HDMI to VGA adapter for VGA arcade monitor?

[Shoegazer]

Hey folks,

I've had this thought for several years now and thought I'd mention it here to get other people's thoughts.  Like many of you, I have a VGA arcade monitor in my cab.  I also use a notebook in my cab since it's much more convenient for my purposes than a standard PC.  This brings up an issue - more an more notebooks these days are foregoing the old VGA output port for the digital HDMI and DVI ports, since VGA is basically dead for mainstream use.  This will of course become more of a case over time, and certainly within the next few years.

My question is, does anyone know of an adapter that would continue to allow me to use my VGA arcade monitor with an HDMI cable connected to a new notebook with an HDMI port and no VGA?  Does such a thing even exist?  If not, does anyone have any suggestions for a digital 4:3, 27" monitor that would fit in my cab?

Thanks,
Shoegazer

[Ginsu Victim]

Do most laptops still have an S-video port? If so, you could put a 27" CRT television in there.

[DeLuSioNal29]

Couldn't you just get the two adapters below?

HDMI to DVI Adapter - $9.99:  http://www.amazon.com/Cables-Go-40320-Velocity-Digital/dp/B0009ST7I4

DVI to VGA Adapter $3.01:  http://www.amazon.com/eforcity-DVI-F-to-VGA-M-Adapter/dp/B0018EDLCG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1220201475&sr=1-3

~ DeLuSioNaL 

[Blanka]

The (mini)DVI in notebooks still caries an analog signal too, that's why the DVI-VGA adapter works.
HDMI is compatible with the digital part of DVI, but does not contain an analog component. hdmi->dvi + dvi->vga won't work.
Find a notebook with mini-dvi, they mostly handle analog too.

[WunderCade]

If you use the HDMI out via VGA adapter, you'll have to continue to run your audio separately. One of the benefits of HDMI is audio integration.

[Shoegazer]

Thanks for the help, folks.  S-video is on its way out and will not be offered as an option for much longer I'm afraid, and I'm sure DVI isn't too far behind (everyone is standardizing on HDMI).  I suppose my only option at that time will be to find an HDMI arcade monitor, which to my knowledge doesn't yet exist.  Am I right about that?  I've heard of people using flatpanel displays as arcade monitors, though I don't believe there are 4:3 displays of this sort, and probably nothing at 27" that would fit in the mounting brackets of my cab.

Shoegazer

[Blanka]

S-video and DVI on laptops are out, not because of HDMI, but because of space and money.
Most new PCI-E videocards have HDMI, S-video and DVI nowadays. They don't want to miss VGA support yet.

[Shoegazer]

Thanks, but HDMI on notebooks are most certainly not out.  In discussions I've had with several notebook manufacturers they will be the ONLY port offered in the near future, hence my concern.  It will dramatically reduce production costs when they start doing so, and HDMI is the new standard and also carries an audio signal as Wundercade pointed out.

[Bender]

how about This or This

a little pricey but pretty cool that you can do it through USB 2.0
I don't think that's going anywhere anytime soon

[Blanka]

Thanks, but HDMI on notebooks are most certainly not out.

I was not saying that, I only typed it (typo-allert!)

[ahofle]

I'm more concerned about CRT arcade monitors going away in the next couple years than I am with the VGA ports on laptops.  Why not just use a desktop if it comes down to that? 

[Shoegazer]

Bender: Wow, genius!  That looks like a great solution.  I wonder, though, if it would allow me to take advantage of my NVIDIA graphics card for video processing, and still connect through the adapter?  Otherwise I would think many games would run slowly.  I suspect this is basically a low-end 2D graphics card with limited capabilities and not much power other than to render an image.  Still, it's nice to know there are alternatives available.

Blanka: That was totally my bad.  I misread what you typed (sorry!).  You are right, s-video and DVI (and VGA for that matter) are on their way out, due to space and money issues.  Hence my concern.

Ahofle: I would never use a desktop machine inside my cabinet - it's just not economical for me.  I own one computer (my notebook), which I use to pay bills, surf the web etc. (while on travel or in my office using the notebook screen), watch HD movies and play emulated console games (using the HDMI port to my projector), and play arcade games in my cabinet (using the VGA port to my arcade monitor).  It fits perfectly inside my keyboard shelf in the cabinet, with room to spare, and it takes literally about 3 seconds to plug in and get to MAME.  This way, I only have to upgrade one machine every two years or so, and all my solutions benefit from the new power.  It's nice to be able to always have the latest technology for use with MAME. 

With that said, I'm also concerned that VGA monitors will by dying off, though as much as I hate to say it, it may be worth the sacrifice to install a flatpanel in a cabinet.  I could design a smaller cabinet, which would be more practical for home use, and the image would be capable of much higher resolution than my current 1024x768 arcade monitor (so vector games and arcade art would be much sharper and you could actually READ the instruction cards).    It would also allow for HDMI, which would solve the above port problem.  The key is in finding a 27" 4:3 flatpanel monitor, which I don't think exists today - unless someone here knows of one.

Shoegazer

Shoegazer

[Bender]

if you are really desperate and $ is no issue there are some digital to analog converters out there
but I think there $200-500

by the way what laptop would you suggest for a high end mame machine?
I'm working on a bartop and looking for a laptop to put in it

[Shoegazer]

Bender: Are you sure D-A converters exist for such a purpose?  I talked to a guy from a cabling/adapter company a few days ago who said it was impossible to convert a digital signal from your laptop for use with a VGA monitor, without using a VGA port.  Maybe he's wrong?

I use the Dell XPS M1530, with the T9300 (2.5ghz) CPU, as seen here:

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dydwhf1&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&kc=productdetails~xpsnb_m1530

I'm very happy with this system - it's incredibly fast, light and small, and is one of the only 15" notebooks with a decent graphics card (NVIDIA 8600GT).  It supports next-gen technologies like a built-in *wireless* USB radio, LED-backlit screen and a fingerprint scanner.  Plus it just looks cool.  With Vista64/MAME64 it runs some of the more taxing MAME games at playable speeds, such as Mace: The Dark Age, and California Speed.  This is a very popular system from what I understand due to its high price/performance ratio.  Dell clearly hit this one out of the park.

Hope it helps.

Shoegazer

[borg07of09]

im not sure if this is what your looking for but you can check it out:

http://www.curtpalme.com/HDFury2.shtm

[Shoegazer]

Yes!  This is exactly what I was looking for.  Thank you!  Actually the original HDfury is a less costly alternative, though you need an HDMI-to-DVI converter cable since it has a DVI connection:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10114&cs_id=1011402&p_id=4559&seq=1&format=2

I'm curious though, if these products could switch resolutions to meet the various MAME games and their custom resolutions?  The info on the above website makes it clear that your monitor must support 720p or 1080p, so I wonder if this conversion unit would support low resolutions at all?

Shoegazer

[Ummon]

It supports next-gen technologies like a built-in *wireless* USB radio



Shoegazer

That isn't next-gen technology. It's an archaic concept refusing to die. Radio. There should only be WI-FI, or some similar connection standard, and then it's just a matter of what content you select.

[Shoegazer]

I beg to differ.  WUSB is the successor to USB, and most certainly an evolutionary next step from that - just wait.  Besides, there's no "one size fits all" wireless protocol.  If that were possible, Bluetooth would have been dead years ago (and oh, what a better world this would be if it did). 

I do agree that there should be an emphasis on consolidating radio technology, though.  Hopefully we'll see it happen someday, but I'm not counting on it anytime soon.

Shoegazer