Add HDMI?

My brother didn't have an HDMI port on his laptop when I configured it for him and now that we have two plasma's he wishes he had one so he could connect via HDMI. I want to find a way to add one for him for his birthday. Any ideas on how I could had an HDMI connection to his HP Pavilion DV6700t laptop. He has the intel graphics card right now. My laptop is the dv6500t but with the NVIDIA graphics card so mine came with an HDMI built-in. Any ideas would be great

 

It will be near impossible to add it internally. However, if he has a DVI port, then you're in luck as DVI > HDMI converters are pretty cheap and easy to find. Otherwise, there is really no cost effective way.

 

No, I dont think it will be possible. Sorry.

And, no. It doesnt have DVI Either.

You can use S-Video or a VGA to HDMI adapter, but it wont be HD or anything special. And could be blurry.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/PC-VGA-Component-Video-Audio-L-R-to-HDMI-Converter_W0QQitemZ400031215669QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item400031215669&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2|65%3A1|39%3A1|240%3A1318



Does that look like it would work? It converts his VGA connection to an HDMI connection? All I would have to buy then would be the cables for the HDMI and the VGA

 

You can't just convert a S-video (which is analog) signal to a digital signal (dvi/hdmi) without having some kind of box that converts it which is expensive and as you say, you will get a crappy quality as the source is S-video/compsoit from the beginning..



However, he could just hook the plasma up with the s-video directly, as it will be the same as buying one of those expensive boxes. AFAIK all lcd/plasma/tv has either scart, s-video or composit to recieve signal through.

 

Yes, that should work fine.

Just dont expect HD Quality.

Well, i meant S-Video to S-Video. I only said an adapter with VGA, which is digital, correct?

Maybe I should have been more clear. Sorry.

 

Hehe no problem
VGA is analog btw only hdmi & dvi are digital.

 

Those HPs do have docks, that might have an HDMI connection. Crap, no they don't. So don't see any way to get HDMI on this one.

 

So if you use dvi to hdmi will that allow for HD quality, and will you also receive sound with this lead?

 

DVI and HDMI will work exceptional! No quality loss. Though you won't get any sound as DVI ofcourse does not output that.

 

So DVI > HDMI will not transfer sound, so you'll have to get a speaker setup.

 

Yeah, just use a 3.5mm plug -> 2x RCA, from laptop to the TV's input. That's the easiest thing to fix!

 

A switch box can do it, for a price.

 

As far as i know, it is not possible, but as michel.k said, DVI>HDMI will work brilliantly, the only problem is it will have no audio. but you could always just use a 3.5mm to 3.5mm stereo cable from his lappie or a 3.5mm to rca to hook up on surroundsound if he has it.

fattail95

 

There are USB video cards that will output to dvi or hdmi. Won't be cheap. Might as well just build yourself an HTPC.

 

Is VGA really that bad in this situation? It's much better than S-Video anyway.

 

No, it's not that bad, i agree with you! Totally!

I can't see any difference between VGA and HDMI/VGA, neither does any friends of mine. VGA is crisp and clear on my Samsung 32" LCD TV. And at my friends place it's crisp and clear there too on his Samsung 40" LCD TV, and we even tryed with both HDMI and DVI, couldn't see a difference, the only difference was that HDMI took alot more resources from the computer.

S-video and composite is really sucky imho, blurry and , the only thing you can use it for is to watch movies through, but that's not any good quality either, but it's watchable for some people, but not for me.

 

Sportsplayer612: It sounds like you should try a VGA cable if the TV got it.

 

You possible options:

1. Your TV has a VGA in, then use it, and don't waste your time and money to find a HDMI solution, because you won't be able to tell a difference between HDMI and VGA.
2. The laptop has a docking station with a DVI port as an accessory, then buy it, use a DVI to HDMI cable and be happy.
3. The TV has only HDMI in, the notebook has no docking station, and it only has VGA out. Then you have to buy an active VGA to HDMI or DVI converter. I don't know how good the converter from eBay is. Never tried it. I only have a Aten VC-160 for Sony Vaio TX, which also only has VGA out, and this converter works great. Sharp, crisp, you can't tell a difference between true DVI and this converted DVI
4. You have enough money and you want to display a higher resolution, then get an external video card like the ViDock from Villagetronic, but this thing is expensive! (>$300)