Thinkpads Forum

I would like to connect my T400 to my TV to watch movies. I assume I would need some sort of VGA to HDMI adapter, but all I can find is male to male, and I need VGA female to HDMI male. Where can I get a cheap cable like this?

What can I do to get sound with this setup? Will I need to use external speakers? It would have been so much simpler with DisplayPort or HDMI...

I connected my x300 to my tv using VGA to DVI. I had to run a male-male headphone cable for audio. Worked fine, but not ideal.

VGA to hdmi cables are expensive and doesn't help with the audio.

If you're looking to leave it plugged in for a long time it'll work fine but it's too much work in my opinion..I agree there should definitely be hdmi ports in laptops nowadays..

I ended up getting a dedicated htpc for this purpose.

Hmm, harder than I thought. I guess I'll forget about that then. My tv doesn't have dvi or analog audio in, so that wouldn't work.

Could i do VGA -> DVI -> HDMI? it's a roundabout way but probably more cost efficient.


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I found a setup that should, in theory work. I will link these three together in order:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DVI-M-VGA-F-15-pi ... 637wt_1139
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DVI-F-HDMI-M-Gold ... 2801wt_905
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Premium-HDMI-HDMI ... 955wt_1139

And connect it to an HDMI port. For audio I will need to use my analog PC speakers and an extension cable I have. It's cheaper than regular VGA to DVI, but there's a lot of switching going on there so not certain what the image quality will be like.

But there's only one way to find out.

I doubt that would work but I guess it's a cheap enough experiment.

If your tv has RCA inputs you can just use a VGA to RCA cable which is robust and cheap. I don't see a benefit to using hdmi if you still have to use a separate cable for audio.

I'm not sure but there's probably a VGA to component cable option too if you want the best output for your setup.

It won't work. These are simple adapters. The VGA-DVI can only convert analog signals. The DVI-HDMI can only convert digital to digital or analog to analog. Unless your TV can accept analog DVI signals, you will not get a picture this way.

dr_st wrote:It won't work. These are simple adapters. The VGA-DVI can only convert analog signals. The DVI-HDMI can only convert digital to digital or analog to analog. Unless your TV can accept analog DVI signals, you will not get a picture this way.

Thanks for confirming.

There is another option, using a USB based expansion bay(not sure what it's called exactly) which can route audio and video out through a USB port..

But that's money spent that could be used towards a dedicated htpc.

Thanks for letting me know before i did it. My TV is wall mounted so I have kind of forgotten what's back there. Looking online it has composite, VGA, analog audio in, and all kinds of things that would make connecting fairly easy, but they are very close to the wall and I can't see or get to them.

I would like to use HDMI because I have a 4 port switching box that i would like to connect to. Is there any other way to get HDMI output on a T400.


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hunterman223 wrote:
I would like to use HDMI because I have a 4 port switching box that i would like to connect to. Is there any other way to get HDMI output on a T400.


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What is a 4port switching box? Like a KVM switch?

You seem hellbent on getting hdmi going, there may be a way to output video and audio through USB which can interface with a USB to DVI/HDMI converter. But again, the converters are expensive..$70-$100..

It's like a USB hub with HDMI instead. One port used on the TV, up to 4 on the hub with buttons to change the source.

I'll look for USB to HDMI adapters. I might just have to suck it up and figure out how to get to the back of the TV, but there's only 1-2 inches between the tv and the wall.


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You're right, they're pretty pricey. I found a different non-HDMI method that will work. Without taking the TV off of the wall mount I should be able to use a SCART -> VGA cable paired with analog audio to RCA L/R. Will this work? Here are the ebay listings.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/0-5M-3-5mm-Male-2 ... 261wt_1033
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1M-Scart-15-Pin-S ... 839wt_1089

Again, it's fairly cheap, but I am not sure if I will have audio. Here is the manual for my TV.

http://www.toshiba-om.net/LCD/PDF/Engli ... ecific.pdf

It says in there that when using HDMI I can use RCA to receive audio from a PC, but it doesn't mention SCART. Again, it only mentions using a DVI to HDMI adapter which I guess isn't doable.

Do you think this will work?

I can't say that it will work.

I would either buy a port replicator or eBay the T400 and get another thinkpad that has a displayport or dedicated hdmi. That's a surefire way to get what you want.

The dock is probably the best way to go since I may want an external monitor in the future anyways. It will just be less convenient to lug downstairs to the living room.

So then I can do as the tv manual suggests, dvi to HDMI and analog audio to RCA. Right?


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Easiest least painful solution is to get a Thinkpad Advanced MiniDock with DVI out and use the DVI to HDMI adapter. You can actually get a HDMI cable that has HDMI male on one side and DVI Male on the other meaning that you do not need any adapters.

Here is the MiniDock

Here is the HDMI male to DVI Male

The other cool thing about this solution is that you can leave the advanced dock hooked up to the TV all the time with the cable in place and just drop in the laptop when you want to watch media on the TV. As an added bonus, Presentation Director will automatically switched to the TV in the correct resolution when the laptop is docked.

Thanks, I found north of those on eBay UK. And that cable is expensive! Although i was just looking at generic cables. I think I'll live with carting it up and down the stairs, the mini dock is only 2.-something pounds, and I can use it on my desk.


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Leading from that, is it ok to use generic cables? How are they quality-wise? I am looking at a cheap one that says 1080p with gold plated connectors, but does anyone know first-hand?


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Videophiles may disagree but I think expensive hdmi cables are a total ripoff. I got a 'discount' on a 3' MonsterCable HDMI cable with gold leads and all for $27(down from $50). I have that running from bluray to tv, and bought a 20'(~3.5m) generic HDMI cable running from my htpc to my tv for $6. Both work fine.

I agree with miscthree. If a digital signal gets through then the HDMI lead is perfect, no matter how cheap the cost of the cable. I bought my HDMI leads from eBay for next to nothing.

Thanks guys, I'll go ahead and do that then.


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Monoprice has good, low priced cables from my buying experience.