• Welcome to Poasters Computer Forums.
 

News:

Welcome to the ARCHIVED Poasters Computer Forums (Read Only)

Main Menu

Hooking computer to TV

Started by LugwidVanB, November 30, 2009, 16:43 hrs

Previous topic - Next topic

LugwidVanB

Clark Howard put out a message that you can dl movies to the computer and watch on TV. I have a somewhat older tv that has the S-Video connection. The PC has an NVIDIA geforce 6800XT with  VGA, DVI, TV-out Connectors. The net has lots of info regarding what cables to get.  I was wondering if this would work and does anyone have experience with this. Thanks, Tom

pat

About all you can do is try it and see how it works out for you, I've had mixed results with older TV models.

Just connect an S-video cable to the back of your TV and to the TV out on your video card. You may have to make an adjustment on your TV to use that input. Then go to the control panel on your video card and enable the TV out. If your TV doesn't have line-in for sound then you will have to use the computer for the sound, if it does then you can connect the sound using the line out of your sound card. Most likely though you will need a mini splitter to an RCA cable to connect sound to your TV if it has a line in.



SeaSonic S12 550W, Athlon 64 X2 6000+, Asus M2N SLI-Deluxe, nvidia 9600 GSO, 2x2 gig Crucial Ballistix, LG DVD/RW, 2x Western Digital Black Edition 640gb,  SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22", Canon PIXMA MP600,  Logitech X-230 speakers, Logitech Comfort Duo keyboard & Mouse, Windows 7 64 Home Premium & Vista 64

LugwidVanB

Thanks Pat. I'll try this when I get more time and let you know. Ton

LugwidVanB

Comprehensive Mini, (3.5 mm) Plug to Phono (RCA) Plug Audio Cable

I found this description for a $30 cable that connects from the computer's sound card to the av slot on the tv. Does this sound correct? Thanks,
Tom

pat

Yes, but as you will see in this link from newegg they can be had for much less than 30$.

SeaSonic S12 550W, Athlon 64 X2 6000+, Asus M2N SLI-Deluxe, nvidia 9600 GSO, 2x2 gig Crucial Ballistix, LG DVD/RW, 2x Western Digital Black Edition 640gb,  SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22", Canon PIXMA MP600,  Logitech X-230 speakers, Logitech Comfort Duo keyboard & Mouse, Windows 7 64 Home Premium & Vista 64

LugwidVanB

I just saw a post from someone with the same card and the news is bad. He hooked the card to the tv via s-video and the picture was poor. Text was so bad he could hardly read it. Is this typical or just his case. Both the ge force card and tv are about 5 years old. Thanks for input. Tom

pat

I can only speak from my experience, others may have different results.

Last January I bought a 42 inch Sony LCD TV since then I have had the opportunity to connect a few different systems to it. Mainly I was looking for a system to use as an HTPC to play DVD and eventually Blu-ray as well as watch streaming video.

These are some of the systems I connected;

Athlon XP 2800 with ATI 9600XT, DVD-good, streaming-poor, watch/record TV-good
(connected with vga d-sub)  

Athlon XP 2800 with nVidia 7600, DVD-good, streaming-poor, watch/record TV-good
(connected with vga d-sub)

Athlon 64x2 6000 with nvidia 8600gt, DVD-very good, streaming-good, watch/record TV-very good
(connected with HDMI)

Athlon 64x2 6000 with nvidia 9600gt, DVD-very good, streaming very-good, watch/record TV-very good
(connected with HDMI)

Athlon II X2 250 Regor  with nvidia 9600gso, DVD-very good, streaming-very good, watch/record TV very-good
(connected with HDMI) This is my current HTPC system.

What I found out from this limited sampling of systems is that most will play a DVD without to much fuss, but in order to play a good stream (Netflix, etc.) the system needs to meet a certain minimum. All these system meet the requirement of what Netflix says is needed to play streaming content, but in reality it turns out differently. I have a very good internet connection with Comcast.  



SeaSonic S12 550W, Athlon 64 X2 6000+, Asus M2N SLI-Deluxe, nvidia 9600 GSO, 2x2 gig Crucial Ballistix, LG DVD/RW, 2x Western Digital Black Edition 640gb,  SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22", Canon PIXMA MP600,  Logitech X-230 speakers, Logitech Comfort Duo keyboard & Mouse, Windows 7 64 Home Premium & Vista 64

LugwidVanB

Thanks Pat but I'm confused. None of the connections you mentioned was there s-video from the card to the tv. Was that the case? I can only comprehend the basic terminology. Sorry.

Also, when you say dvd-good is this playing a dvd on your computer and watching it on your tv? And streaming poor is from a movie being dl to the computer and to the tv? Thanks, Tom

pat

No, there was not an S-video cable used in this case. This is a fairy modern setup, the TV has an S-video connection, but I did not use it. When I mention vga d-sub, I'm referring to the same connection used to connect to a computer monitor (the blue one). HDMI is just the newest connection for connecting high definition devices and most newer video cards will be able to take advantage of that with either an HDMI port or with a DVI-HDMI adapter. 

I have used an s-video cable to connect to older TVs, as mentioned the results were mixed, usually very poor video quality. That's why I suggested that you just try it without investing much more than an S-video cable to connect the video and take it from there.

Yes, when I say DVD quality is good I'm referring to playing a DVD on a computer to watch on my TV. I have a dedicated computer (Home Theater PC) connected to my TV that I use as a DVD player and a device to watch streaming content Netflix, Hulu, web streams, etc. I haven't actually downloaded a movie to watch, with so much content readily available to watch with streaming, I haven't seen the need.

I suppose it's arguable if having a dedicated computer to use as a media device is the best way to go or not, what with Blu-ray players that will also do streaming video. But, I read mixed reviews on how well that works too. Just seems to me one has more options with a computer. I play games on the big screen, look at my collection of pictures, use it as a video recorder for TV, etc. and it can always be upgraded.
SeaSonic S12 550W, Athlon 64 X2 6000+, Asus M2N SLI-Deluxe, nvidia 9600 GSO, 2x2 gig Crucial Ballistix, LG DVD/RW, 2x Western Digital Black Edition 640gb,  SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22", Canon PIXMA MP600,  Logitech X-230 speakers, Logitech Comfort Duo keyboard & Mouse, Windows 7 64 Home Premium & Vista 64

LugwidVanB

Thanks Pat. I was just a click away from ordering expensive cables that would probably turn out to be junk. I'm going to skip the whole thing and wait for new technology. I don't watch a lot of movies anyway. I just read an article that in a year or so they will have blue ray with 3D. That sounds interesting. Tom