PC- to -TV

[Black Sabbath]

Hi guys. Is it possible to view the films on my pc's hard drive on my tv using a connecting cable? And if so what cable should I use?
My video card is an nvidea 6600 and my tv is a JVC model no: JVCLT-32DA8BJ the dvd player/surround sound is aJVC model no: XV-THP3 and the Sky box is an Amstrad DRX400. There is a usb socket on the front of the dvd player is this only for audio or video too? would it be simpler do get a usb memory stick and put the films on there and plug it in to the dvd player? I really am rubbish at this stuff so I apologise if my questions are daft!
Hope you can help.
Tim.

[mats.hogberg]

would it be simpler do get a usb memory stick and put the films on there and plug it in to the dvd player?

Absolutely. The downside, is that your computer will play more formats (and varieties) of video than your DVD player, so not everything you put on the mem stick will play, even if it's fine on your computer.
If your gfx card has TV out, you can hook it up to your TV, sure, but you have to get cables, connectors, possibly adapters - then persuade the computer to output to the TV-Out plug instead of/together with your monitor - A hazzle most of the time especially if you're "rubbish at this stuff"

/Mats

[jagabo]

That TV appears to have HDMI, component, and Scart inputs. If your video card has dual DVI outputs (or if you can live with your TV as the only monitor for your computer) you can use a DVI->HDMI cable for the best quality. Next best will probably be component if your graphics card supports it. Last would be composite or s-video via Scart.

[Black Sabbath]

Thanks guys. I picked up a 2gb memory stick in Asda. It seems to work ok. Which is the best format to download films in? I tried one today and the quality wasnt fantastic. It was an avi. Is there a better choice? This file was about 700mb and considerably smaller than a normal dvd. I am guessing the reduced quality is due to the compressed file.

[mats.hogberg]

That's the regular P2P AVI to you. They are usually squeezed down to fit a CD-R, no matter if it's going to look good or not. Now, the video codecs used in AVIs (mostly DivX or XviD) is more efficient than m2v (the Video DVD video codec) so there's really no point in making conclusions based on file size.
If you need/want higher quality - Don't download AVIs, but find what you want in the official distribution channels.
If you want it playable using your DVD player, you have 2 options: Video DVD or AVI. You're not satisfied with the AVIs so...

/Mats

[jagabo]

Quality of P2P Divx/Xvid AVI varies. Anywhere from really bad to nearly as good as DVD. You can even find HD encodings that are better than DVD (the resolution, at least). But few set-top players will play those.

[hulinning]

You get in the right direction if you store your movies in your pc and view it on your hdtv set using PC.
By doing so, you are not going to worry about which movies/subtitle you cannot playback.

Even the latest version of high end dvd or network dvd player, they will be obsolete at some point since the hardware itself cannot support future codec or new subtitle format.

I have bought a Dell GX280 512MB 2.8GHz 40GB HD for $130 from EBay and got a decent video card from Sapphire HD 2600XT. My computer can play all kind of SD/HD video/subtitle format without a problem. I place this pc right behind my big screen JVC 61 inches, and store all my movies in another PC in my office room. So basically, I stream the video from 1 pc to my hTPC and view it on my HD JVC.
The quality of video is normally and just like you play it from DVD. If your video source is HD then it is even much better. But not all dvd can play different kind of HD file format.
I can get 5.1 surround sound or DTS signal pass through to my receiver without a problem. It is just a little setup that you need to dig through this forum.

You might spend more for your HTPC now but it worths it.

See