Sending video from my computer to TV?

[NeWcS]

So I'm going to pick-up and new LED TV after work. I would like to be able to stream video from my computer to the TV. The thing is I already run a two monitor setup for my computer. Is there any way to add another video card to my machine to stream it to the computer?
Thank you!

-Jay

[DB83]

Depends on your mainboard.

[NeWcS]

Ok, what does it depend on?

[DB83]

Post the make/model no of your mainboard.
Do you use built-in graphics or separate video card ?
Post the make/model of your video card and the type of connector.

[jagabo]

Consider a standalone media player like the WDTV Live Plus (US$90). Create a network share on the computer, use the media player to view the videos on the TV via the network.

[NeWcS]

Post the make/model no of your mainboard.
Do you use built-in graphics or separate video card ?
Post the make/model of your video card and the type of connector.

Main Circuit Board
Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P5KPL-CM
Bus Clock: 133 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 0606 03/11/2009

Display
ATI Radeon HD 3400 Series [Display adapter]
Acer X203H [Monitor] (19.9"vis, s/n LFP0B0163910, June 2009)
NEC LCD1770VX [Monitor] (17.1"vis, s/n 78135031TA, August 2007)

[DB83]

Your graphics card appears to support cross-fire so you could bridge two cards together. That is usually used for performance purposes and I simply do not know if you would be be to use the outputs of the second card.

However, all this is irrelevent since you main board only has one pci-e X 16 slot for the video card. I doubt if the other (smaller) pci-e slot would support a cross-fire video card.

A possible option, with the existing setup is to obtian a HDMI splitter:

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=hdmi+splitter

Like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-Port-HDMI-splitter-hub-switch-multi-1-input-2-output-/19044594...item2c57767261

[jagabo]

You don't need Crossfire to support multiple graphics cards, just cards that are designed to work alongside others. I think most of them support that these days. There are also USB graphics devices like this:

http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-Monitor-External-Adapter-USB2VGAE2/dp/B002FJQXXC/

But they are slow and won't work for high def video. Passive signal splitters may or may not work. There are devices like this:

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/dh2go/

that are designed to take a large signal from one port and split it into two smaller displays. Ie you could set one of your current outputs to 2560x720 and split it into two 1280x720 outputs.

[NeWcS]

It looks like my motherboard has on-board graphics . Can I not use that?

Also, What If I just put a monitor switch on in between one of my monitors and the TV? That way when I want to use the TV I can hit the switch? http://fwd4.me/06Q0

[jagabo]

Yes, you may be able to use the motherboard graphics. Although with some motherboards you can't use both the onboard graphics and PCIe graphics. Try to enable it in the BIOS and see what you get...

[NeWcS]

http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-Monitor-External-Adapter-USB2VGAE2/dp/B002FJQXXC/
But they are slow and won't work for high def video

Using something like this? http://fwd4.me/06Q7



When you say they are slow could you explain?

-Jay

[jagabo]

The USB port doesn't have sufficient bandwidth to sustain hd video to the graphics device -- you get choppy playback. The setup you propose will probably be ok. I've never used one so I don't know exactly how well they perform with non-video applications.

[pandy]

Replace current graphic card by newer that support more than 2 video outputs. Yours MoBo doesn't support 2 PCIe 16x slots - adding additional graphic card is impossible. USB cards are very slow, also they using CPU power.

[NeWcS]

Thank you for the reply. Any thoughts on just using a monitor switch?

[pandy]

IMHO video switch is not very flexible and only slightly better than swapping cables. Go for better card - AMD now offer eyefinity on quite cheap graphics cards, as a bonus You will receive better hardware video decoder, maybe better 3D performance and maybe lower power consumption.

[jagabo]

I forgot about Eyefinity. From the little I've read it requires Win7 for 3 monitors. Matrox has lots of multi-monitor cards too. But performance is weak if you're into 3d games.

[pandy]

IMHO eyefinity is hardware not software functionality - i think that NVidia offer similar solutions (seems that eyefinity is more consistent with overlays etc) - accordingly to wiki "The entire HD 5000 series products have Eyefinity capabilities supporting three outputs."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_%28GPU_family%29#Multi-display_technologies - seems to be OS independent

[jagabo]

IMHO eyefinity is hardware not software functionality

But there may be no XP drivers that support >2 monitors.

[pandy]

IMHO eyefinity is hardware not software functionality

But there may be no XP drivers that support >2 monitors.

AFAIR MSWin from Windows 2ooo support up to 8 independent displays, doubt that XP lost this functionality also lot of people use ATI with multiple displays on XP.

[jagabo]

Of course Windows XP supports more than two monitors. I've used three myself for many years. The point is there may be no XP drivers for the Eyefinity. I've seen many user reviews say that Win7 (maybe Vista) is required. I don't know if they are correct or not.

AMD Eyefinity advanced multiple-display technology supports Duplicated Mode operation (PC desktop cloned on multiple displays) and Extended Mode (PC desktop extended across multiple displays), and offers comprehensive operating system support that includes Windows® 7, Windows Vista®, and Linux

http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/amd-eyefinity-technology/for-consumers/Pag...eyefinity.aspx

[pandy]

OK, my fault accordingly to AMD: "At present Windows® Vista and Windows® 7 support AMD Eyefinity technology. There are plans for Linux support in an upcoming update to AMD Catalyst™ software. There is no support for Windows® XP." sorry for late verification - quite strange to be honest.

http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/amd-eyefinity-technology/how-to/Pages/faqs.aspx

sorry once more

[jagabo]

They don't want to invest time and money in XP drivers. They've been essentially bankrupt for many years.

[pandy]

For sure i not planing migrate from XP to something newer - XP is quite OK and it is enough for me - i realized now that i can't use eyefinity so maybe i will not buy AMD but NVidia instead, thx Jagabo!

[NeWcS]

Would something like this work; http://fwd4.me/06mc

Looks like there are three ports. 2 monitors and one hdmi. Would this work for my needs?

If so; It says 512MB DDR3, 64-bit memory bus. Does this mean I'll need to be running a 64bit OS?

Thank you for all the help!

[jagabo]

It says 512MB DDR3, 64-bit memory bus. Does this mean I'll need to be running a 64bit OS?

No.

[NeWcS]

So the memory bus bit doesn't matter as far as the OS that is being ran? (Im running w7 32bit)

[jagabo]

That's why I said "no" when you asked if you needed a 64 bit OS.