Asus A8N-VM CSM TV Out & Spdif Out

[Alistair]

Managed to get one of these for my HTPC. However, the SPDIF & TV Out are optional extras - so at the moment the board is in my main rig.

On Asus website it says that the VGA onboard connector is "VGA/RGB out"

http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=766&l1=3&l2=15&l3=210

Does this mean that it is possible to put an adaptor cable on the 15pin analogue monitor connector & output to a RGB Scart Connection on the back of my Std TV set? If so any ideas where I can get this?

Also do I need any specific SPDIF cable to enable me to use the High Definition audio on the board with my Amp? Would like to see how it stacks up against my HDA 7.1 Digital Mystique

[stdRaichu]

I don't know if that board has optical or co-ax SPDIF-out (although I have my eye on one of those myself), but I'm not aware of any SPDIF convertors that'll let you plug into the TV. If your amp has standard co-ax SPDIF-in, all you need is a standard bit of co-ax that you can pick up from all over the place. Optical in/output requires a TOSLink cable like these (http://www.cableuniverse.co.uk/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=128_119&zenid=f2c9813b62e406f89a81c0befd4df58d).

As far as the video connections goes, it depends alot on what inputs your TV has. Highest quality is composite, medium quality is S-Video (that's the socket you usually get for TV-Out on GFX cards) and SCART is the lowest. My TV only has SCART inputs, so I bought a SCART block like this (http://www.cableuniverse.co.uk/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=114&products_id=605&zenid=f2c9813b62e406f89a81c0befd4df58d). This takes the S-Vid output from the TV card and pumps it into the TV as a SCART signal. For highest quality without composite, you'll want a seperate scanline convertor like this (http://www.cableuniverse.co.uk/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=117&products_id=1014&zenid=f2c9813b62e406f89a81c0befd4df58d). I'm grabbing one of these myself since it makes all that futzing about with TV-Out a thing of the past, and the quality is an incredible improvement.

[Alistair]

I don't know if that board has optical or co-ax SPDIF-out (although I have my eye on one of those myself), but I'm not aware of any SPDIF convertors that'll let you plug into the TV. If your amp has standard co-ax SPDIF-in, all you need is a standard bit of co-ax that you can pick up from all over the place. Optical in/output requires a TOSLink cable like these (http://www.cableuniverse.co.uk/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=128_119&zenid=f2c9813b62e406f89a81c0befd4df58d).

As far as the video connections goes, it depends alot on what inputs your TV has. Highest quality is composite, medium quality is S-Video (that's the socket you usually get for TV-Out on GFX cards) and SCART is the lowest. My TV only has SCART inputs, so I bought a SCART block like this (http://www.cableuniverse.co.uk/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=114&products_id=605&zenid=f2c9813b62e406f89a81c0befd4df58d). This takes the S-Vid output from the TV card and pumps it into the TV as a SCART signal. For highest quality without composite, you'll want a seperate scanline convertor like this (http://www.cableuniverse.co.uk/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=117&products_id=1014&zenid=f2c9813b62e406f89a81c0befd4df58d). I'm grabbing one of these myself since it makes all that futzing about with TV-Out a thing of the past, and the quality is an incredible improvement.

The problem is the board doesn't have a TV Out Connector on it this is an optional extra that plugs into the motherboard & you screw a plate into the std slots on the back of the case - the same is true of the SPDIF (Toslink) connector.

The TV does RGB, SVideo & Composite via Scart. Also Component output ( I believe this is highest quality).

Will be interested to find out how you get on with that convertor

[stdRaichu]

The problem is the board doesn't have a TV Out Connector on it this is an optional extra that plugs into the motherboard & you screw a plate into the std slots on the back of the case - the same is true of the SPDIF (Toslink) connector.

Aha, gotcha - I haven't seen any pics of the backplane yet. I'll give some feedback on the convertor when I get myself one o' them boards for myself.

Failing the use of a scanline convertor, it look like you'll be stuck to buying the TV-out add-on in order to get an S-Video output, unless some enterprising individual comes up with a DVI/VGA -> S-Video adapter...! Similarly for the SPDIF hookup, although since (AFAICT) the chip in that board doesn't transcode everything to Dolby on-the-fly, I imagine there'll only be marginal quality loss from using standard phono cables.