Thinkpads Forum

Hi, sorry im really noob at this. I want to hook up my PS3 to my laptop to play on it. Is there anyway i can use the HDMI to VGA and view it on my laptop screen instead? Because i am going to dorm very soon and wont have a decent tv to play on. Is it possible to hook it up to my laptop screen? Thanks. I have a T60 which has the VGA port.

Not possible...

I've seen som video grabber cards that can grab at 32 Bit XGA @ 60 FPS, as far as i remember, it was based on the Radeon 9000, but it was a custom design with a completely beefed up VIVO cabaibilites.
The card was $1000 or so, but PCI, so it wouldn't be possible on a T60 unless they have introduced a PCI-E by now.

I.e.: not worth it.

You can transform laptop displays into accepting VGA signal considerably cheaper, but it is a hard mod, but it might be worthwhile for some.

You could also use a TV-Tuner PCI-E card with Video In, but i wouldn't recommend that either.

even with some kind of TV PC card or smth?

Troels wrote:I've seen som video grabber cards that can grab at 32 Bit XGA @ 60 FPS, as far as i remember, it was based on the Radeon 9000, but it was a custom design with a completely beefed up VIVO cabaibilites.
The card was $1000 or so, but PCI, so it wouldn't be possible on a T60 unless they have introduced a PCI-E by now.

I.e.: not worth it.

You can transform laptop displays into accepting VGA signal considerably cheaper, but it is a hard mod, but it might be worthwhile for some.

You could also use a TV-Tuner PCI-E card with Video In, but i wouldn't recommend that either.

what wuold you need to transform the display to accept vga signals?

The first thing - by doing this, you are forced to remove the LCD panel from the T60 and use a seperate electronics board (a LCD driver + inverter) - so what you're doing is basically building a TFT monitor from scratch.

I'm not sure how much it would cost, or exactly what drivers work garanteed for a specific panel. http://www.displaze.com seems to know their stuff about what works with different panels if you ask them.

I once saw a photo on a chinese site showing a IDtech UXGA from a T42p driven externally from the laptop, looked very good.

Are there anyways to convert the hdmi to dvi to vga signals?

Sure, something like this:

http://www.hdtvsupply.com/hdtodvico.html

and this:

http://www.cablestogo.com/product_list.asp?cat_id=2801 (one of the upper two, depends of if you want to connect the two adaptors together or not.

so if i get a hdmi to dvi and then connect the dvi to vga, i would be able to play on the latop?

No, since the VGA on the laptop is an output (it decodes), not an input (encoder). You can't use the VGA on the thinkpad for anything else than connecting another monitor to it.

I thought, since you asked, it was because you wanted to converter a HDMI to DVI to VGA and then to connect it to an LCD driver.

Your best bet is probably to get an external LCD (with HDCP if you watch blueray movies with your PS3) and a HDMI to DVI converter. If you get one with dual inputs (DVI and VGA) you can use it with your laptop when you aren't using the PS3.

yeah, the thing is i dont want to spend so much money and trying to explore the cheapest option possible. So you dont think the hdmi-dvi-vga combo would work?

The VGA port on the thinkpad is output only. It doesn't accept input.

You might be able to find a TV card to put into a dock, but those are built to record/watch TV, where lag doesn't matter much. Some of the cheaper cards might work, but you can't guarantee no lag and the resolution wouldn't be any better than standard def. TV. Only the most expensive HDTV cards accept component input.