Reddit reviews VGA to TV RCA S-video Converter Adapter Cable PC Laptop

Before you do any of that - are you sure that this is what you want? VGA to S-Video conversion doesn't work. This type of connector only works if you video card specifically generates S-Video compatible signal from your VGA connector. That's not common.

Example link: read review here http://www.amazon.com/S-video-Converter-Adapter-Cable-Laptop/product-reviews/B000P3UB24
and here https://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110805065126AARzkxd

What you may need is a converter box like this: http://i00.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v2/613926274_1/PC-MAC-VGA-to-TV-AV-Composite-RCA-S-Video-Converter-Box.jpg

Lastly - I would suggest aliexpress.com as a cheap (but well slightly unreliable) option to get buy such stuff.

> P.S. I know nothing about coding or Linux, so for me this could either be an awesome project or a complete disaster.

You might also be able to do it on Windows, but I've always used Linux. Linux is more customizable, so if it's an old outdated computer then you can configure it to basically only run XBMC without all of the other stuff in the background, and hopefully you'll still get decent performance even though the computer is old and slow. Not having all of the background programs running and slowing it down really makes a difference. I'm doing this with an old laptop from 2007 with screen problems, and it works for me.

> Would this work with any old TV like a CRT type?

Yes, but it requires an adapter. Most flat screen LCD/Plasma/LED TVs have a VGA port (blue computer monitor port) built in. That makes it easy because you can just hook up the TV to your laptop as if it is a regular computer monitor. An old CRT TV probably only has the red, white, and yellow RCA hookups and the coaxial cable. That means that you are going to need some sort of an adapter, like this. If you have the red, yellow, and white inputs, then you are good to go with regard to video. If you don't, then you will have to get an RF modulator to convert the video to coax.

If you are unsure about your ability to get it running, then it would be worth trying first before buying this stuff. You should be able to get it running using your current external monitor without having to buy anything. Once you get it running, then you can buy the adapter if you want. It is only needed for hooking the computer up to the TV.

After that, you are basically good to go but you will be using your computer's speakers for sound. If you want to use your TV speakers for sound, that is easy to do. Just get something like this and plug one end into your headphone jack and the other end into the TV.

And if you want a remote control, here is the exact remote that I'm using. Any USB remote should work. I basically just chose the cheapest one I could find. I kind of like it, though, because it allows me to control the mouse as well.

http://www.amazon.com/S-video-Converter-Adapter-Cable-Laptop/dp/B000P3UB24

This would work. Your Video card will come with a DVI-I to VGA adapter, then you can plug this into that adapter and plug an S-video or RCA jack into that adapter.

I would go with something like this http://www.amazon.com/S-video-Converter-Adapter-Cable-Laptop/dp/B000P3UB24

That's cool but you'd need a GameCube Component cable which doesn't seem to sell for under $100.

You can probably find a similar adapter with the composite input like this. Look around tho, I found this in a few seconds.

edit I assumed the GC component cable MIGHT work with N64 as they had the same a/v output cable. Apparently this may not be the case, there may or may not be gamecubes out there with a separate component out port.

If you plan on using a computer to centralize your feed, you could dumb VGA down to S-Video, which could be fed into a RF modulator, allowing you to output the S-Video into Coax cabling.

http://www.amazon.com/S-video-Converter-Adapter-Cable-Laptop/dp/B000P3UB24

I can't imagine that would look very good though, since the cable isn't powered. (Unless you're aiming for PowerPoints only...then go for it) When you drop VGA signals down to S-Video range, I've seen some major loss of resolution. Maybe this will help?

http://www.svideo.com/vga2video2.html