Sewell PC to TV Converter (VGA to RCA) Reviews - SW-22050

Pros: *Easy to install *Uses USB Power supply *Video quality looks good on TV Sets *Has a video feedthrough so you can still see the footage on your monitor as well as your TV *My monitor image actually looks better with the included video cord than it did with the OEM monitor cord

Cons: *Max resolution is 1024 x 768 (75 hz refresh) *Doesn't include an audio patch-through

Other Comments: I've been using this for a couple weeks now and have been impressed. In order for your audio to work, you'll need a mini-stereo to Dual RCA converter and a mini-stereo splitter (so you can split your audio signal to both your TV and your computer speakers). Once this has been done, you can just plug your audio/video hookups into your RCA inputs on any of your devices and you're ready to go. (Just remember, the feed will be constant coming out of your computer, so don't plug this into any auto-detect switches, as your computer will always have precedence over your other devices if you do. Plugging it into a VCR or DVD where it can be selected as an alternate input from a remote is the best policy.) Getting yourself a wireless mouse is helpful, even if your computer is close to your TV, as it's a pain to have to keep getting up and down from your house! All in all, this setup cost me about $50 and I can watch everything on my computer (unlike the Netflix boxes, which only show you Netflix stuff). It's not wireless, but it does a great job if you don't mind running wires to your TV. Just be aware that this is designed to allow you to clearly watch video on your TV, not to use your TV as a monitor. Old school TVs are just too blurry for reading text well.

Pros: no brainer setup smaller than you would think

Cons: mine came set to pal set dip switches on side to both down user guide very weak but the web site has your answers (read reviews and questions)

Other Comments: i bought a dell inspiron 1545 laptop (which only comes with only a vga out) with all intentions to use it to watch streaming video (hulu, fancast, other network video) on a standard definition tv. Dell does not say in any way weather or not the output will work with just an adapter cable. This was very frustrating. I did hours and hours of research, reading every blog and message board that google threw at me, to only find conflicting info from people speculating without knowing the answer. Countless posts that i found had non tech-savvy people adjusting advanced windows settings that i knew were just leading them in circles. Meanwhile the solution was staring them in the face (buy a converter). But how much do you need to spend? Well after kicking it around for a month; knowing all the while that "you get what you pay for"; I found myself returning time and time again to the sewell direct site. This little box has all of the same specs as the higher priced boxes and even looks the same as a lot of them. Here is the bottom line: The max resolution you can expect from a std def tv is 1024x768 and by now you should know that surfing the net or exploring files can not be done on a std def tv. But if you want to watch video or play games, look no further. This site has all of the answers (read their how to's) as well as all of the solutions and cabling you need for any hookup you desire. The quality is higher than you think. Giv'em a try, you won't be disappointed.

Pros: Just to explain to those who expect the video on the TV to look as good as the PC monitor. The PC monitor signals are a much higher bandwidth and therefore can reproduce the fine text on the PC monitor. When the converter combines these signals into the composite video NTSC format (luminance and color on one signal) they have to be separated back out in your TV with passive filters of limited bandwidth. Don't expect to see fine text, the frequency needed to reproduce those fine lines will not pass through the filters that separate the luminace and color signals back out in your TV. It's the fault of the NTSC format specifications. I don't care who makes the converter, you're never going to get higher resolution that NTSC was designed to handle. So there's no converter made that will ever do that, your TV can't be used as a monitor in this way. You can try setting the text size or resolution of the display on the PC monitor to much lower so the text is larger, then you should be able to see it better.

Cons:

Pros: It does exactly what it says: you can display your computer on a TV.

Cons: I didn't see documentation for the switches.

Other Comments: After hooking everything up and configuring my laptop to display on a second monitor, I got a B & W picture on the TV. Frustrated, I reviewed the instructions and found nothing to help me resolve this problem. I was about to give up when I noticed two small switches. When I changed the switch positions, I discover the configuration that gave me a perfect color picture. Mission accomplished. Hooray!

Pros: It's great if you want to play PC games on a TV screen or watch movies or TV shows from Netflix or Amazon Unbox. It doesn't provide sound, so a good purchase to use with Mini Stereo to Dual RCA (R&W) Cable.

Cons: