I'm sure this has been asked before but there is so much conflicting advice on the internet that I don't really know what to believe.

Basically I just joined NBA League Pass Broadband and I would like to be able to connect my laptop to my TV in order to watch games on there instead.

I have a Compaq Presario c700 laptop which has the following ports;

3xUSB, 100Mbps Ethernet, Modem, VGA out, S-video out, line out (no SPDIF), line in, Kensington lock

As far as I know the best way to connect a laptop to a TV is via HDMI but obviously my laptop doesn't have an HDMI out port.

What would my best option be?

Should I just buy a VGA -> HDMI converter or should I buy a cheap laptop that has an HDMI port or something else..?

Thanks for any help you can offer..

depends on your TV that you're going out to, but yes the best case situation as far as compatibility and ease of setup would be HDMI.

The fact that your computer only has a VGA port leads me to believe that it won't output to the TV at a very high resolution anyways... What kind of graphics do you have? If your laptop is old enough to have s-video out, probably not that great. Also, what type of TV?

vga > s-video. but still, vga isn't great. anyways, vga only works if your monitor has a vga in. a simple vga-to-hdmi cable (it really is meant to be an hdmi-to-vga cable!) won't work.

another thing is what the doctor already brought up: your laptop might be too weak to handle streaming in high definition. (can't say for sure without knowing the exact specs).

so yeah, you could start thinking about getting a new gadget...

I'm fairly sure the graphics card is the Intel® 965 Express Chipset but I could be wrong (Not 100% sure how to check).

I'm actually going to buy a new TV but the ones I've been looking at all seem to have HDMI ports only.

I understand that the quality might not be as great as it could be, but so long as it watchable I'd be happy.

Would something like this be any good?

It seems with that I could connect it easily and get an HDMI signal (Albeit not as good as it could be due to a graphics card).

As above, whilst a vga-hdmi cable might not work a vga-hdmi converter might?

I'm not sure that I want to buy a new laptop for the sole purpose of streaming stuff on my TV, unless it was pretty inexpensive.

Are there any good notebooks/laptops with an HDMI out port + a good graphics card for <$300?

Thanks.

yes, a converter will work. not all converters carry the audio signal (but some do). more importantly, video quality will be substantially worse with a converter than when using a digital-to-digital connection. the quality may be acceptable on a small size TV with no more than 720p or 768p resolution. But it's gonna look sh**ty on a large 1080p screen.

i think a laptop for <$300 is a bad investment (unless you considered used laptops). if i were you, i'd get a converter for $30 or something now and live with the mediocre video quality. you'd have to drop at least $450-500 to replace your current laptop with something decent imo.

Yeah I ended up ordering a converter from Ebay earlier. It wasn't a $30 one, though.. it was about $130.

I'm not expecting flawless quality or anything.. as long as it's still watchable I'll be happy.

Thanks for the help!

if you have an old laptop with integrated graphics, it will most likely not be watchable.... you're gonna have poor resolution and it will probably be choppy.

Hmm. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

I can always just get the graphics card updated, though?

Could have gone with something like this VGA to Component cable, assuming you have component input on your tv. At only $3 bucks it's probably worth a shot.

a vast vast vast majority of the time, graphics cards in laptops are non-upgradeable. and especially in older models because the cost would be greater than the benefit in an older machine.

as the above poster stated, a converter cable/dongle should've only costed ~$5. Not sure what you've spent $130 on, but at that point you need to be thinking about returning it, and putting that towards a new computer.

IMHO don't spend too much money trying to jerry-rig an old laptop to a new TV to get it to work. Cut your losses, and buy a new laptop (or desktop, for that matter) with good graphics and processing power and just hook it up to the new TV via its native HDMI. You'll save yourself, time, headaches, and even money in the long run. You're not gonna be happy with sub-par picture that you're gonna get with this setup.

This 100%. If you shop around, you might have been able to pick up a laptop with an HDMI out that would be okay-ish for not much more than about 3x's the cost of whatever converter you decided to buy.

OP, I really think you should get used to the idea that your computer will not do what you want it to in this instance.

I just don't like the idea of buying a new computer specifically to connect to my TV in order to watch some NBA games a few times a week.. I won't be using it for anything else.

