PC to TV

[tb582]

I'm trying to find a device that sends what I see on my monitor to my television. I pick up tv shows from Italy off the internet and I want to view them on my television. Any recommendations?

[redwudz]

You need a video card with video out connections. Then if your TV has S-video in or composite video in, you hook it up with the proper cables and make some adjustments in your video card settings and you are done.

[tb582]

How does something like this compair to doing that?

http://www.msntv.com/pc/

[MaDmiZe]

Video card with TV out is probly least expensive option...Then there is the other end of the spectrum => My friend has a DLP big screen that came standard with a internet browser and lan jack built in. He just had to connect it to his network router with cat5.

[jagabo]

You might also consider something like the Linkplayer2.

http://www.iodata.com/usa/products/products.php?cat=HNP&sc=AVEL&ts=2&tsc=&sc=AVEL&pId=...VLP2%2FDVDLA06

[edDV]

This is all you need

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127148
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127128

S-Video becomes your second monitor.

[redwudz]

That MSNTV unit doesn't look like much of a bargain. $150US for a used unit is the cheapest, $200US for a new one, then $22US a month for subscription. And that's dialup. Broadband is $10, but you need your own broadband connection.

I'd look into edDV's suggestions for a economy solution.

[kschang]

Answered this a few years back...

http://pcfaqsbykc.blogspot.com/2002_09_01_pcfaqsbykc_archive.html#81267695

[tb582]

This is all you need

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127148
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127128

S-Video becomes your second monitor.

How can these cards for 30 bucks compair to the MSNTV?

kschang - the links on that page do not work.

[jagabo]

MSNTV looks like a Windows CE computer. The devices that edDV linked to are cheap AGP graphic cards. kschang is talking about VGA to NTSC scan converters.

[kschang]

kschang - the links on that page do not work.

Dang, they moved it. It's now here:

http://www.aver.com/2005home/product/pc_to_tv/pc_to_tv.shtml

[redwudz]

Most of those 'Internet Appliances' were a flop. Trying to use your TV instead of a computer monitor just doesn't work very well. A TV is fine for watching video, but trying to read a printed page from ten feet away from a TV is an exercise in futility. A TV just doesn't have the 'pixel size' to produce fine print like a computer monitor. (I know there are no pixels associated with TV, just a illustration. ) The IA's use a huge size font, just to be able to read print. You can pick them up at yard sales for next to nothing. The other problem with some is that you are locked into their proprietary ISP and if they raise the rates of connection, there's nothing you can do.

Quality wise, the video cards edDV listed should be just as good. A scan converter is another option. It's an external box that converts the regular video out to something the TV can use. Most commonly used with laptops. That may be what kschang was linking to. His link works fine for me. Here's a link to a company that makes scan converters:

http://www.avermedia.com

Look for PC to TV converters.

[edDV]

This is all you need

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127148
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127128

S-Video becomes your second monitor.

How can these cards for 30 bucks compair to the MSNTV?

kschang - the links on that page do not work.

You said you were already seeing the stream on your computer and wanted to feed what you were seeing to a TV.

MSN TV is an alternative service and ISP intended for people who do not have or want a computer. The screen is a normal TV.

You would need to pay $9.95/mo for the service in addition to your normal ISP.

[tb582]

So is there a better card that would give me better quality? How about something wireless

[edDV]

You have several approaches

1. For watching live, put a networked computer near the TV and connect it with one of the cards above.

2. If you want wireless, you can do the above but with wireless networking.

3. If you capture a stream for watching later you can use a networked player like the Avel Link Player to play the stored video at the TV. You will probably need to hire somebody to set this up.

[kschang]

If you want wireless, you can also go this route:

http://www.x10.com/products/x10_vk54a.htm

Which is a wireless video sender. Attached to the scan converter's output, it'll send it to a receiver attached anywhere in the house, within reason.

[tb582]

You have several approaches

1. For watching live, put a networked computer near the TV and connect it with one of the cards above.

2. If you want wireless, you can do the above but with wireless networking.

3. If you capture a stream for watching later you can use a networked player like the Avel Link Player to play the stored video at the TV. You will probably need to hire somebody to set this up.

