When it comes to video equipment it is no secret that we love Gefen. Sure, we sell Gefen stuff so we’re biased, but we sell a lot of brands and Gefen is consistently one of our favorites.

Here are 5 reasons we recommend so many Gefen solutions:

1) Scope of Product Line: Gefen is one of the most innovative manufacturers we have ever worked with. When we call to request a new video converter, adapter, extender, switch, splitter, etc. the answer is almost always the same - they are already working on it. If you have a suggestion for Gefen’s product line just give us a call and we will see if it is something that would make sense to mass produce.

2) Quality: Gefen’s products simply work - in the rare instance when there has been a quality issue Gefen swiftly moves to make changes to the hardware and firmware. We had a chance to speak with the founder recently and saw a rare desire to add value in every product Gefen releases.

3) Return Policy: We have a liberal return policy because suppliers like Gefen allow us to. With a better-than-industry 1-year warranty Gefen recently increased the length of the warranty to 2-years - if you buy a Gefen product you can rest assured that you will be taken care of (via Sewell or Gefen directly) for 2 years.

4) Consistency: Gefen products all have a consistent look-and-feel, but this goes way beyond aesthetics. When you buy a Gefen product you know exactly what you’re getting - whether it’s HDMI, DVI, audio, etc., you can be sure that you won’t be out in the cold in 6 months - with Sewell and Gefen you’ll be taken care of.

5) Reasonable Prices: Sure, you can find a company who sells cheaper video equipment - these companies have to save money somewhere, however, and they typically skimp on quality. Just go with Gefen and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing you invested a little bit of money in quality without breaking the bank.

Our Favorites:
Gefen DVI Dual Link Splitter
Gefen DVI Splitter
Gefen FireWire Repeater
Gefen HDMI Splitter

Just checking around at my favorite review sites over the weekend, when I stumbled upon a review of the VTBook at PC Perspective. For any consumer looking to add an additional DVI port to their laptop this is a great solution. Please take note however that this is only for the PCMCIA slot and will not work with the new Expresscard slot on newer laptops. Expect a solution for the Expresscard slot to come soon.

PC Perspective Village Tronic VTBook Review

Sold for $229.95 at Sewell Direct

Not all PC to TV solutions are equal.

Our basic PC to TV converter is well suited to display pictures, video files, PowerPoint presentations etc., but it is not recommended for text based applications. Fine lines and small text will be blurred. In order for text to be easily legible, it is recommended that you use at least a 14 point font or higher.

One of the biggest limitations is the connection type. Composite or S-Video just will not support a very high resolution. If you want to use your TV for normal text based applications, like email, web browsing, spreadsheets etc, you will need a better video connection, like component, and probably need an HDTV. Standard TV’s will not support much better resolution than you can get out of the basic adapters.

An HDTV adapter will allow you to use text and pictures in much higher detail and clarity. Text will be clear down to 10 or even 8 point font (depending on the TV) HDTVs will still probably not be as clear as a monitor, and if you are using text, use a progressive resolution. (Interlaced text will appear to ’shake’) For example, if your TV supports 720p and 1080i set the resoltion close 1280 x 720 rather than the full possible resolution of 1920 x 1080.

In an effort to illustrate the differences, I used a couple of PC to TV solutions with our HDTV. This is not going to be great… I’m using a digital camera to take a picture of a TV. Everything will look better when you are sitting in front of it, but it serves to show a reference.

I used our popular, inexpensive PC to TV converter, our PC to HDTV converter, and a direct VGA connection. Straight VGA should be the best, because it does not require any signal modification or external conversion.

You can see from the table below (click for a hi-res image) that the pictures are all comperable. The PC to TV is not as bright, or as crisp as the HD and VGA solutions, but it is clear what the picture is.

The text on the other hand will show that there is a significant improvement from the standard PC to TV, and the PC to HDTV. The high quality adapter is legible down to 8 point font, and clear at 10. A significant improvement. VGA is better, but only slightly.

SW-4262 Basic PC to TV through S-Video
SW-4280 PC to HDTV through Component (RGB) Video
Straight VGA from PC to TV

Here’s a watered down review of several of our different PC to TV converter solutions. The converters below are organized by functionality and by price. If you have a larger screen TV with High Definition capability, you may want to consider getting an adapter that will use that same functionality. The others will work, they will just look worse. Composite video is the lowest resolution. Component is next up and will have a marked difference in picture. High Def component is about the same as HDMI. Since these are all video converters, you will need to run audio seperately.

PC to TV converters that use Composite

http://sewelldirect.com/pc-to-tv.asp

This converter will go from VGA to Composite Video (Yellow RCA) and S-Video. Since it is not a High Definition component converter it will not be optimum for Wide Screen Televisions.

http://sewelldirect.com/manhattan-pc-to-tv-converter.asp

This converter will go from VGA to Composite Video (Yellow RCA) and S-Video. Since it is not a High Definition component converter it will not be optimum for Wide Screen Televisions.

