HDMI-to-VGA converter.

Because of the nature of my work, I often need to use a wide variety of devices. And as technology moves forward, the familiar interfaces I used to rely on—VGA, composite and component video—have gradually disappeared from these devices.
HDMI has taken their place. No, it arrived a long time ago, but its arrival never really bothered me before.
Anyway, I decided to make my work a little easier.

Some will say I could either buy a monitor with two digital inputs or use an HDMI switch.
Sure, I could, but a new monitor costs extra money that I really don't want to spend.
Besides, I'm used to switching inputs on the monitor with a single button, rather than navigating a menu to choose one of several inputs.
I could use a switch, too, but I often have to connect devices while they're powered on, so the prospect of burning out an HDMI input doesn't appeal to me at all. In my experience, VGA is more robust in this respect (even though it has no protection, unlike HDMI). And if something does happen, buying another HDMI-to-VGA converter is much cheaper than replacing the board in the monitor.

So I ordered one of these. I chose it based only on the type of HDMI connector: I needed the largest version, although these devices are also available with Mini-HDMI and Micro-HDMI.

It arrived wrapped in polyethylene foam, which seemed a bit excessive to me, but was a nice touch. There was a box, of course, but I don't think there's anything interesting to say about it.


The converter was inside the packaging.


The package contains just the converter itself and an audio cable about 60 cm long. It's a standard 3.5 mm jack-to-jack cable.


The monitor connects to a standard VGA port. The audio cable jack is on the opposite side, next to the HDMI cable input.


Like any proper (well, maybe not quite proper, in some people's eyes) radio amateur, I started by taking it apart :)
Besides, the case is very easy to open: just use something sharp to pry up the plug at the video connector end, along the long side. It then comes out together with the board.


Inside is the circuit board with the electronics.
The assembly is neat—almost. I didn't like that the connector's mounting tabs aren't soldered, and the crystal resonator leads are bent rather carelessly.
No, they probably wouldn't have shorted, and even if they had, nothing would most likely have burned out—but it wouldn't have worked, either. They simply weren't trimmed after assembly.


The back is rather bare: there's a crystal tucked away there, and nothing else.


The device is built around the EP94Z1E converter chip.
You can also see an 1117 regulator on the left, which outputs 1.85 V, and another small regulator a little higher up, which outputs 3.3 V.
I couldn't find any information on the maximum operating temperature of these chips, but they get quite noticeably hot.
Processor — 75 degrees
1.8 V regulator — about 85 degrees.
I'd say that's quite a lot of heat, but since I don't know how hot it gets in other units, I won't make any claims.


The audio output is handled by the ES7144LV DAC.


The programming contacts for the converter are visible on the back, but they're probably not of much use.


Naturally, I tested the device.
I tested it with three monitors and two different signal sources.
Here it's connected to a DVB-T2 tuner featured in one of my reviews.
It outputs 1920x1080 at 50 Hz.


Besides my main work monitor, I also tried it with an old one I keep as a backup.
1680x1050 at 60 Hz


The refresh rate is 60 Hz here because I used a Cubitruck board as the source. The TV tuner was set to 50 Hz, and I didn't change anything in the Linux settings on the Cubitruck; everything was detected and worked automatically.


And here's the third monitor, connected to another computer at home.
This monitor is a bit more basic, but my goal was to check that the converter works properly with different monitors.


It worked perfectly with all the monitors. The converter output the resolution supported by each connected monitor, and there was no interference in the image.
I thought about trying it at work, but then remembered that practically all the monitors available to me there are Full HD, so there wasn't much point—unless I wanted to test it with monitors from different brands.

And that's a short review.

So, to sum up.
Pros.
The device works perfectly.
Although I couldn't test it with a wider range of monitors, the three I tried worked without any problems.
The price seems quite reasonable to me.

Cons.
The heat it generates is a little concerning. I don't know how hot this device gets for other people, so I can't give a definitive comment.

My opinion.
It's a pretty handy little thing for work, or for putting an old monitor with a VGA input to use (for example, connect a TV tuner and turn it into a TV). It's compact and well put together inside.
With HDMI becoming ubiquitous and so many people still having old monitors, this kind of device definitely has a place.

This product was provided free of charge by the eachbuyer store for review and testing.

P.S. The black ones are sold out, so here's a link to the same model in white.