HDMI over old VGA cable
- Thread starter bm_999
- Start date
What's a TV point? What's on the other end of the cable? And what do you mean convert from vga to hdmi on both sides, if the connection is HDMI on both ends, why can't you just use a HDMI cable?
VGA is analog, HDMI is digital, ideally you wouldn't covert back and forth like that, because you'll probably get a poor signal doing all that conversion and there's probably a better way.
Please explain in more detail what the setup is.
VGA is analog, HDMI is digital, ideally you wouldn't covert back and forth like that, because you'll probably get a poor signal doing all that conversion and there's probably a better way.
Please explain in more detail what the setup is.
There is currently a VGA cable running in the wall and under the flooring. Running a new HDMI would be really difficult.
The tv doesnt have a VGA port so any way i can convert the existing VGA cable so that on each side i can connect into a HDMI port (like a laptop on 1 side and tv hdmi on the other)
The tv doesnt have a VGA port so any way i can convert the existing VGA cable so that on each side i can connect into a HDMI port (like a laptop on 1 side and tv hdmi on the other)
Soldato
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Another one not answering the question (as I don't know the answer, sorry!) but can you not connect your laptop to your TV over your home network?
I used to use HDMI from my PC to my TV, until I realised that I'd not been using the wonders of the network to do so. So much easier.
Back to the cable question, it's not clear to me what you want. The TV doesn't have VGA and instead has HDMI, but what about the laptop - is that both VGA and HDMI? If yes, why not tie the VGA cable to an HDMI cable, and thereby pull the VGA through the wall thus also pulling the HDMI cable through to replace it?
I used to use HDMI from my PC to my TV, until I realised that I'd not been using the wonders of the network to do so. So much easier.
Back to the cable question, it's not clear to me what you want. The TV doesn't have VGA and instead has HDMI, but what about the laptop - is that both VGA and HDMI? If yes, why not tie the VGA cable to an HDMI cable, and thereby pull the VGA through the wall thus also pulling the HDMI cable through to replace it?
Associate
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You can get both VGA->HDMI and HDMI->VGA adapters. So it would, in theory, be possible to use an HDMI output on the laptop as input into an HDMI->VGA adapter, connect that to one end of the VGA cable and then the reverse adapter connected to the other end of the VGA cable and thence to the TV.
The results are likely to be disappointing.
As t31os stated the overall signal is likely to be degraded; plus all PC to display communication is likely to be lost other than the basic video signal. This means that the chances are you'll only be able to get a basic VGA resolution through to the TV.
If the laptop also has a VGA port, then you can at least do without one of the adapters, but again you probably won't get the full resolution of the TV.
If the VGA cable is buried in the plaster in the wall, you are probably stuck, but like hughtrimble said: consider using the VGA cable to pull through a good quality HDMI cable if you can.
Depends on how tightly it is buried in the plaster, but while HDMI connectors are a smaller than VGA was, I would suspect pulling it through would not be possible.
For Ethernet cables you have the options to buy without ends, but not HDMI. The smallest HDMI cable might be with a micro HDMI connector at the end and you can buy adapter to get that back to normal size, but if there are any bends in the plastered part I think you'd be out of luck.
In theory your VGA cable could have up to 15 wires inside it, but that isn't even enough for the digital part of DVI and HDMI themselves cables are designed to avoid interference (using something like shielding or differential signalling etc.) while VGA isn't. Or at least not for digital high clock signals - a good VGA cable might have been designed to handle a high MHz analogue signal.
For Ethernet cables you have the options to buy without ends, but not HDMI. The smallest HDMI cable might be with a micro HDMI connector at the end and you can buy adapter to get that back to normal size, but if there are any bends in the plastered part I think you'd be out of luck.
In theory your VGA cable could have up to 15 wires inside it, but that isn't even enough for the digital part of DVI and HDMI themselves cables are designed to avoid interference (using something like shielding or differential signalling etc.) while VGA isn't. Or at least not for digital high clock signals - a good VGA cable might have been designed to handle a high MHz analogue signal.
You'd also lose the ability to take sound from the TV to the laptop and the laptop to the TV, if that matters.
I've run active convertors from HDMI/DP to VGA for years (only on one end though) and they work fine, quality isn't too bad, but it does depend on the convertor and like VersionMonkey says, you get a limited resolution/refresh through a VGA cable.
Don't think this plan is a goer really.
Another issue is you might lose HDCP or whatever it is, some sort of DRM.
I would bite the bullet and move on, if you are considering buying two adapters (HDMI>VGA and VGA>HDMI) then why not just buy wireless HDMI adapters? I imagine that will give better results especially if your TV is high resolution.
I would bite the bullet and move on, if you are considering buying two adapters (HDMI>VGA and VGA>HDMI) then why not just buy wireless HDMI adapters? I imagine that will give better results especially if your TV is high resolution.