rb said:
I have a 19" Symphonic color tv. Nothing on the back except the 75ohm plug
for ant.
On the front, there are two, small coax looking plugs labelled "audio" and
"video", with some other controls. It's also got a DVD accessway and says
digital.
With those, are those what I'll need for an pc-to-tv converter?
It would have helped if you mentioned the TV model number.
I found a manual here for a 19" Symphonic.
http://www.symphonic.us/pdf/om/BL519DD.pdf
On page 8, there is a front view of the unit. There are three jacks next
to one another. They are labeled video, audio-L, and audio-R.
I presume your computer speakers give good sound, so you don't have
to bother with the audio. If you do want the audio to work, you will
need to get a 1/8" miniplug to dual RCA adapter at RadioShack. Just
tell them, you are going from computer Lineout to dual audio on a
TV, and they'll know which one to give you.
This is an example from RadioShack. I picked this purely to demonstrate
the two kinds of connectors. The 1/8" plugs into your computer sound,
while the two female RCA, will need audio cables with RCA plugs, to
go from there to the TV. RadioShack also carries Monster brand cables,
but at $50 to solve this problem, I don't think I'll be buying them any
time soon.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103225
OK, so now for the video. The plug on the front is for composite
video, with 75 ohm impedance. You need to use a good quality coax
cable, with RCA on the end, to plug into the TV.
So yes, the video plug on the front is the one you want to use.
Since you haven't given any details on your "PC to TV" converter,
I cannot say anything more about that part.
On the back of the TV set, there is "Ant". That is for an RF signal
at 75 ohms. To use "rabbit ears", you'd need to use a 300 ohm to
75 ohm balun (balanced to unbalanced). Some baluns can be fitted
right onto the connector, and a balun may have come with the set.
Or, "Ant" can be connected to cable TV type coax.
The "Coaxial" jack had me fooled. After reading a bit more of the manual,
the "Coaxial" seems to be an SPDIF output. That is 75 ohms, and
you'd need a cable with what looks like an F-series on one end,
and RCA male on the other end (to go to a stereo receiver's SPDIF
input jack). So for your computer hookup, neither of those is
any good. Apparently, when that set plays DVDs, you can either
get stereo sound on the SPDIF, or via Dolby AC3, it can send
5.1 audio to a suitably equipped stereo receiver. They would have
been better off putting TOSLink on the back, as there would be
less possibility of confusion with the jack's function that
way.
Paul