- 3 yr warranty, no HD tuner
- Around $4000

Sony KDS60R2000 60” BRAVIA SXRD Full HD Rear Pro TV
- http://www.sony.com.au/homecinema/catalog/product.jsp?categoryId=34379
- 1080P (1920×1080)
- Around $4100

Useful forum threads and articles: