Atlona Launches a VGA-to-HDMI Adapter Powered Over USB
Atlona Launches a VGA-to-HDMI Adapter Powered Over USB
Posted 02/21/2010 at 9:36am
| by Justin Kerr
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Ever wanted to convert a VGA signal to HDMI? Well no, neither have I, but just in case you fall into this niche category of users you might be interested to know that Atlona Technologies has just launched a video switch/scaler that will accomplish all the aforementioned feats. The box is powered over USB, and will turn any VGA signal, regardless of its input resolution into full 1080p HD, and will even take care of the audio pass through.
This device might come in handy if your looking to use an older laptop, or perhaps even a netbook with an HDTV, but don't expect any magic here we haven't seen before. The output can only ever be as good as the input. Atlona plans to begin shipping the AT-HDVieW by the end of the month, and it will cost approximately $119.
Can anyone else come up with an interesting use case for this?
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violian
February 22, 2010 at 11:28am
I can't think of any situation of having to convert a VGA to HDMI. I've owned 5 LCD HDTV's - 3 of them were bought brand new in the last 9 months. 3 of them are 1080P sets and all of them has a VGA input. Maybe there are really highend projectors that only accepts HDMI? Or if newer devices are starting to ditch VGA, then I can assure you that by the time VGA is depleted from the scenes, you'll probably be using a newer laptop by then, that sports HDMI - which even my current netbook has. And if you're using a desktop that currently only outputs VGA, you could easily buy a new video card for only $35 that outputs HDMI out of the box.
TheZomb
February 21, 2010 at 2:37pm
I have a newer laptop that only outputs in HDMI and would like to be able to use all the multitude of VGA montiors I come across everyday.
As far as situations this could be used in, You could flip that around. Someone has an older computer and wants to be able to use newer monitors or TVs. That situation seems less likely though since monitors tend to last longer than computers.
violian
February 22, 2010 at 11:31am
TheZomb - You wouldn't need this $120 device in your case. This device upconverts analog VGA to digital HDMI. If your laptop has HDMI-out, all you need is a HDMI-to-VGA adapter that you can get for $15 at Target, Best Buy, etc.
squarebab
February 21, 2010 at 2:43pm
Streaming Netflix, Amazon, and other video on demand services is such a huge waste of time if you own an HDTV. It looks like crap. With so much hi-def content available through cable, satellite and Blu-ray, why would anyone choose such a poor quality video source? When it comes to HD the internet is not ready for prime-time in America. Maybe someday we'll catch up to the likes of South Korea, but I'm not holding my breath. Nothing gets done in this country without everyone's snout in the trough and it costing ten times as much as it should.
DBsantos77
February 21, 2010 at 11:43am
What's your point?
This has good uses, really horrid price though. Personally I can use this. I have an old box with a 4670, no HDMI, yet I have a '52 inch sitting in my living room. When I want to watch netflix, I have to grab my HDMI cable from my 5850 box so I can watch the movies on the big screen, and hook it up to my laptop to get my 52' working. I'm kind of nitpicking here but when I want to game instead of joining the fam watching movies, they're using the HDMI, which leaves my box crippled. It's Kind of a hassle when I have tons of cables intersecting each other behind the desk. Old boxes that have dated video cards with no HDMI can definitely use this. Still, it's very hard to justify the price.
Probably better off using a VGA-HDMI adapter that connects to the VGA port. I lost mine lol.
Granted, I can just buy another HDMI cable but I haven't put much effort into it. :)
-Santos
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