PC to TV

[R.Sendout]

Whats the easiest way (read cheapest) to get my PC to display on my TV?

My TV (CRT) has got scart and RCA inputs.
My suround sound box has RCA and S-video inputs.
My PC only has the standard monitor output (VGA? definately not HDMI).

Any sugestions?:)

[clarity]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VGA-TO-TV-RCA-S-VIDEO-ADAPTER-CONVERTER-CABLE-PC-LAPTOP_W0QQitemZ380196211134QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_ Computing_CablesConnectors_RL?hash=item588575c9be

one of these should do it for the picture id of thought and an applicable adapter for sound :)

[Sideways14a]

It will be absolutely dreadful quality along an analogue svideo or composite connection that your "ancient" TV supports.
Forget it, your wasting your time.
When you get an lcd with vga or hdmi inputs then your looking at a whole different ball game.

[interloper393]

u need a graphics card with built in pc to tv ports, most now will have the hd port thingy, well tiz what i did lol

[R.Sendout]

When you get an lcd........

Thats not going to happen, I dont really watch TV that much, an hour a day at most so splashing out on a new TV I just cant justify:no:

Will the quality really be that bad?

[Sideways14a]

Yes quality will be poor.

Pc's output one of two video standards, the old old VGA connector is analogu and spilts its video components up and transmits them along different connectors in the cable ect. This gives a decent bandwidth and relativly decent quality for resolutions say..under xga (1024x768).
DMI (and HDMI) use digital connections, much higher bandwidth, support much higher resolutions and consequently better picture.
Old tv's with only composite inputs (like yours) have to have the pc signal sent down one single cable (the yellow one which is the composite video connector), this one analogue connection has to provide for all the colour and luminescence channels that vga splits up and has different pins for.
The upshot of this massively reduced bandwidth is that composite video (and the little better svideo connection) look bloody garbage compared to even an older vga connection.
They will flicker (as most crt tvs cannot cope with decent refresh rates), there will be ghosting a plenty, and the picture generally gets washed out. Plus you will need to drop the res to 640x480, you may if your very lucky get 800x600 but it will be a push and look even worse.

[R.Sendout]

Bum:(

[Cluck]

As above, it will be awful. Text, for one thing, will be unreadable. I tried it with a media PC once and it was truly truly useless on S-Video :nod:

Aside from the quality, the screen will flicker like mad and you'll get a headache within a short space of time. You don't notice the flicker normally because the TV image is moving, but with a static screen it becomes far more noticable and annoying :(

[R.Sendout]

Arse:(

I have been offered an LCD for doing a few jobs for someone, might have to see what connections it has first:thumbs:

[nene]

DMI (and HDMI) use digital connections, much higher bandwidth, support much higher resolutions and consequently better picture.
DVI ;)

DVI is directly compatible with the first iteration of the HDMI standard, but without the sound on the same cable. That means with a HDMI input on a TV and a DVI output on a PC you just need a single cable, or a cable and an adapter, and it "just works" :)

[Sideways14a]

Er yeah that one :wack:
Look M and V are on the same part of the keyboard (sort of) and my fat fingers along with (more likely) my inability to bother reading the drivel i type tends to lead me to post utter balls sometimes.

Er..:whip: or something like that.
Ps dont bother with a scan converter either, they will improve the situation but it will still be ****

[Clouder_sx]

I tired S-video to scart once and it was indeed gash :(

Currently using VGA out from 2nd port on video card, and audio cable alongside. The lcd supports PC in cia a VGA port, and the picture is pretty damn good actually :nod: i use it all the time for iPlayer etc

[clarity]

Ive got a DVI-HDMI converter for mine and the picture is really good :)

[nene]

Ive got a DVI-HDMI converter for mine and the picture is really good :)
That would be because there is nothing to convert ;)

It is a bit weird seeing the model of your TV listed as a monitor on your laptop though.

We use a DVI-HDMI cable on a regular basis with a media-centre PC. It looks clean and crisp, as you'd expect, and the 1080p output looks no different from a "real" blu-ray player.

[xR33]

That's what I do, DVI to HDMI and as said, if you D/L a bluray film, you get bluray quality on the TV.


If you can't justify a new TV, why not look at it as buying a new HDMI widescreen monitor?

[nene]

That's what I do, DVI to HDMI and as said, if you D/L a bluray film, you get bluray quality on the TV.
Well, actually you won't.

If you download a film that was originally sourced from blu-ray, you won't get the same quality at all. The video, and probably audio too, will have been re-compressed in order to make the file size smaller. More compression means lower quality.

Let's face it, if you want it to look like a blu-ray, you have to actually still buy one. It isn't some miracle that is going to put back quality that someone else already threw away.

On the other hand, putting a blu-ray drive and player into a modern PC can be a very cost-effective way of getting a blu-ray player, though it has been a lot of hassle to make it work so probably isn't the wisest. ;)

[John Bennett]

VGA is pretty much the same signal format as RGB found on the SCART inputs of TVs since the 80's (monitors are just posh tellys after all).
Unfortunately the signal rate/resolution is so low that many video cards won't do it, even with Powerstrip installed. People have done it, but it's a faff (may involve a sync combining circuit), you'll realise how toss tvs can look and it may not work :wack:: http://www.idiots.org.uk/vga_rgb_scart/ http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/vga2rgbs.html

[Master_System]

Well, actually you won't.

If you download a film that was originally sourced from blu-ray, you won't get the same quality at all. The video, and probably audio too, will have been re-compressed in order to make the file size smaller. More compression means lower quality.




you can download perfect blu-ray rips with no compression / changes at all - they can be up to 50gb some of the files ive watched from HDMI - HDMI from pc to my tv. exactly the same :thumbs:

[nene]

you can download perfect blu-ray rips with no compression / changes at all - they can be up to 50gb some of the files ive watched from HDMI - HDMI from pc to my tv. exactly the same :thumbs:
Ignoring the blatant public confession of downloading copyright material you don't have a license for, your ISP must love you :wack:

[Actual_Ben_Taylor]

Ok, just to take this off topic slightly...

Is on demand HD content from Sky/Virgin actually true HD quality or is it also compressed?

[Mr G]

Although it's compressed it's still HD

[Master_System]

lol i didnt say a had downloaded anything

[Cluck]

Ok, just to take this off topic slightly...

Is on demand HD content from Sky/Virgin actually true HD quality or is it also compressed?It's still compressed, just not as much as SD broadcasts. A bit like watching Youtube's HD videos in that sense.

BBC's high-def broadcasts are now 9.7Mbps, compared to Bluray's maximum bitrate of 40Mbps.