Output to monitor - no HDMI, HDMI to vga won't work

Discussion Raspberry Pi
1

Hi,
I’ve got several RasPi at work but it’s a real problem to use them as our monitors don’t have HDMI. I bought several HDMI/VGA converter boxes but one of them appears to be on the blink now, or at least a bit unpredictable. Also, to use them we need three plug sockets (1 for Pi, 1 for HDMI converter, 1 for screen) - so getting them set up is a bit of an issue - it’s not a quick or easy matter.
I bought an HDMI/VGA converter thingy but that too won’t work - screen just says “Input not Support” which I’m told means that the ‘scan rate’ is wrong for the device!

So, my problem is - can I get these Pi hooked up to non-HDMI monitors without expensive (£40 each) converter boxes? Buying new monitors is a non-starter sadly.

Thanks
Sue

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What sort of HDMI -> VGA converters are you using?

We know people have had some success with ones which don’t require a power supply, and are just a small adapter that converts the HDMI port to a VGA port.

We don’t stock any, but our good pal Jamie sells them on ThePiHut; http://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-hdmi-to-vga-convertor

I can’t guarantee it’ll work with your monitors, but it might be worth picking one up to try!

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I bought a converter gizmo from PiHut and brought it into work today but it won’t work. I get the “Input not Support” message on the monitor screen.
I asked our Tech guys …not Pi people :o( …and they tell me the scan rate is such that on our monitors this device won’t work!
I’ve got a similar device at home and it works fine so felt sure I could use a similar thing at work but apparently our monitors are not using the same scan rate that the TV monitor I use at home.
That’s all I know.

Sue

4

So…I gave this issue to a teenager, and…it works!
Can only apologise and put it down to “operator error”.

Slinks off with tail between legs!

Sue

5

It’s fine, we’re here to help!

It’s actually really useful to know what sort of problems you run into when using the Pi in the field- unfortunately this time you lost me at “scan rate” and I haven’t had time to look into it. I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help, but glad you got it sorted!

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Just to add information in case someone run into this issue too. I made a bartop arcade Machine with an old LCD Screen. I plugged it to my HDMI output on the RPi device via this cable i bought on Amaz.n.

I did nothing else than that.

Be careful to the cable or “converter” you buy on internet. Lots of “fake” cables everywhere. Read the buyer reviews to see if this kind of cable works!

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