I have the Hollywood plus. Yes, you can output to the tv without hooking the card up to the video card. As you know, you will not be able to watch it on your monitor then. If you use this for your tv, I highly recomend the remote control. It hooks up to your serial port and makes your system work just like a regular counsel system. The remote is identacle to other dvd remotes. One advantage of using a computer and the Hollywood plus over a counsol system is not having to worry about cd media compatibility. I have also heard that the image quality is higher.