The cable above is just a VGA to component cable - The converter I bought is a VGA to HDMI converter. It converts the signal to HDMI which is why it's more expensive than a VGA cable.

Regardless, I understand that the picture might not be that great, as stated in a previous post, but I'm going to see whether it is watchable or not.

If it's not I'll look into refunding it and speak to a computer guy to see what my options are.

yeah, but looking at dinodirect (an australian site), $130 is still very much excessive. i'd cancel the order (or return it) as well.

I can return it up to 30 days after I have it so if it doesn't do what I want then I will return it and look into other options.

I can guarantee you won't see a $127 difference in quality between the vga to component cable and a vga to hdmi converter. I'd be willing to bet you see no noticeable difference at all.

Exactly. Mainly because VGA is close to component in resolution and quality.

Unless OP bought an external graphics card that will actually improve the picture quality and output to HDMI, it will look the exact same as outputting component.

No matter how it is plugged into the TV, there will always be a bottleneck of the graphics power of the computer, and the native output (in this case VGA).

If the picture is still going to be sub-par (under 720p), how is this going to be worth $130 to you? If you're willing to pay $130 to connect an old laptop to a TV, I'm surprised you're not willing to just save a couple times that and get a brand new computer that can also output to your TV as well as have all brand new components. There are netbooks for ~$400 that have HDMI out and NVIDIA Ion graphics.... I'm simply going under the assumption that you would want a new laptop too, of course.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that technology nowadays simply progresses too quickly. Paying extra to make your old tech do what new tech can do is never as cost effective as just simply cutting your losses and buying thew new version. It's worth trying a ~$5 cable, but not worth a $130 box.

I don't understand why you guys are riding me about spending $130 on a converter.. I mean.. it's $130... not $13,000.

I've also said twice now that if it doesn't do what I want it to I will get a refund and explore other options.

It's already been purchased and sent so I may as well get it and see how it looks before deciding I don't want it.

Do you have any links? That was what I was actually looking at initially but couldn't find any in that price range. As for wanting a new laptop, I don't, really.

I just bought a new desktop a month or so ago that I run my business on and do all of my day to day stuff. I don't need a new laptop.. I only want something to stream some video a few times a week which is why I was hesitant towards buying a new one. However, if there are some under $400 I'll definitely look at them.. I just couldn't find any when I looked.

Also, would it be cheaper to buy a desktop without a monitor instead?

Yes, but not by much.

What about getting an PS3 if you're already spending money?
You can connect your PS3 via ethernet to your pc and the PS3 to your tv and stream from there. And you'll have blu ray drive too.
Oh, and you can play games on it too

http://www.redkawa.com/mediacenters/ps3mediacenterx/

With that you should be able to stream from your pc via the PS3. I don't know the program, but the developer is trustworthy and they make good code.

There's a way with WMP11 too, described here.

Fwiw, I don't even own a PS3 myself, just saw these setups at some friends places. The only limitation you would encounter that the PS3 can't handle every media format and you would need to encode some files before you're able to watch them.

Funny how many trouble this topic causes. I remember when planning for new display setups I always spent more time figuring if everything is compatible than evaluating which components I'm gonna buy.

Can't be that hard to just equip every display with HDMI 1.4, a displayport and dvi-i.
No, we all rather save 2$ off the monitors price and deal with these issues afterwards ...

I actually already have a ps3. The first thing I did was try and log on to the internet with my ps3 and connect straight to the site but that didn't work.. I didn't know I could connect my laptop to my ps3.

So basically I just plug and ethernet cable from my ps3 to my laptop and download that software and I should be all good?

BTW, I got the converter today and the picture is actually really good. I don't need to use my ps3 but I may as well if that is going to be easier and there will be less cords all over the place.

Also, one other thing;

When I view IPLB in full screen on my desktop it displays the full screen fine, however, when I do so on my laptop there is a bunch of white space on the sides and top/bottom.

As such, when I connect my laptop to my TV and use the converter there is also some white space on my TV.

Is this just due to my laptops max screen resolution or..?

You plug your PS3 in your Router or Switch, not your computer.