The Steel Guitar Forum

I have an IBM pc which has DVD and CDR-RW. Does anyone know how I can connect the IBM
DVD to the Cable TV/and or VCR? .....HJ

Dr.Hugh--You didn't provide enough info (Win version, current video configuration,CPU speed, etc) for a definitive answer.

Your most likely solution would be an adapter card containing TV/audio output capability. These are available with either PCI or AGP interface and a wide range of onboard memory sizes. AGP generally preferable to PCI and the more memory on the card (at least 32MB), the better.

If your requirements are mainly just to get an 'acceptable' display on a TV, I have used an ATI All-In-Wonder Rage 128 card. These or similar cards can be had for low dollars but may not work on WinXP. Newer cards can be aquired for $50 to @500+.

With these cards you would NOT go directly from your CD/DVD to the TV. You would, rather, be sending whatever is showing on the computer monitor to the TV.

Stay away from cheap 'scan converters' as they will display on TV at poor quality. And don't get confused with 'TV Tuner' cards as they usually only provide input, not output.

The cards I'd suggest will take the place of your current display card/chip. That means you may have to do some configuration of your 'Display Properties' and, possibly, the BIOS (to disable the current onboard video chip). This should not be a difficult task.

You might also consider one of the video editing cards. With these you would have the ability to create your own output including titles, audio overdubbing, etc.

Some examples:
http://apps.ati.com/ATIcompare/
'check' one or more of the MULTIMEDIA cards)

http://www.pinnaclesys.com/ProductPage_n.asp...

On eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...

email if you need more details. --Everett


<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Everett Cox on 24 November 2003 at 01:38 AM.]</p><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by b0b on 06 December 2003 at 04:44 PM.]</p></FONT>

Do you want to play DVD from computer, or record to computer?

for recording - Of course you already have a DVD burner so you might save money adding a video capture card to your PC. But if you want to avoid the hassle (or other readers want to make DVD's easy), check out this cool thing - HP DVD movie writer dc3000
search at http://www.shopping.hp.com

The external HP DVD movie writer dc3000 with built-in analog video capture lets you quickly and easily transfer home video directly from tape (via camcorder or VCR) to DVD. The included suite of software lets you edit video, photos, music, and data applications, plus write and read CD-R and CD-RW discs as well as DVD+R/+RW.

All you need is a USB port! No messing about with adding video cards etc. - nice too because you can use with ANY computer you have.

chris


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Chris Kennison
Ft. Collins, Colorado
"There is no spoon" www.book-em-danno.com


<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by seldomfed on 24 November 2003 at 11:26 AM.]</p></FONT>

We only want to play DVD programs on PC and view them on our TV. CPU 550 MHz; Wind.98. Video config???? HJ

Dr. Hugh-- With Win 98 and that CPU, one of the ATI 'All In Wonder' cards such as those on the eBay links would do. There were even some less capable but cheaper ones when I checked eBay.

With that computer you probably don't have a dedicated video card. Likely a chip(s) on the mother board are providing that function.

If so, adding a video accelerator card will improve the machine's performance. Especially if you get a card with at least 16 MB of memory and an AGP interface. Putting the card in and installing is not much of a problem.

If you buy a used card, make sure you also get the original software and cables that came with it. For your purposes, I would expect $50 or less. --Everett

Check out www.Tigerdirect.com

they have a few pc to tv converters in there catalogue<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Gary Stewart on 03 December 2003 at 10:20 PM.]</p></FONT>

I don't have may daughter's Dell here but her DVD came with a "TV Out", which should make the video and audio both available at the back panel with the mini plugs. Radio Shack would probably have the necessary adapter cables to make the connections.

However, Best Buy is practically giving away DVD players these days. I've got mine cabled to the TV using the S-Video output.

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HagFan

Many thanks guys. HJ