Best way to hook up computer to TV

[Mikeyflan]

What video card or video device should I get to hook up my computer to TV I really just want to watch my dvds on my tv. also looking for a nice 19" LCD that anyone would recommend.

 

[heartsurgeon]

get a s-video cable

use a video card that has s-video output (lots of those around)

plug the cable into the vid card, other end into the s-video input of your tv (assuming your tv has this)

another option, just watch tv and your dvd's on your computer lcd..get a cheapo tv card (ATI TV VE Wonder..you can find one for about $20.00 - i have three!! in my house, they work great)

dvd's on a tv screen look ok, but computer output is not very pleasing on your average tv (i have no experience with HDTV screens)

check out the Dell monitor deals for a great LCD cheap..fatwallet usually has the latest on this (or check hot deals)

 

[Mikeyflan]

I have a 9700 pro with the svideo cable but I hooked it up and I had a lot of HR lines

 

[Todd33]

LCD TVs are pixel based, use a VGA 15 oin or DVI bable. Do NOT use a svideo/composite cable.

 

[Mikeyflan]

My Tv is not LCD

 

[Todd33]

Sorry, read to fast. You can still use DVI if you have a HDTV with a DVI port, I do it on my RPTV. Otherwise you are stuck with blurry 640x480 svideo.

 

[Cawchy87]

I run on 640x480 and it looks great! Better than DVD quality imo. Anything from Matrix Reloaded to family guy.

 

[Mikeyflan]

I'm goin to test it out one more time

 

[Mikeyflan]

sux, its snowing btw I can't get it to run on 640x480

edit: yea I got it in 640x480 but it's still snowing

so any other video device I should get

 

[MadEye2]

My tv is pretty ancient and only has an r/f input, so I cludged an old psx composite to r/f adaptor and I got a fuzztacular image

 

[MadEye2]

Mikey, are you using nview? just check if you have it set on US NTSC or whereever you're from, and try a different s-video or composite video cable

 

[bamacre]

Make sure the cable is connected all the way.

Also, boot the computer up AFTER you plug it up to the TV.

If it's still not right, try going into your display settings and see if there is a TV output option. It's been a while since I have set this up, but when you get it working , it's great. I have a networked computer connected to my TV and stereo receiver. The computer has a DVD-ROM drive, and I ended up getting rid of my VCR, my stand-alone DVD player and CD player, all of my DVD and VHS movies. My entertainment center is so clean now, a lot less plugs and wires. This is really cool if you have a large mpeg-4 collection on hard drives. LOL, my file server has over 700GB's of space, and my three systems combine at over 1.2TB's.

 

[gururu]

my 9700pro has excellent tv out quality. just through an s-video cable too. try to keep the length under 12 ft. the card shouldn't be the source of the problem (maybe drivers?).

 

[Mikeyflan]

Maybe its my cheap a$z cable

 

[Necrolezbeast]

kinda different than anyone else posted... I use my xbox and stream media from my computer to my xbox using XBMC on the xbox. Works very well indeed.

 

[MadEye2]

How come videocards don't have scart outputs? Do American TVs have scart or just s-video?

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: MadEye2
How come videocards don't have scart outputs? Do American TVs have scart or just s-video?

American TVs don't have SCART inputs. Well, most of them don't, anyway. Equipment on this side of the pond uses either composite or S-Video for video input, and usually discrete RCA plugs for stereo audio.

HD equipment uses either RGBHV, component, or DVI/HDMI.

 

[MadEye2]

No sign of HDTV in England at the moment, as far as I know, they'll probably cost a bomb anyway.

 

[Mikeyflan]

yea I have it on NTSC its pluged in good but what I see is \\\\ lines across the screen and snow.