playing movie on tv problem

[GetTech]

When I hook my laptop up to the TV using the S-video cable to play a movie. The picture on the latop looks fine, however the picture quality on the TV reminds me of what you would find on an old VHS tape. Why is that? The media I am playing doesn't matter, it can be a DVD or Divx file. If I take the DVD and put it in the DVD player (the one hooked to the TV) the quality appears to be better. Any suggestions?


I want to make a media server and have it stream all my video content to the TV, but if this is the quality outcome, I'll have to wait a few years..........


Thanks in advance.


Jim

[LloydAZ]

When I hook my laptop up to the TV using the S-video cable to play a movie. The picture on the latop looks fine, however the picture quality on the TV reminds me of what you would find on an old VHS tape. Why is that? The media I am playing doesn't matter, it can be a DVD or Divx file. If I take the DVD and put it in the DVD player (the one hooked to the TV) the quality appears to be better. Any suggestions?


I want to make a media server and have it stream all my video content to the TV, but if this is the quality outcome, I'll have to wait a few years..........


Thanks in advance.


Jim

Your laptop monitor has much better resolution than your TV does, they don't work the same.

You can have excellent quality with a media server and your current television. Look into a media center box for your television that connects to your PC.

For example, I'm running Windows XP Media Center Edition on my PC. I have an XBox (original) hooked up to the TV and I'm running Microsoft Windows Media Center Extender for XBox on it. The XBox is un-modded and the Media Center Extender was only $30. I can stream Audio, Video, and Images from the PC into my television and receiver (just don't try video on a wireless network!) The new XBox 360's come equiped with the Media Center Extender built into them (at least the models with the hard drive do.)

There are other stand-alone boxes that will do this as well, so you don't need to invest in an XBox if you don't want it.

[GetTech]

Thanks for the information. It was very helpful. I have been searching all over the net for media center boxs for awhile now. I have seen many. I am looking for a media center box that is capable of telling the server to record certain programs. Hence the recording will be saved on the server and later be able to be streamed to the TV whenever. Do you know of anything like this? did I confuse you? lol
I am not a gamer so an xbox wouldnt be usefull to me...

Jim

[jagabo]

I use an old Matrox Millennium G450 for TV out from my computer via s-video. It's as good as any DVD player (standard definition).

[LloydAZ]

Thanks for the information. It was very helpful. I have been searching all over the net for media center boxs for awhile now. I have seen many. I am looking for a media center box that is capable of telling the server to record certain programs. Hence the recording will be saved on the server and later be able to be streamed to the TV whenever. Do you know of anything like this? did I confuse you? lol
I am not a gamer so an xbox wouldnt be usefull to me...

Jim

How about something like Tivo or Replay. I believe that they both have the ability to stream media to your TV from your server, or save programs that you have recorded on it back to the server.

The only other thing that I can think of would be to get a TV tuner card for your PC and a media center box. I have an "AVerTV GO 007 FM Plus" TV tuner on my PC. It works pretty good, and I got it on sale for $20, but I know there is better ones out there. I can stream the MPG files created by it to my XBox.

Good luck on your search. I'm sure there are plenty of people here who can give you plenty of alternatives for what you are looking for.