# RGB to RCA possible with normal video card?



## Fr4665 (Nov 18, 2004)

Hello, im trying to figure out my media pc components and how to make them work the simplest way. I got myself a RGB to RCA+S-Video cable but came to notice when i plugged it in to test that thats not really possible.

Im building this pc on a soyo P4vgm (http://www.soyousa.com/products/proddesc.php?id=292) with a Celeron D ~3ghz.
The video card is onboard (S3 Graphics ProSavage8™)

I know thers external converters to do this but ...
Is there any way you could convert the output signal internally of the video card so it will display RCA output instead of RGB ?

leme know on any ideas

EDIT: Question, would this card function as a normal video out card ? video card to tv ? with the composit ? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814131228


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## UncleMacro (Jan 26, 2005)

It takes more than just a cable to convert VGA output into composite video. It takes a hardware converter to do the job. There are some extremely cheap external converters around but they require you to set the video card to 640X480 and run at 60Hz and their output quality tends to be pretty bad. There are better VGA to composite/S-Video converters but the good ones are more expensive than a new low-end video card. All of these gadgets connect to the VGA output of your video card so they're not internal.

Getting a new video card is the cheapest solution for decent output quality. The PCI Radeon 7000 you linked to operates as a plain video card and also has composite TV-out but it doesn't support S-Video. You should use S-Video to clean up the picture quality if you can. Most low-end video cards come with TV-Outs which support some combination of composite video/S-Video. Given the motherboard you're using I'd look at AGP cards rather than PCI cards. You can get better AGP cards in the same $40 price range with TV outs.


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## Fr4665 (Nov 18, 2004)

k thx soo much, i found a geforce2 with svideo and composite and will likely go with that one  

problem solved


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## Fr4665 (Nov 18, 2004)

*update*

digging in piles of old computers i found an old 64mb geforce2 mx with S-Video. My parents old tv doesnt have an svideo input though ... is there a cable that can just convert it ? i found some online but im not really sure if it will work

this is the cable i was considering after their description it should work ...

http://www.svideo.com/msvmrca6.html

thx


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## UncleMacro (Jan 26, 2005)

You can use that cable to convert from S-Video to composite (RCA) but it really doesn't generate very good output. There are actually two kinds of S-Video outputs on video cards: the standard 4 pin S-Video and the computery 7 pin S-Video. You can see diagrams of them here. The cable you linked to converts the standard 4 pin S-Video into composite output. That will always work but it degrades the signal a little. There's a technical explanation of how they work here. You'll get a somewhat better composite output if your video card has the 7 pin connector and you can find a 7 pin to composite cable. Unfortunately the 7 pin connectors are not standardized so you have to make sure that the 7 pin to composite converter is compatible with your video card. I have three 7 pin to composite converters and only one of them works with my Radeon 9700.

So basically your options are:
1) Use a standard 4 pin S-Video to composite converter and get crummy output quality.
2) Find a 7 pin S-Video to composite converter which works with your video card (assuming it has the 7 pin connector instead of a 4 pin connector) and get less-than-crummy output.

One other thing you should remember is that even S-Video output is much lower quality than standard VGA output. And composite output is even worse than S-Video so don't expect to be able to really work with a Windows desktop with either S-Video or composite output. It's okay for some video games and playing movies but not good for much else.


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## Fr4665 (Nov 18, 2004)

k thx, yeah its just basically for movies and music so i wont worry about that. the problem is that my parents old crappy tv doesnt have svideo :sayno: so the composite is the only thing i can go with. but it serves my needs with the not soooo good output. thx uncle m

problem solved for good


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