Using R60e Video-Out on Vizio TV RGB

[jimwg]

Greetings!

I wildly lucked-out with a flea-market steal(?) of a VIZIO VO32OE flat screen TV with RGB PC VGA ports. I have a Thinkpad R60e with I think is a Video-out port -- It's not Firewire, I know. If the TV and lap are indeed compatible, what cable would I need (cheap if possible) ?

Thanks for any wisdom!

Be safe!

Jim in NYC

[Neil]

The TV appears to have the standard 15-pin VGA input connector. As far as I know, almost all ThinkPads from that era have such a monitor connector. Does your R60e? If so, all you need is a standard VGA monitor cable (and a separate audio cable if you want sound).

[ilakast]

I think is a Video-out port -- It's not Firewire, I know.

I reckon this is an S-video port

[Neil]

Yeah, I figure the R60e has a S-Video port, and the TV likely does too. But, please don't even consider using S-Video to connect a computer to an LCD monitor. You will not be satisfied. S-Video wasn't even very good back when it was the best interface available between a CRT TV and other components.

[Norway Pad]

I remember I tried to connect my first T30 to my CRT TV through S-Video back in the days, around 2002. At first it didn't work at all, but I don't remember if the picture was black and white, or if it was distorted. So I bought a "fixer", which was a S-Video plug that crossed two wires or something like that, and I finally made it work. It worked out ok to watch movies on it, but as soon as I tried to use any menus or open webpages, I simply couldn't read the text properly. The picture was that blurry and bad. And I'm not sure if it was actually supposed to be any better than that.

It was a big deal when I a couple of years later bought my first flat screen TV with a VGA input. I could connect the T30 to a whopping (At the time) 32" LCD display and got what in comparison was a crystal clear picture. So old technology is fascinating, but some of the concepts are best forgotten and left alone. My advice is to leave the S-Video connection alone.