TruLink VGA To HDMI Converter Review
Written by John Thompson on September 9, 2011 · Filed under Review, Tech
If you buy a new television now, you can guarantee that it will have at least one HDMI port available to use. Large sets will even have up to 3 or 4 ports for you to connect up all your peripherals and enjoy your media.
What happens when that media is on an older computer, though? Most laptop and desktop computers will, for the past decade, have shipped with a VGA port to connect to an external display or projector before anyone could even say ‘Digital Switchover’. If you still have an older machine that you need to hook up to a new TV, then you’ll need an adaptor like this one from Trulink.
Like most Trulink products, this converter does what it says on the tin. It will take two inputs from your computer – one for VGA video and one for standard 3.5mm audio – and output it over HDMI to your TV.
The box itself is quite small and discrete thanks to its black casing. The front of the unit just shows the Trulink logo and a small product description. Around the back is where all of the visible magic happens. You will find a power indicator next to the power input, and a HDMI out port. On the other side of the back is the two inputs: one for audio and the other for VGA.
With the power connected and everything hooked up the way it should be, the converter effectively acts as a middle man for your TV to be an external display controlled by your computer. You can choose what is displayed through the VGA port like you would if you were connecting it to a projector system or just an external monitor, and everything can be controlled through the Control Panel within Windows.
Everything here is completely plug and play, so there isn’t any need to install clunky drivers onto your computer; all of the magic happens inside the little box. This also means that the unit is effectively compatible with every operating system in the world that is capable of outputting a video signal over VGA. So in other words, it’s actually compatible with almost every operating system in the world apart from a few obscure Linux distributions. All the big hitters will work fine with the converter.
Although the necessary power cable is bundled with the unit, you won’t receive a VGA cable, 3.5mm audio cable or HDMI cable in the box. You’ll have to either buy new ones for the unit or use existing ones that you have lying around. Some may be surprised at this considering the £70 price point of the product, but I’d personally use better quality cables than the ones that would ship with the unit anyway. Besides, who doesn’t have a spare VGA cable lying around somewhere..?
If you want to buy the Trulink VGA to HDMI Converter for yourself, then you can purchase it right now from Amazon for a little over £70. You won’t find many other adaptors as small as this one that does a good job, so if you’re in the market for something that will allow you to hook up an old computer to your new TV, this might be it!
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