PC to component can it be done ?

DeadlyChicken · **13th August 2008, 03:29 PM**

Hi, been away for a while

ok

So a mate of mine has been building in under his house, he planned for a home theater and a projector. so now he has this projector that will accept up to 1080p signals, its screwed to the ceiling and has composite (good quality ones ) running through the walls and into the ceiling so there is no cables lying about. ( Now I did suggest using DVI or Dsub or HDMI cable instead of the component, but for whatever reason he now has component )

Now he discovers that he is having trouble locating a DVI or Dsub to component converter.

he cannot find any of those little boxes that do a conversion for you that go up to 1080p

he cannot find a simple cable solution.

So whats the go

composite is already in the walls and we cannot really change that now, what is the best way to get a picture from his PC to the projector using this cable ?

many thanks

DC

dgaust · **13th August 2008, 03:35 PM**

Use a video card with TV out. (s-video type connector but is actually component)... nearly every nvidia or ATI card has that functionality. Using the supplied breakout box, you should get s-video output. You could then convert the s-video to composite with a cheap convertor.

edit: But are you sure it's composite, and not component video. You talk about 1080p, but composite can't do that.

DeadlyChicken · **13th August 2008, 03:46 PM**

oops I mean component yes

pantonious · **13th August 2008, 03:48 PM**

yea, you mention both Composite and componant.

Composite is your normal RCA cable that you get from a DVD/VCR...normally with a yellow connector.

Componant is the HiDef format with 3 cables (RedGreenBlue).

From the sounds of it, you mean Componant.

Best solution i can think of is buy a long HDMI cable (assuming the projector can handle HDMI), disconnect the Componant cables, and use the componant cables to pull the new HDMI cable through the roof/wall. Problem Solvered

i've never seen/used it, but a lot of people say that Componant from PCs just doesn't work very well.

What sort of PC is he using??? if it can do it, the easiest solution is to put a Video Card in the computer that outputs to Componant.

dgaust · **13th August 2008, 03:51 PM**

Well, most PC video cards have component output... he should buy one of those and use the breakout box supplied with it to run component out.

I can't vouch for quality as I've never used PC component outputs. Some people say it's rubbish, others say it's pretty good, some others say it requires a bit of fiddling.

Be that as it may, the functionality is built into most cards.

See the middle connector? It might look like s-video, but it's actually component (it has 7 pins). The card pictured comes with a breakout box that splits the signal into the normal component cables.

DeadlyChicken · **13th August 2008, 04:00 PM**

ok, I was thinking along those lines.

he thinks he has seen a HDMI to component converter, so was thinking about going DVI to hdmi then HDMI to component.

an option ?

pantonious · **13th August 2008, 04:08 PM**

i've seen them...but i think those sorts of converters can be tricky...

and a HD3450 or HD2400XT will be cheaper then a HDMI to Composite converter...

dgaust · **13th August 2008, 04:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeadlyChicken

ok, I was thinking along those lines.

he thinks he has seen a HDMI to component converter, so was thinking about going DVI to hdmi then HDMI to component.

an option ?

Not really, as far as I am aware it is not possible to make a HDCP compliant HDMI to component adapter. This means that if he ever tries to play blu-ray discs he will get an error due to the display device not being HDCP compliant.

You could try this device which was reviewed on the site. It will mean running a thin optical fibre cable through the walls.

But in the first instance he should try a cheap video card with component out, and fiddle with the settings. He might find he likes the quality, and then screwing around with convertors/adapaters/black magic might not be required.

DeadlyChicken · **13th August 2008, 04:21 PM**

thanks a lot guys. it just seems a minefield out there, and they do not seem to want you to go dvi - hdmi - component because it loses the hdcp signal from hdmi to component and they do not want you to do this as the
HDCP no longer would stand for
Have Disk Cant Play

logifuse · **13th August 2008, 06:17 PM**

I've changed the thread title to try & eliminate some confusion - might be a good idea if you edit some of the "composites" in the posts too.

Justin