can anything be done? (vga to svideo adapter)

[mimic]

Just purchased new motherboard, with onboard video. It has 3 types of video out: HDMI, VGA, DVI. I was wondering if there is anything I can do with either one of these to connect to my tv in the arcade cabinet without the need to buy a video card that has on board s-video out.
I've also got vga to svideo adapter, but so far no luck outputing tv signal. Nvidia drivers think high resolution set is connected to it.

[MonMotha]

There is a device commonly called a "scan converter".  These will take VGA (640x480p) and interlace/NTSC modulate it to produce NTSC compatible video.  They're not commonly used anymore due to the prevalence of TV out on video cards, but can still buy them.  They usually have composite and S-Video output; the S-Video will look WAY better than the composite.

Your existing adapter may be one of these or it may be one of the "RGB to S-Video" adapters that just does the modulation step and requires 480i video.  This would be usable with suitably timed output such as via Soft15kHz in Windows.  This could be used to output native arcade video to a television (and it'll actually look REALLY good - way better than the results of a scan converter or the TV out commonly found on video cards).

Try setting your video to 640x480.  In Windows XP and newer, you'll have to do this via the "list all modes" dialog under advanced options.

[Ken Layton]

Perhaps product # A-22 at this site is what's desired:

http://www.arcademvs.com/ARCADE_ACESSERIOR.htm

[MonMotha]

Perhaps product # A-22 at this site is what's desired:

http://www.arcademvs.com/ARCADE_ACESSERIOR.htm

That's the latter solution I referred to (RGB/VGA to S-Video adapter which requires 480i timed video).  That will enable native RGB (at "CGA" arcade timings) to be displayed on a television.  That requires some work similar to what people do to hook up arcade monitors directly to PCs.

I suspect this sort of device may be what the OP refers to already having, but it's tough to tell from his/her description.

I've used similar devices (I built my own several years ago before cheap ones like this showed up) with amazingly good results.  The S-Video display on a good TV was almost indistinguishable from the native arcade monitor.  I was actually quite surprised how good it looked.  For those who have attempted to use the S-Video output on a PC video card, it's not remotely comparable as there's no scaling involved for this.

[mimic]

When I mentioned an adapter I meant something like this: http://tinyurl.com/b92wsw it's just a cable vga to svideo and rca. I was hoping there is maybe some kind of software solution to make it work?

[MonMotha]

That cable is intended for only certain cards, and I've never seen one that uses an adapter like that for TV out.  Maybe some laptops?  It might be physically possible to make this work in software (DAC on a video card is fast enough), but I'm unaware of any solutions for it.  You could probably at least get B&W, but I doubt that's what you want.

Should probably look in to either the adapter Ken posted a link to (J-Rok also has one, but it's more than double the price last I checked) or a scan converter, depending on your needs.

[Ummon]

First off, what all video inputs does the TV have?

If only S-video (composite doesn't count): if it's an Nvidia graphics chipset, you may be able to use soft15khz, in which case you should use the vga out with your S-vid adapter and set at 640x480i.

[Spinach]

Just saw this, maybe it is an easier solution?

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10114&cs_id=1011407&p_id=4724&seq=1&format=2

OK, so I am way less than slick with computer hardware and such, but hey, it looks easy enough to me 

Spinach (the hack)

[MonMotha]

Just saw this, maybe it is an easier solution?

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10114&cs_id=1011407&p_id=4724&seq=1&format=2

OK, so I am way less than slick with computer hardware and such, but hey, it looks easy enough to me 

Spinach (the hack)

That would be a so-called "scan converter".  Easy, but results aren't usually that great.  Usually comparable to the on-board "TV out" that many PC video cards have these days.  Lots of ugly scaling, frame rate conversion, etc.  It does get video on a TV, though.

[Jack Burton]

does your motherboard have an AGP or PCI slot?  Cause I would just buy a used graphics card with S-video out.  You can usually find them for less than $20.