PC to TV converters that use Composite and Component

http://sewelldirect.com/VGA-to-Component-Video-Converter.asp

This converter will go from VGA to Composite Video (Yellow RCA) and S-Video. It will also convert the image to a component (Red Green and Blue RCA connections). Since it is not a High Definition component converter it will not be optimum for Wide Screen Televisions.

PC to TV converters that use High Definition Component

http://sewelldirect.com/audio-authority-vga-to-component-pc-to-hdtv-converter.asp

This converter will go from VGA to Component Video (Red Green and Blue RCA connections). Since it is a High Definition component converter it will work great with Wide Screen Televisions.

http://sewelldirect.com/VGA-to-HDTV-Converter.asp

This converter will go from VGA to Component Video (Red Green and Blue RCA connections). Since it is a High Definition component converter it will work great with Wide Screen Televisions.

http://sewelldirect.com/vga-to-component-hdtv-clearcolor.asp

This converter will go from VGA to Component Video (Red Green and Blue RCA connections). Since it is a High Definition component converter it will work great with Wide Screen Televisions.

PC to TV converters that use HDMI Discontinued

http://sewelldirect.com/gefen-component-vga-hdmi-adapter.asp

This converter will go from VGA to HDMI. Since HDMI is high definition, it will work great with Wide Screen Televisions.

PC to TV converters that use Composite over a wireless connection

http://sewelldirect.com/wireless-pc-to-tv.asp

This converter will go from VGA to Composite Video (Yellow RCA) and S-Video. Since it is not a High Definition component converter it will not be optimum for Wide Screen Televisions. The wireless connection makes it convenient; however, if wireless devices are already in the house, they may interfere with the signal, causing a distorted picture.

Hello,

Maybe one of you experts can help me out.

I am moving into a new house next month. I would like to burn all my cds to my computer and run all my music through it. Here is the setup that I would like:

Computer in bedroom
Run audio and video through Cat 5 to living room
In living room, run audio to stereo receiver and video to HDTV
Get an RF mouse to select and change music (while viewing options on TV)

This seems very doable. However, I am not sure of the optimal way to do it. When I say “optimal”, I mean “maximize quality of sound and video while minimizing cost”. I already have the computer, audio receiver, TV, and a house wired for Cat 5. Can I establish all the needed connections for uner $200? Do I need a sound card for my computer to ensure the best quality audio in stereo?

Any thoughts/assistance greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Cliff

Lewis has outdone himself again. This time he added a product that puts the awesome skateboard to shame.

Allow me to introduce the Kingwin media enclosure. This media enclosure is an external hard drive enclosure for 2.5 inch drives, that will play all types of media directly to a monitor or TV. It has VGA, composite (through RCA) and S-Video connections. It also has two analog audio output connections for stereo sound.

It will handle the following file formats:

It will also support the following video formats: DVD files, MPEG4, Divx, Xvid, SVCD, VCD/VCD3

One cool application for this unit is that you can build your own movie playing kiosk. This is great if you have kids that tend to break stuff. Just lock this media encluse in a cabinet beside the TV, upload all your DVD’s to the enclosure, and never worry about replacing your DVDs again.

< -----MY BRAND NEW CARD!!! SWEET ACTION :)!!!!!

Last Monday (JUNE 5th) was a spectacular day for NVIDIA and for me :)! Nvidia releaesed their new performance king the the GeForce 7950 GX2. You can read the Nvidia 7950 GX Press Release here. Needless to say this is yet another fantastic product from Nvidia! The new card simply rocks with 2 GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) and an insane 1 gigabyte of video memory! Quite frankly the card is a beast, and to take it even further you can hook up two 7950 GX2 cards and run a Quad SLI (scalable link interface) setup. Imagine….4 graphics processors plus Intel’s Conroe this summer. Gaming Heaven!!! The performance offered by Nvidia’s new card is comparable to 2 7900 GT video cards in an SLI setup. If you would like to learn more about the mumbo jumbo which I speak of that is SLI, well then head over to Nvidia’s SLI ZONE.

To top it off the 7950 GX2 supports HDCP!

HERE IS A LIST OF SOME OF THE 7950 GX2 REVIEWS FOUND ON THE WEB:

AnandTech
FiringSquad
Guru3d
HardOCP
HardwareZone
Hexus
HotHardware
Legit Reviews
nV News
PC Perspective
techPowerUp!
The Tech Report

HERE YOU WILL FIND PRODUCT INFORMATION BY EACH SEPERATE BOARD MANUFACTURE:

FEEL FREE TO POST ANY COMMENTS THAT YOU HAVE. AND IF YOU ARE IN THE MARKET FOR A VIDEO CARD SEWELL DIRECT OFFERS GREAT VIDEO SOLUTIONS!

