best video output for laptop??? HELP!

[italianjeremy]

hey guys, quick question.

ive been watching roughly 800mb divx and xvid rips on my laptop by plugging into the s-video output on the laptop and the audio out 3.5mm jack and sending it to my bigscreen. the quality comes out between vhs and dvd.... so its pretty darn goood..... but as will all electronic fanatics i want the picture clearer(little fuzzy). i know svideo is 10 year old technology but its still good.
i was wondering if theres a proggy i can download that will allow me to fine tune the video output... i am using the ATI radeon 7500 software so all it has for tv options is centering the picture and sharpness... about it . im assuming they make component video pcmcia cards so you can get high quality video out, seeing how i know they make sound cards for a desktop that give you 7.1 sound.

remember , this is for a laptop, so im guess it would plug into the pcmcia slot. also , WILL a common, standard 700-800mb divx rip be any better in quality if it was on a high tech component video out to my tv than my s-video out?


thanks a lot. never looked into doing this, but its a such a convenience to do it this way instead of wasting cd's and time burning , and then you watch the movie and hate it ! hah.

thanks in advance.

[redwudz]

Maybe, but you could also use VGA out, which your laptop probably has. I don't know of a VGA to component adapter or even less likely, a PCMCIA to component adapter, though both may exist. If your TV doesn't have VGA in, then S-video may be your only choice for decent quality.

There's not a lot you can do with S-video, but you could try some different output settings.

And welcome to our forums.

[italianjeremy]

thanks for the input red. youde think theres more i can do seeing how i have the new ati drivers and all the gizmos to adjust things, but not so much for the tv and more for the laptop. any other suggestions?>

[Krispy Kritter]

You are likely at the limit of the S-video and/or the Divx files. redwudz pretty much outlined your only options above. Before spending any money on laptop hardware, I would look into getting a standalone DVD player with Divx support. Then you just burn your files on CD/DVD as data (or onto a ext USB HDD) and playback on the player.