VtPC: First Impressions, Menus, and Setup

Impact Acoustics is single handedly trying to confine me to my office. First the Multi-function Converter (which sends a cable signal to your computer monitor) and now the Video to PC Converter. What does it do? It simply allows you to connect up to two analogue video sources to your computer monitor. What's cool about that? Not a lot, really, until you realize that it performs deinterlacing on that analogue signal as well! The real question is how well it does that deinterlacing…

First Impressions and Build Quality

As with every single product I've ever received from Impact Acoustics (including their cables) the Video to PC Converter (VtPC) was well packaged in an attractive box. The VtPC case is small (about the size of one of those pocket bibles or 3.25 x 1 x 5 inches) and light (0.3 lbs). It has a nice matte black finish on the top (I'm not sure what is the top of this thing - let's call it the side with the words and controls) and bottom with a gloss finish around three of the sides. The forth side is rounded which actually makes it look like a little book.

While the VtPC is light, I felt like it was well constructed. The plastic used seemed sturdy and resisted all but my most vigorous attempts to bend it. I wouldn't stand on it but if you accidentally propped your foot up on it I feel confident that it would survive. The sides contain all the inputs and outputs. There is one composite video and RCA audio input, an S-video input, a VGA input, and a 3.5mm audio input. For outputs there is simply a VGA for video and 3.5mm jack for audio. A small removable power cord also connects to the side. The top has all the controls including a Menu/Power, PC/Video selection, and up and down volume and arrow buttons. The same area also has a number of holes - presumably for cooling.

Set-Up & General Use

Once again, if you think about the VtPC as an intermediary between your computer and monitor (like the Multi-function Converter) you'll instantly see how to hook the device up. Essentially, it hijacks your computer monitor and speakers at your command in order to play back video and audio from a different source. This means that you'll need to send your computer audio (in the form of a 3.5mm cable - they supply you one) to the unit as well as your video (VGA cable - again, they provide one for you). You have two separate video inputs - composite (Yellow RCA) and S-video. Use one for each video source (if you only have one, use the S-video if that is an option - it should have the better resolution). The next step is to connect the source that you will need the audio for to the analogue audio inputs (Red/White RCAs). This audio will be played when either the S-video or composite input is selected.

Using the VtPC is about as easy as can be. Once you hook it up you're pretty much good to go. Since this is a hardware solution, there is no software to install, no drivers to configure, no conflicts to work out. Provided you have all your connections correct, all you'll need to do is power the thing on and you're good to go. Three presses on the PC/Video button will cycle you through each of the inputs (PC, CVBS (composite), S-video). Each of the inputs cycles quickly with the audio (when present) almost immediately playing and the video only a second or two later. The volume buttons only work on the composite and S-video inputs. The Menu/Power button will give you access to each of the menus. The same button also works (in most cases) as "select" or "enter" while in the menu system. The arrow keys will navigate and the volume buttons will sometimes change values (it's a little confusing at times). If your picture looks funny at first, you might need to adjust the display resolution. My unit defaulted to XGA (1024x768). Let's take a look at the menus:

Author's Note: Volume Control
One issue that I encountered was that the volume on the VtPC affects the PC volume. The way it seems it should work is that the volume control should ONLY affect the volume of the video source. When you switch to the PC source, it should defeat the volume control on the unit for the volume level on the PC. Not so. Whatever volume level you were last listening to affects how loud your PC volume can get. This means that if you were listening to something very low, no matter how loud you adjust your PC volume, it will never get very high. The danger in that is if you adjust up your PC volume and then turn around and bump up the volume on the VtPC. When you switch back to the PC input, you could very likely damage your speakers, ears, and/or relationship with your neighbors. The real issue is that you can't bump up or down the volume while on the PC input. You have to switch to one of the other inputs, change the volume, and switch back to the PC input in order to hear the effects.

Menus

The menu system is accessible by pressing the Menu/Power button (you can power off the unit by holding the power button - as long as the unit is plugged in it will still pass the PC video and audio). These are global settings which apply equally to the s-video and composite inputs. There are no specific settings for each. The Video menu allows you to select between the various PAL/NTSC/SECAM formats. The Display menu allows you to select the resolution of your display from VGA (640x480) to SXGA (1280x1024) and W1440S, W1280 and W1440P. The Language menu lets you select between English, Portuguese and two different Chinese dialects (not sure which).

With the Color menu you can adjust the Brightness, Contrast, Saturation and Hue of an image. Use the arrow buttons to navigate to the correct setting and the volume buttons to change the values. The values have odd default values at around the high 120's low 130's and a max value of 255 and minimum of 0. They also loop meaning you can go directly from 0 to 255 (and back) if you want. Since there are so many levels of adjustment (not sure why that is), this can make evident the differences between the extremes of both settings. There is also the ability to reset these values to their factory default. Overall, this is pretty much the bare-minimum of calibration options.