Dear Jordan it is for reasons such as SLI and Quad SLI that Nvidia truly shows that they are the innovation and performance leader!

Well, the Tikiman and I are always battling it out as to what video cards are better. Well, I’d like to hear what card he thinks is the best for regular people (non gamers) and why. My personal opinion is as follows:

I like the HIS ATI Radeon X800XL IceQ II 256MB (256bit) GDDR3 PCIe DVI &TV. First of all it won’t cost me an arm and a leg to buy it (its around $120 after the rebate). Also, it comes with a VGA port to connect to my older analog monitor, and a DVI port to connect to my newer digital monitor. Not only that, it comes with a cable so that I can connect my HDTV to my computer. It will keep my computer nice and cool because it has its own cooling system. And if I decide to get two, then i can crossfire them together for even better performance. Also, it has an ATi chipset. We all know that ATi stands for the best.

So, what have you to say, my little friend?

Check out the connection creator we made. With this tool you can find the parts you need to connect almost any display with almost any source. If it is too small on your monitor, then click here.

VGA Video Graphics Array

VGA has for many recent years been the standard for computer video signals. It uses a trapezoid shaped connector with three rows of five ofset pins. When found on computers and monitors it is often colored blue and indicated by a small image of a monitor.

The VGA connector can be called HD15 or DB15 When used in home theater type applications it can also be labeled RGB.

Quality

VGA is an analog signal originally (in the late 1980’s) supported resolutions of 640 x 480 then SVGA (Super VGA) supported 800 x 600. Later upgrades include resolutions of 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024 and sometimes even up to 1600 x 1200.

Better than

The VGA standard originally replaced the old EGA (black and green) monitors, the resolution and the added color was an improvement, and later revisions increased both resolution and color depth. If you are trying to get the best signal for your home entertainment system VGA (RGB) is better than S-Video, Composite RCA and Component RCA.

Not as good as

Many of the newer comptuers are now shipping with DVI ports, which is an improvement over VGA, in resolutions and response time, besides the fact that DVI is digital (less conversion) In home entertainment both DVI and HDMI will have a clearer uncompressed digital signal, however if your display does not support digital, you will get the best signal from a VGA/RGB connection.

Applications

• Computers
• Monitors
• Projectors
• TV’s (Esp High Definition)
• Home entertainment Set top boxes
• Game consoles (X box 360)

Conversions

Since VGA is used for many different types of applications, there are some stipulations to the conversions that are possible. What will work in one instance, might not work in reverse.

Simple conversions reqire only a passive adapter or cable, there is no active conversion simply differetn pinouts of the same signals.

Complex conversions require active circutry to convert the signal, to change it to the new signal. These often only work one-way.

Simple

• DVI-A to VGA DVI-A (analog) is primarily used to maintain support for VGA monitors, the two signals are interchangeable. But you will need to make sure that you are using a DVI-A or DVI-I device (like a computer graphics card or a projector) DVI-D (digital only) to VGA is not a simple conversion click here for more information about DVI
• VGA to Component In Home theater the VGA or RGB signals are largely interchangable with the Component RCA connections, so for instance a VGA port on a big screen TV can be connected to the Component RCA ports of a DVD player. Computer graphics cards in some instances, can work with VGA to component cables to use a TV as a monitor. For this to work the computer must be sending TV compatible signals. (YPbPr, synch on green)

Complex

Complex conversions for VGA displays

• DVI-D to VGA Digital to analog conversion boxes that will convert a digital only souce to analog VGA like our SW-4687 or SW-4141 or one designed specifically for home theater SW-4486
• USB to VGAthis converter will connect a VGA monitor to a USB port on your computer, but the quality is arguable
• PCI/PCI Express/AGP to VGA You likely know that these are video cards, but the concept is correct–you can connect a monitor to one of these ports, with a VGA graphics card.
• PCMCIA to VGA Not as many people know that this is possible, but our VT Book will add a VGA port to a PCMCIA slot (also known as PC card slot or cardbus slot) on a notebook computer.
• VGA splitters Video Splitters will take one VGA output and actively boost and output to many displays. It is perfect for presenting both on a local machine and a projector or having a simultaneous displayed in many locations, for example conference rooms, courtrooms, or a video display. VGA splitters show only a mirrored display (Same thing on all screens) with a few exceptions like the Matrox Dualhead 2 Go and the VT book Dualhead cable.
• VGA Switches Switches will let you share one display between multiple sources. They can be a KVM switch and share a mouse keyboard etc. as well or switch VGA only
• Composite to VGA, Coaxial to VGA, S-Video to VGA You can use a standard TV connection to a VGA display with a TV Tuner. Essentialy turning your monitor or projector into a TV. The standard tuner (USB or PCI) runs through your computer, but there are also Standalone varieties, that connect directly to the VGA port of the display.