Connecting Laptop to TV with Firewire

[felguard]

I have to this movie on DVD and I have a laptop. I want to connect the laptop to a TV so that I can view the DVD on the TV. I did some research and found out I need a firewire to do this. However, as I researched more, I need firewire port on the laptop itself so that the firewire can plug into the laptop.

Can someone who has experience with this sort of stuff help me out? I might be buying the supplies online on amazon.com or something. Thank you.

[edDV]

Your TV has a firewire port? What formats does it accept?

[felguard]

Yes, it does. I believe is has the S Video port.

Formats? What do you mean?

I plan on playing the file on my laptop (double click the movie) and hope to have it played on the TV.

[edDV]

You can do that with S-Video from the laptop and good DVD player software like PowerDVD or WinDVD.

Usually Firewire is limited to DV format or MPeg2_TS streams. These usually aren't supported by software DVD players.

What is the TV make and model number?

[felguard]

The video file is an .avi and it plays perfectly on the laptop. I'm just wondering how to transfer the video and audio (if possible) to be viewed on the TV.

The file format of the video won't matter right? The video is being playing on the laptop, but I just wondering how to get the video and audio to work on the TV while it's playing on the laptop.

The TV is sony, not sure about the model number though. The laptop doesn't have a S video so I'm thinking maybe I need to plug in a port to the laptop, then plug in the firewire to both the laptop and th TV right?

[edDV]

I doubt your TV has a firewire port.

Any solution to output over firewire will be expensive and as I said, file players don't normally support export over firewire or USB2.
http://www.adstech.com/products/API-557-EFS/intro/api557_intro.asp?pid=API-557-EFS

The graphics chipset on your laptop probably supports a VGA port. You would then require a VGA to video converter that matches the inputs on your TV. Some newer HDTV sets will accept a direct VGA connection.

[felguard]

I see, hmm, this will be messy. I will be going to my local CompUSA to buy the required items. Should I just ask the people that work there about this?

So I'd basically need two items? The cable, and the port for the TV?

[edDV]

You'll need something like this. Depends what inputs your TV has.
http://www.svideo.com/vgatotv.html

CompUSA will also ask what inputs your TV has.

BTW, most of those stores are closing. Good luck returning anything.

[felguard]

Darn I see, thanks for your help.

I've been thinking, do you think this will work?

The TV has a S Video slot, but the thing is, the laptop doesn't. Do I need to buy a video card that gives the laptop the S Video slot, or is there an adapter (think that's the right word) to plug into the laptop giving it a S Video slot?

[edDV]

Only from a VGA port. Got one of those? then you use a box like this to convert VGA to S-Video.
http://www.svideo.com/vga2video2.html

Don't expect the quality to be very good.


It is possible to do it from IEEE-1394 or USB2 but it gets very technical and expensive.

[felguard]

Okay, I got one of those PC to TV boxes. I payed 120 dollars for it, luckily it has a 30 day return policy. It connects my VGA and USB to a box, that box connects to the TV with a S-Video. Thanks for the help!