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I have movies on my laptop, that I want to watch on the TV.

How can I do that?

A coworker has an HDTV at his house, that has a monitor input. That works great for him, but where I will be watching the movies, I don't have that.

I've got standard RCA inputs.

I've got USB and a monitor output on my laptop.

HELP!!!

You need what's called a "scan converter."

Really cheap ghetto ones can be bought on eBay for like 30 bucks.

Something like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Scan-Converter_W0QQ ... dZViewItem

I'd like better than shitty quality, if at all possible...

Huh, that one actually looks like it might be decent.

The ghetto ones I was talking about require the laptop to be set to a low resolution and refresh rate, making the signal more similar to what a TV uses.

What kind of TV are you putting this on?

Wha??

I do it all the time with my laptop. All I use is an S-video cable to RCA style terminator. It plugs right into the video in of my TV. I've had to make adjustments to the display properties but it works.

Your laptop has TV-out, though, Scott.

Oh..I was guessing they all did, my bad. Well... not all but I've seen many with S-video connectors.

I have some gangster "high tech" toshiba super lightweight joink. It doesn't even have an internal CD or Floppy drive (though I rarely use either).

Vikash, do those uberghetto ones have horrible display quality?

The TV is a Mitsubishi, probably 32" standard tube type TV. Nothing special.

I may end up hooking it up to my 5X" RCA Rear Projection TV at some point.

I haven't tried the cheap ones, so I don't know. They probably produce "acceptable" results when playing videos onto a CRT-based TV.

Tleg93 wrote:Oh..I was guessing they all did, my bad. Well... not all but I've seen many with S-video connectors.

Most do. I'm surprised that Phil's doesn't. That was going to be my first suggestion.

Otherwise, you'll need a scan converter like vikash said. And, just like vikash said, that's a semi-decent one. Remember, your TV only runs @ 60hz.

DVI to HDMI FTW!!!!!

Not even a full 60Hz. 60 fields per second but only 30 interlaced frames per second. NTSC just sucks.

1080p FTW!!!!!

Again, high-tech, lightweight is the name of my laptop's game. Kinda nice, carry it everywhere. My only peripheral complaint is the lack of TV outputs.

Matt - you got anything, besides buying an HDTV, that would be a good idea?

Nothing that goes from VGA-out to RCA-in? I guess that wouldn't carry sound with it...

So anything capable of playing 1024x768 @ 60hz will be pretty good?

I'd like to be able to watch full-length films with the quality of DVD if possible. At least as good as the picture on my laptop.

It's hard to watch a 3 hour movie on a laptop.

The scan converter is a "VGA-to-RCA" device. S-video is better than RCA though, if your TV supports it.

NTSC isn't digital, of course, but it represents a resolution of approximately 720x480, interlaced, at 60Hz. That's what a DVD is encoded at. So the TV can't display as well as your laptop's screen, but a good scan converter should make the image fully watchable. It may even look a little better because the effective low-pass filter "antialiases" the image for you.

But a scan converter should be able to make it at least DVD-ish quality?

A cheap one should be fine I guess.

Phil- No, not really.

Your standard NTSC CRT is only going to support 330 lines of resolution in an interlace. It will never look anywhere near as good as your laptop, which will at least support 480i. If you want 480i or 480p (progressive scan is better) you need an EDTV or HDTV, period. Hooking it up to your SDTV with S-video is going to be sub-par at best, especially on a 32" screen.

Here's an idea. Go to your local Circuit City and get a Polariod progressive scan DVD player for like $25. Hook it up S-video or component, if you have those on your set, and you're all set.

Screw using your laptop as a player. It's more trouble then it's worth.

S-video won't support progressive; you'd have to go component.

Do tube TVs ever have component inputs?

I think Phil's talking about playing videos that aren't on DVDs.

Phil, a good scan converter should get you quality as good as a DVD player hooked up to the same inputs on the TV. We're just saying that NTSC TV is crummy. But you've definitely enjoyed DVDs played on non-HD TVs before, right?

We have a DVD player. Several of them actually.

The problem, is that I have files saved on the computer. Too large to fit on a CD (800mb), so burning them isn't an option except on DVD (I don't have a DVD burner). Plus, they are .avi format (mostly).

*sigh*

Just buy a decent scan converter. You'll be fine. You may even find that some of those AVIs look better after they go through the thrashing of scan conversion and are thrown up on a tube TV, since some of the compression artifacts might be less visible.

vrg3 wrote:S-video won't support progressive; you'd have to go component.

Yes, I know that. It won't work on component unless it's EDTV or HDTV though either.

I just meant to go get a cheap player. All the new players are progressive scan but you can't turn the progressive on unless it's an EDTV or HDTV.

Do tube TVs ever have component inputs?

Yes, almost all newer ones do, 20" and up.

I think Phil's talking about playing videos that aren't on DVDs.

Oh right. I guess I missed that part. Hahaha.

OK Phil, for a little more money could you buy an external DVD burner and just rip your movie files to dvd?

ok!

I'll get one and we'll see.

My dad has an HDTV, so I guess there isn't a good way to get it onto there and take advantage of the High Def.

Does your dad's TV have a VGA or DVI input?

I dunno, I didn't really look at it very much. I would think about it, then get to involved in watching some movie in HD.

how are you watching movies in HD? Does your dad have an upscaling DVD player or something?

Or do you just mean watching a dvd on an HDTV?