Computer On A TV

S

shortymet55

New Member
I have a really old TV and DVD player. I want a new DVD player for Christmas, but my TV is holding up good enough. My computer is real close to the TV, so i figure if I can hook my computer up to my TV, then i can use that as my DVD player. My computer is a Dell, so i figure my choices for Video Cards are limited. However, if i get a rather cheap ($100-ish) video card, and i hook it up to my TV, how will the quality compare to a $100 DVD player on my TV?
 
Theres always a lot of questions floating around about doing this, Ill help you with it but first off do you have a CRT tv or a lcd tv?
 
Nevermind, just saw you said it was old so we'll assume its CRT. in that case it depends what inputs the tv has. First off be prepared because the quality you will achieve will be subpar compared to just getting a decent dvd player.

What outputs do you have on your video card? and what inputs do you have on your television?
 
right now, i have integrated video,so i can get a video card with whatever outputs you all think will work best. My TV is a CRT. (Hoever in the near future I might get an LCD or DLP HDTV)My TV has standard RCA inputs(I think. The yellow, white, and red whagtever they are called). It does not have S-video. If anyone has an old TV like mine, and you use your computer on it, then can you all post pictures, so i can see the quality. THanks
 
I dont have pictures, but I have done this before and its really not worth it. The refresh rate on those old CRT's is awful. Not to mention without buying a pricey video card, you would not be able to get the right outputs to use for that tv anyway. I would spend the money on just getting a decent dvd player.
 
You can get a cheapy $40 video card and use that to hook up to your tv. Honesty though, for movies it looks exactly the same. Tvs just make horrible monitors since they run at low resolution.
VIDEO CARD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814140085
You can also buy an adapter at radio shack that takes the audio from your computer and converts it into rca's so that way audio comes out of your tv as well.
 
shortymet55 said:
I have a really old TV and DVD player. I want a new DVD player for Christmas, but my TV is holding up good enough. My computer is real close to the TV, so i figure if I can hook my computer up to my TV, then i can use that as my DVD player. My computer is a Dell, so i figure my choices for Video Cards are limited. However, if i get a rather cheap ($100-ish) video card, and i hook it up to my TV, how will the quality compare to a $100 DVD player on my TV?
Click to expand...

You'll need a Theater video card or a Svideo video card. Then a Svideo to RCA. Otherwise, a VGA to Svideo to RCA, or a VGA to RCA.

Done :) A older TV might need a Coaxial to RCA adapter too...
 
Will any of these work? They all come with s-video to the yellow RCA plug:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814140085
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131060
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102703

Can any motherboard take any video card (assuming you have an open slot)? Like i have a dell, so will i be able to get a driver for any video card? If not, suggestions on cards that i can get to work? And im looking for around $100.
 
I just checked. I have an open what looks like a PCI, PCI x1, and PCI x16. I think 16 is hte most popular, so ill use that (unless there is a reason otherwise.) Im gonna take a picture later, since its a dell motherboard, and there is no information on it, to confirm its the right size as i think.

Im not sure exactly what a pci-e or agp slot is exactly.


PDR_0002.jpg
 
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shortymet55 said:
I just checked. I have an open what looks like a PCI, PCI x1, and PCI x16. I think 16 is hte most popular, so ill use that (unless there is a reason otherwise.) Im gonna take a picture later, since its a dell motherboard, and there is no information on it, to confirm its the right size as i think.

Im not sure exactly what a pci-e or agp slot is exactly.


PDR_0002.jpg
Click to expand...

Yuep, thats a PCI-E slot
 
I have no need for anything fancy at all. Remember ive had this computer for a few years with integrated video. All i really want is something to use on my TV, where it looks decent. I would choose the cheapest of the three, but im afraid it will be so bad, that the quality on my TV will be Sub-sub par. The most expensive (third link) looks like what im looking for. What do you all think? Would it be pulling too much power for my PSU? It says it uses GDDR3 memory. Is that ok, since im using DDR2 Ram. I dont know if they need to be the same or not.
 
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shortymet55 said:
I have no need for anything fancy at all. Remember ive had this computer for a few years with integrated video. All i really want is something to use on my TV, where it looks decent. I would choose the cheapest of the three, but im afraid it will be so bad, that the quality on my TV will be Sub-sub par. The most expensive (third link) looks like what im looking for. What do you all think? Would it be pulling too much power for my PSU? It says it uses GDDR3 memory. Is that ok, since im using DDR2 Ram. I dont know if they need to be the same or not.
Click to expand...

Yeah, just don't go crazy and get a huge power sucking ATI :P

GFX memory and computer memory don't interact. Their 2 completely different things... GDDR3 just means it's faster than DDR2 and stuff...
 
the quality will not be nearly as good as using a DVD player. i have an LCD TV, and i use the DVI output on my new 8800GT, and it doesnt look nearly as good as my DVD player. sorry to disagree with everyone, but imo just get the DVD player if all you care about is watching movies. DVD players are really inexpensive these days, you can one for less than what a video card costs.
 
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