VGA Adapter
A VGA adapter is any kind of adapter, whether cable or dongle or home-made that will convert to or from a VGA port or cable. VGA stands for Video Graphics Array, and is a standard that has been built upon over the years to give better output using the same connector.
The original VGA standard has a maximum resolution of 640×480 but as technology has progressed this has been increased to produce outputs far exceeding the VGA standard while still using the 15 pin VGA connector and you can now get a maximum screen resolution of 2048×1536.
A VGA adapter is used if a person wants to connect their computer monitor to any other equipment besides a computer, or other device with VGA output, to a regular computer monitor with VGA input. A typical example of this would be connecting a videogame to a computer monitor for greater detail in graphics.
Computer monitors whether older CRT or newer LCD or OLED usually support higher resolutions and greater level of detail than older televisions. Newer HD or High Definition televisions will give an excellent level of detail, provided that the device connected to it supports HD connections. If the device connected does not support HD, then the HDTV will only display as much detail as it receives.
Older analog video connectors are called “composite” and to convert these to VGA an adapter is needed to convert the video signal so that it can move from a composite connector with a single plug and a single pin to a VGA connector which has a single plug with 15 pins.
VGA adapters can also be used to convert from a PC graphics card or other video output device to another video connector for various purposes. Most PC users will connect their VGA to a television for the sake of watching movies or playing videogames, and this is true for both persons with composite televisions and HD televisions; the primary reason this is done is due to the fact that the television in the average household is usually larger than the computer monitors in the same household.
As more modern graphics cards in PC’s have DVI connections, those with HD televisions may be able to connect their PC’s to their HD televisions and get on-par or better video quality than they would normally get on their PC monitor. Those with older television sets will most likely not get better quality when connecting to their television sets but will still do so in order to have a centralized location to watch videos or play multiplayer games with friends.
VGA is a versatile video standard and connector that can be easily ported to other connections once the need arises. Currently it is being phased out in favor of DVI which can give better quality and higher resolutions and supports HD and digital resolutions which the older VGA standard cannot do; however, price and availability will keep VGA in the market until other standards become more affordable.