USB video output to TV adapter?

  • Thread starter Thread starter NickySantoro
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NickySantoro

I much enjoy watching some of the videos on Youtube and the like but
would prefer to watch them in a larger format like my TV. Is there an
adapter that actually works that will plug into the USB port on my
laptop and provide a video output to my TV via Coaxial or RCA cables,
essentially making the TV a second monitor?
I've looked at various offerings on Ebay etc and am a bit confused as
to actually what is required.
Any guidance would be most appreciated.
 
Why not just use the video output on your video card?
Click to expand...

Just to expand a little bit on what Calab has suggested:

Option 1
If your computer's video card has dual outputs *and* you have a VGA
input on your tv (many LCD/Plasma TVs have this,) you can easily make
your tv a second monitor with a $20 SVGA cable.

Option 2
If your computer's video card has dual outputs, but your TV only has
"video in," you could probably use something like this to bridge the gap:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815260011

Option 3
If your computer's video card has video out, often S-Video out, *and*
your tv has video in (most do,) you'll be able to hook it up in much the
same way as Option 1--though with lesser quality.

Option 4
If your computer's video card really only has one output, the one for
your monitor, you can try one of the adapters you mention. Be careful,
though, that you don't buy one of those DVD capture devices that is for
streaming video *into* your PC.

I'm sorry I don't have any recommendations for one of those devices.
 
On Sat, 14 Feb 2009 07:26:17 -0500, NickySantoro

Thanks to all who responded so far. All I have is a laptop with a
serial port and 2 USB ports. There are no video card outputs for me to
work with. To recap, what I am looking for is something that will
plug into the USB or serial ports on the laptop and then connect to
my TV making the TV a second monitor.
 
NickySantoro said:
On Sat, 14 Feb 2009 07:26:17 -0500, NickySantoro

Thanks to all who responded so far. All I have is a laptop with a
serial port and 2 USB ports. There are no video card outputs for me to
work with. To recap, what I am looking for is something that will
plug into the USB or serial ports on the laptop and then connect to
my TV making the TV a second monitor.
Click to expand...

Then other choice is buying a newer LCD TV with USB input.
 
NickySantoro said:
On Sat, 14 Feb 2009 07:26:17 -0500, NickySantoro

Thanks to all who responded so far. All I have is a laptop with a
serial port and 2 USB ports. There are no video card outputs for me to
work with. To recap, what I am looking for is something that will
plug into the USB or serial ports on the laptop and then connect to
my TV making the TV a second monitor.
Click to expand...

I'm surprised your laptop does not have an SVGA port for an external
monitor/projector--that's a very common feature even on older laptops.
What make and model of laptop do you have?
 
NickySantoro said:
On Sat, 14 Feb 2009 07:26:17 -0500, NickySantoro

Thanks to all who responded so far. All I have is a laptop with a
serial port and 2 USB ports. There are no video card outputs for me to
work with. To recap, what I am looking for is something that will
plug into the USB or serial ports on the laptop and then connect to
my TV making the TV a second monitor.
Click to expand...

Can you tell us the make and model of computer, as well as the
make and model of TV ?

If the computer only has USB 1.1 ports (12 megabits/sec), you
won't be able to push video across that.

There is one decent USB to VGA solution, but then you'd need a VGA to
composite solution (scan converter) to finish the job. By decent, the
solution I had in mind uses a DisplayLink.com chip (uses compression
on the USB link), which helps make better use of the bandwidth over
simpler, uncompressed solutions.

Is the CPU very powerful ? No matter whether the USB link is
compressed or uncompressed, the operation is going to need
more CPU cycles than would be needed to play the video on
the main display.

Paul
 
I'm surprised your laptop does not have an SVGA port for an external
monitor/projector--that's a very common feature even on older laptops.
What make and model of laptop do you have?
Click to expand...


What I "assumed" (as in I made an ass of me) to be a serial port is,
in fact, a video connector. The laptop is a Dell Inspiron 1150.
The TV I wish to connect to is an older model 32" Panasonic tube type
with coax input plus RCA video and audio (R&L) inputs. No SVGA input.
 
