what if laptop doesn't have TV-out port?

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Joe

If I want to connect my laptop to TV, but the laptop doesn't have
TV-out port, what should I do?

please advise. thanks!!
 
Get a new notebook. There's probably nothing more that you can do with your
present hardware at this point!
 
"Joe" said:
If I want to connect my laptop to TV, but the laptop doesn't have
TV-out port, what should I do?

please advise. thanks!!
Click to expand...

USB to VGA adapter. Possibly a stinker, but you never know.
1024x768 is what many video cards offer as the max res on
the TV-out spigot.

http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.com/display/20050608/sitecom-01.html

There are VGA to TV adapters. These may be called
scan converters. Some are very good and very expensive.

This company makes some. Judging by the description, this may
be one of their cheaper products. Proper scan conversion
requires holding frames of data in a memory, and preparing
the odd and even frames for TV based on that. (Inside a
video card, is a perfect place to do such a conversion.)
Having to repeat a step that could have been done elsewhere,
means there will be a price to pay. And, since the marketing
people consider everyone interested in this product to be
a "business person" "making money from the product", then
expect a big price. (The Adobe approach to product pricing.)

http://www.aver.com/products/comptv_QuickPlay.shtml

I cannot seem to find a "USB to composite" or a "USB to SVHS",
but I haven't looked that hard.

I wanted to use the search function at this forum, as I suspect
the missing bits and pieces may have been discussed here. Their
search engine is disabled when the web site gets too busy.
Right now it is turned off. Have a look here later in the day.

http://www.avsforum.com

If you already have a VGA output on the laptop, then you just
need the scan converter.

HTH,
Paul
 
"Joe" said:
If I want to connect my laptop to TV, but the laptop doesn't have
TV-out port, what should I do?

please advise. thanks!!
Click to expand...

Also, if you have PCCard slots, there might be video cards
that can sit in one of those slots:

http://www.pcmcia.org/pccard.htm

The Trident chip inside this device, does have a TV output, but
the design doesn't make it available on the output connector.
I suppose there just isn't room. You'd still need a scan
converter plugged to the end of this. Dongle hell. All
that junk external to the laptop would probably pull the
card right out.

http://www.villagetronic.com/vtbook/techspecs.html

There is another product I found, but because the manufacturers
insisted on not making manuals available, or even a picture
so you could see the connectors on the product, I won't bother
to promote their product. Their product is similar to the
next one, in terms of packaging.

This conversion box, allows you to add a PCI video card via
an adapter that goes in a PCMCIA slot. Apparently not all
slots are created equal, and add-in cards won't all necessarily
work well in the PCMCIA slot (it depends on the chip inside the
laptop that drives the slot). In any case, you could buy a
FX5200 with SVHS/Composite output, put it in the box, and
connect that to your laptop. There could be some ATI PCI
cards as well, but I didn't bother searching for them.

http://www.mobl.com/expansion/products/cardbus_expansion/1slot/index.html

PCI video cards which might make candidates for the Mobl box
are here. Select one that looks like it will fit in the
box, and pick a card with the connectors you want. Check the
product "view pic" link, to make sure the adapter(s) that plug
into the PCI faceplate, come with the product.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...opertycodevalue=696:9642&bop=and&InnerCata=48

Paul
 
I thought many video cards should have TV-out port, and it should be
very common in laptop or desktop computers. Is that true?

I ordered Dell Inspiron B120 laptop
(http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?CS=19&kc=6W300&oc=d81105a)
online. I first thought it comes with TV-out port because the
specification says the laptop is using Video Card Integrated Intel
Graphics Media Accelerator 900. I look-up Intel's site
(http://www.intel.com/design/graphics/gma900/#Specifications), and
under Advanced Display Technology section, it says "Two Serial Digital
Video Out (SDVO) ports for flat-panel monitors and/or TV-out support
via Advanced Digital Display 2 (ADD2) cards."

what I am missing here? I must misunderstand something.

please advise. thanks!!
 