What other options are there besides the Avel Link Player? Possibly something wireless, or wired I'm not sure yet which...I'm looking to buy a new Plasma TV and most of the videos will be captured so I can then watch them later on my tv.

[edDV]

You have several approaches

1. For watching live, put a networked computer near the TV and connect it with one of the cards above.

2. If you want wireless, you can do the above but with wireless networking.

3. If you capture a stream for watching later you can use a networked player like the Avel Link Player to play the stored video at the TV. You will probably need to hire somebody to set this up.

What other options are there besides the Avel Link Player? Possibly something wireless, or wired I'm not sure yet which...I'm looking to buy a new Plasma TV and most of the videos will be captured so I can then watch them later on my tv.

Something has to be feeding the video to the TV from a web stream.

The simple solution is to capture to DVDR or RW and the simple way to do that is to get a S-Video out card and connect it to a standalone DVD recorder.

There are many ways to do this but most require custom engineering.

[tb582]

even if you go wired don't some newer tv's have a dvi input, wouldn't that work?

[edDV]

even if you go wired don't some newer tv's have a dvi input, wouldn't that work?

How far is your TV from the computer? Long DVI cable runs can cost several hundred dollars and don't include audio.

You need an engineer.

[edDV]

You could also build this kit, connect it to your graphics/audio cards and make your own little TV station. Depending on the antenna used, all your neighbors could watch RAI as well. Just make sure none of them complain to the FCC about interference.

http://www.apogeekits.com/tv_transmitter.htm

[kschang]

Then I would vote for that video sender I linked to earlier.

[tb582]

So if I just use a video card that has S-video and audio out and run the cables to the tv, how is the quality? wouln't it be better to use some sort of scan converter? Is there any loss in quality if I had to run a long wire from the pc to tv?

[jagabo]

So if I just use a video card that has S-video and audio out and run the cables to the tv, how is the quality? wouln't it be better to use some sort of scan converter?

In my limited experience with scan converters, s-video from modern graphics cards is better. A scan converter usually takes analog RGB from the graphics card, digitizes it, resizes it, and outputs to s-video. Graphics cards can start with digital video and scale it directly, avoiding the extra digital to analog to digital conversions.

Some graphics cards can even output interlaced MPEG and DV files exactly the same way a DVD player or camcorder would. My old Matrox Millennium G400 can output interlaced MPEG video perfectly. But it gets the field order backwards with interlaced DV. Another computer with an Sapphire (ATI) X300 card does well with interlaced DV, but not with interlaced MPEG. They both handle progressive video well.

Of course, the quality of the analog TV sections vary from model to model. Some have very noisy and/or fuzzy output (cheap scan converters suffer from the same prolems), others are much cleaner.

Is there any loss in quality if I had to run a long wire from the pc to tv?

You get little loss of quality at up to ~25 feet with decent (not necessarily expensive) cables. Certainly better than any wireless RF modulation will get you.

[tb582]

Its my friends computer its a fairly new sony vio desktop, I don't remember what the back looks like or if his video card has s-video and audio out. but you guys would suggest thats the way to go?

[edDV]

Its my friends computer its a fairly new sony vio desktop, I don't remember what the back looks like or if his video card has s-video and audio out. but you guys would suggest thats the way to go?

How far do you need to run the cable and how much are you willing to spend?

Somebody will need to be playing the video at the computer end. It would help if they can see the screen. If not, a local monitor may be needed.

Most Vaio's come with S-Video out on the display card. You need to look.

[kschang]

And if the cable's too long, you can always use that video sender I linked to earlier.

[tb582]

Do you have any expierence with that video sender? does it work well? quality etc?

[tb582]

anyone?

[chesterfield]

this thread topic has been on my mind for some time. i have an ATI 9800 PRO and i connected it to my Sony 47" HDTV via the DVI out on the card, to the DVI input on the TV. No matter what i did, windows looked terrible, no adjustments would make it good.......any ideas????

thanks......