NickySantoro said:
What I "assumed" (as in I made an ass of me) to be a serial port is,
in fact, a video connector. The laptop is a Dell Inspiron 1150.
The TV I wish to connect to is an older model 32" Panasonic tube type
with coax input plus RCA video and audio (R&L) inputs. No SVGA input.
Click to expand...

So all you need now, is a "scan converter".

http://www.nextag.com/scan-converters

Computer output is "progressive", painting one whole frame at a time.
Typically, computer output is at a higher resolution in pixels, than
TV really supports. So, one of the problems, is thin lines tend to
disappear, when say a 1024x768 computer display, is trying to display
on a TV which has fewer discrete lines to do the displaying.

The fix for that, involves convolution (a math operation). It means
buffering up some number of lines of display information, in order to
determine when to thicken lines, so they'll show up on the screen.

That may be less important for movie viewing, since the human eye can
repair a lot of damage to moving images.

The second issue, is TV is interleaved. The odd lines are painted on the
CRT on the first pass, then the even lines are painted on the
second pass. The information content used to derive those two passes,
would correspond to one progressively scanned frame on the computer.
One solution is to allow the computer to display two whole frames,
and then pass only the odd or the even lines, as appropriate.

So those are some of the functions carried out by a scan converter.

http://www.commspecial.com/support/10_questions.php

This is an example of a fairly fancy one. My expectation would be,
that the image quality would not be measurably improved, by going
over 1024x768, yet units like this claim to support higher computer
output resolutions. When you think about it, there aren't really
enough lines painted on the TV screen, to justify extremely high
resolution. Some units cheaper than this one, may claim resolutions
up to 1024x768.

http://www.focusinfo.com/dynassets/documents/products/TVGDS.pdf
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815323001

In any case, read the reviews first, because in a quick glance at
a few products, I wouldn't say the average customer is that
happy with them. Take your time shopping for one.

The controls on the unit, should allow positioning the image on the
TV, perhaps controlling the size of the image (right amount of
overscan), and the sharpness control may have something to do
with a setting for the convolution.

Paul
 
So all you need now, is a "scan converter".

http://www.nextag.com/scan-converters

Computer output is "progressive", painting one whole frame at a time.
Typically, computer output is at a higher resolution in pixels, than
TV really supports. So, one of the problems, is thin lines tend to
disappear, when say a 1024x768 computer display, is trying to display
on a TV which has fewer discrete lines to do the displaying.

The fix for that, involves convolution (a math operation). It means
buffering up some number of lines of display information, in order to
determine when to thicken lines, so they'll show up on the screen.

That may be less important for movie viewing, since the human eye can
repair a lot of damage to moving images.

The second issue, is TV is interleaved. The odd lines are painted on the
CRT on the first pass, then the even lines are painted on the
second pass. The information content used to derive those two passes,
would correspond to one progressively scanned frame on the computer.
One solution is to allow the computer to display two whole frames,
and then pass only the odd or the even lines, as appropriate.

So those are some of the functions carried out by a scan converter.

http://www.commspecial.com/support/10_questions.php

This is an example of a fairly fancy one. My expectation would be,
that the image quality would not be measurably improved, by going
over 1024x768, yet units like this claim to support higher computer
output resolutions. When you think about it, there aren't really
enough lines painted on the TV screen, to justify extremely high
resolution. Some units cheaper than this one, may claim resolutions
up to 1024x768.

http://www.focusinfo.com/dynassets/documents/products/TVGDS.pdf
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815323001

In any case, read the reviews first, because in a quick glance at
a few products, I wouldn't say the average customer is that
happy with them. Take your time shopping for one.

The controls on the unit, should allow positioning the image on the
TV, perhaps controlling the size of the image (right amount of
overscan), and the sharpness control may have something to do
with a setting for the convolution.

Paul
Click to expand...
That scan converter seems like the ticket. I certainly appreciate the
explanation as it actually understandable to me, the poster boy for
the technologically impaired. As you noted, I will do some more
homework then shop carefully.
Again, many thanks.

NS
 
1. There are some "USB Graphic adapters". They use some Display Chip
or so.
2. There should be a converter from VGA to S Video/Composite Video.
3. There are RF modulators to adapt signal for coax

All together: to much pain for not-so-good gain
 
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