"Joe" said:
I thought many video cards should have TV-out port, and it should be
very common in laptop or desktop computers. Is that true?

I ordered Dell Inspiron B120 laptop
(http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?CS=19&kc=6W300&oc=d81105a)
online. I first thought it comes with TV-out port because the
specification says the laptop is using Video Card Integrated Intel
Graphics Media Accelerator 900. I look-up Intel's site
(http://www.intel.com/design/graphics/gma900/#Specifications), and
under Advanced Display Technology section, it says "Two Serial Digital
Video Out (SDVO) ports for flat-panel monitors and/or TV-out support
via Advanced Digital Display 2 (ADD2) cards."

what I am missing here? I must misunderstand something.

please advise. thanks!!
Click to expand...

*******************
Inspiron B130 Details

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/pro...cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~page=3&~tab=specstab#tabtop

"I/O Ports

3-USB 2.0 compliant ports
Video: 15-pin monitor connector
10/100 internal NIC
Modem: RJ-11 connector 2
Audio jacks: Line-out (external speakers/headphone) and external microphone

   Slots

Express Card Connectors: One ExpressCard slot 54mm
Cards Supported: ExpressCard/34 (34mm) and ExpressCard/54 (54mm)"

Nothing more than a VGA connector.

BTW - ExpressCard is PCI-Express, something you are not likely to
see cards for, as it is fairly new.
*******************

If you look at the Inspiron 6000 and use the image viewer on the
web page, selecting a back view of the laptop, I think I see a
DIN connector.

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/pro...cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~page=5&~tab=specstab#tabtop

"I/O Ports

IEEE 1394
4-USB 2.0 (Universal Serial Bus) compliant 4-pin connectors
Flash Memory Slot - Secure Digital (SD) and SD/IO compliant
Video: 15-pin monitor connector
S-Video: 7-pin mini-DIN connector <------
Audio jacks: Stereo headphones/speakers mini-connector
(same as line-out), microphone mini-connector

Slots
Connectors: (1) Type I or Type II card
3.3 and 5 V cards supported"

So the 6000, a "multimedia" design, might be your starting point.
You still need to know more about what comes out of that port.

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportfo...periph&message.id=12152&c=us&l=en&cs=19&s=dhs

Inspiron 6000 owners manual.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins6000/en/om/D5181bk5.pdf

The manual mentions a "composite TV-out adapter cable", that plugs
to the DIN connector. It doesn't appear to be an accessory that
ships with the unit. The DIN has seven pins, the outside four
might be used for SVHS (2 signal, 2 GND) or composite (1 signal,
1 GND). The three pins in the center, I have no idea. Does
DIN video have a standard ? Don't know.

*******************

The Dell site just killed my web browser, so that is it for now.

HTH,
Paul
 
"Joe" said:
Not sure if this will work, but it is cheap. It says "It will work with
VGA cards that has TV-Out function capability through the VGA
connector."

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...cs_id=1040113&p_id=2509&seq=1&format=2&style=
Click to expand...

The idea here isn't quite the same, but it shows what could be
jammed into that adapter:

http://www.tkk.fi/Misc/Electronics/circuits/vga2tv/composite_adapter.html

The question is, what video mode do you put the display into,
to make that adapter work. If I look in the release notes for
an Nvidia driver update, there is no mention of any modes like
that. I don't even know some good terms to use, to find that
mode via a search engine.

At the rate you are going, I can guarantee you that you will
waste a lot of money, until you buy a proper scan converter,
find a TV-out card that plugs into a PCMCIA slot (if you've got
such a slot, and you can actually find a card -- I couldn't
find a card to do that), or you get another laptop :-)

Isn't a product from this page cheap enough ?

http://www.aver.com/store/index.shtml

There is further discussion here:

http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/sam/vidconv.htm#nvcvsc1

http://www.extron.com/technology/archive.asp?id=scancon

Good luck in your hunt,
Paul
 
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