PC to TV (RGB)

[kyo_244]

Is it possible to get a crisp RGB picture from my PC to my 4:3 crt television?
And if so what cables, comverters would i need? Basically all i really want it for is to see if things like mame would look decent on my telly..

[huxley]

It depends what out puts your pc has - it would help if you stated your specs / gfx card etc.

[Mofoman]

Not really as pc's tend to look awful in 640x480. As people have said though if you have an older graphics card with tv out that likes that resolution though then you might be in luck, but most cards sent out an s video signal, not RGB.

The best way to hook up a pc to a tv, is through component or HDMI.

There are a few RGB cards out there but they are a bit older, or you could use a newer card that has component and then get a component to RGB convertor, that's the best way to get the best RGB picture now that I think of it.

So get a newer card with component out and then get component to RGB convertor.

[huxley]

My old 6600gt had a componant out - you pick old nvidea cards up pretty cheap these days, only thing is how will he get sound as well?

[kyo_244]

My old 6600gt had a componant out - you pick old nvidea cards up pretty cheap these days, only thing is how will he get sound as well?

Oh so i wont automatically get sound through the TV aswell?

Ok my specs are as follows..

NVIDIA GFORCE MX 440
Integrated RAMDAC
64.0 MB

Pentium 4, 2.40GHz, 512mb RAM

[kyo_244]

Y'ello?

[sj33]

I've never seen a graphics card that has RGB. As others have said, S-Video is generally the best, but it invariably looks a bit crap even if you set the PC to TV-standard 720x480. Good enough for video, but that's about it.
http://techreport.com/r.x/ti4600s/pny-verto-side.jpg see the round port in the middle? If your graphics card has one of those, you're good to go. If it does not, nothing you can do other than picking up another cheap graphics card that has one

On HDTV, the best possible image comes simply from native resolution. For this reason, I prefer VGA on a 1360x768 screen, and HDMI on a 1920x1080 screen. 720p native TV's are very uncommon.

[Pilotwings]

If you are getting a pc-tv s-video lead don't order one online cause chances are it won't work even if you tv supports it. I and many other's have experianced this. If you go on s-video.com it tells you that most uk leads are wired up wrong or something.

[kyo_244]

Ok so I checked my card and it DOES have the s-video port mentioned.

So im looking at something like this?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TV-OUT-S-Video-to-Scart-PC-DVD-Cable-Lead-2m-New_W0QQitemZ290204011376QQihZ019QQcategoryZ32837QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

[fallenangle]

I've come across people posting online wanting to do exactly what you want and it sounds as if it might not be quite as simple as just plugging a S-Video to SCART cable into your PC and being able to view it on your TV.

Look here: http://www.weethet.nl/english/video_connect_pc2tv.php

[Cornflakes]

I'm pretty sure you can pull Rgb signal fron the vga connector, but you have to do some diy soldering and find or create some display profiles.
Check this link (MythTV wiki)

[Salsa Party Animal]

One question, what do you want to do with your PC on TV ? to play games, or watch DVD or what ? Just like to know.

[kyo_244]

One question, what do you want to do with your PC on TV ? to play games, or watch DVD or what ? Just like to know.

To play mame and watch anime! Im just curious to see how good the picture can be!

[kyo_244]

OK finally got it working.. Some very handy tips from Pilotwings!

Basically Im getting a picture of my background picture (my wallpaper) on the tv and the mouse pointer. This is all though. No icons, no start menu, nothing. All I can do is right click, new folder, then from there explore the rest of the pc. Files open, pictures work, music works, all very nice.. Nice picture quality aswell! Then I tried some of my anime which also just loads up fine. To be honest the quality is pretty much up to DVD!

However, I tried to open a game in mame, but nothing shows. All Im getting is sound. Im assuming there has to be some way to drag the programs you want to use into the monitor you want?

[parrapatheslapper]

You need to change your settings from "extended desktop" to "duplicate image".

At the moment you will notice that if you move your mouse off your monitor it will appear in your TV.

I forget exactly where the settings are but this is what you need to do.