How do I connect a monitor via USB. My all-in-one media PC has no VGA output but the screen is now fading. Want to try spare monitor in the short term.?

Answer 1

In order to connect a monitor via a USB connection you'd need a software driver that will format and compress the video data and send it to a USB port and you'd also need a monitor that can decode the video data on the USB cable and display it.

While there are USB cameras (webcams and some video cameras) that send video over USB there are not any widely used standards that I am aware of which is why you need device driver software from the particular manufacturer to get a device to work.

Also, I am not aware of any monitors that will render video input via USB. Even High Speed USB 2 is limited to 480 Megabits per second. A VGA picture is 640X480 pixels multiplied by 32 bits of color multiplied by 30 frames per second yeilds about 295 Megabits per second. Or you could do 1024x768 x 16 bit color x 30 frames per second for 377 Megabits per second.

So it is theoretically possible to transmit acceptable digital resolutions over USB2 but it is not commonly done so the software and equipment is likely more expensive than a new Media PC would be.

If the problem is that the screen if fading and the "screen" is an LCD monitor then it may be possible to get someone who repairs laptops to replace the fluorescent backlight tubes and restore the display. While that might cost more than you want to invest in an old system it would be far cheaper than software and hardware needed to run video over USB.

If the connection to the integrated monitor is actually an analog VGA connection you could make an adapter cable for a regular VGA monitor. This would requrire that you verify the signals running to the current monitor and figure out which is red, blue, green, ground, horizontal sync and vertical sync and then make a new connector. However, that's probably more work than you want to go through in the "short term."

Max L.