Report: DVD
on your TV with a PC – Tips for TV-Out (2/9)
It's all about the right
connections...
Before you rush to buy the new parts, you should take some
time to think about how you want to connect all of your components. What connectors does
you TV have? Does it support S-VHS? Here's a quick overview of what you're going to need:
The bare essentials for Video
1. Graphics card with TV-Out. Here you see
the Leadtek WinFast GeForce 2 ULTRA with the Bt869KRF chip. You'll find some specific tips
for this chip later on in this guide.
2. DVD ROM drive. What drive you decide to
go with is largely a matter of cost and/or application. If you're planning to replace your
old CD-ROM with a new DVD drive, you'll probably want to get as much performance as
possible, so go with 8x or higher. If you want it to be your secondary drive alongside
your current CD-ROM and want to use it mainly to watch movies, speed isn't as important.
After all, 1x DVD is sufficient to watch movies, so you can go with a less costly model.
Pictured you see my "old" Pioneer DVD-103S. If possible, try to get a
"region free" drive, which will let you play/watch DVDs from other regions.
Nowadays these drives have become rare, but there's always the option of going with a
firmware hack to enable codefree. More on that here.
3. A software DVD player. The most popular
players are currently WinDVD and PowerDVD. To find out more about DVD software, take a
look here.
4. Scart video adapter. Most TVs have one
or more Scart inputs on the back so you'll need to get an adapter. Make sure you get one
for the correct signal direction, i.e. either Video In (to your TV) or Video Out (to your
PC). Or you could always get a switchable one that allows you to change the signal
direction.. That way all you need to do is plug the cable into the correct connector on
your card instead of using two cables. Also make sure you know whether you need Scart or
Cinch cables. If in doubt, get an all-in-one adapter with both connections. If your TV
supports S-VHS you'll be spare all these worries. Drawback: Most TVs hide the S-VHS
connector behind a little plastic cover on the front...rather unaesthetic, if you ask me.
5. + 6. S-VHS or Cinch. While S-VHS or
S-Video cables cost a bit more than their cinch counterparts, this is justified by their
better quality. S-Video cables transfer the brightness and color information in separate
wires, while cinch cables just use two wires for everything, which results in greater
signal degradation. Important: If your TV doesn't support S-VHS, the image will only be
displayed in black and white. If you're not sure, check the TV's user manual. S-VHS cables
are simply too expensive to for trial and error.
7. Adapter cables like this one are
usually included in the video card's box. They allow you to connect cinch cables to the
card's TV-Out. You won't need this for S-VHS.
You'll save lots of time (and money) if you take a few
minutes to plan out how you want to connect all the components. Cables usually cost a
small fortune at hardware stores, so it's always good to know what you really need.
That goes for cable-length as well. More often than not you'll need a longer cable than
anticipated, because you won't be able to connect the TV and your PC in a straight line or
you want to hide the cable. Rule of thumb: Everything longer than 5m is going to lead to
signal degradation. So the longer your cable gets, the better its quality should be.
Donīt forget about the sound!
1. The sound also needs to get from your
computer to your amp or speakers. You won't need to connect your DVD ROM to your soundcard
unless you want to listen to Audio CDs. If you're planning to connect your soundcard's
digital output to an AC-3 compatible amplifier, things get a bit more complex. Since I
don't have that kind of (audio) hardware at the moment, I can't offer any advice on
this... :-(
2. Audio jack - cinch cable. This cable
connects your soundcard to your stereo or surround system.
3. Extension cables or connectors. In case
your cinch cables are too short.
4. If you play with one set of speakers on
your PC but want to use a surround system for movies too, you can use a simple y-adapter
to split the signal. But beware: These are often quite big, and space on the back of a
soundcard is at a premium.
What I'm saying here is that with just a bit of planning
you can save yourself a lot of driving around, money and trouble in general.
Now let's get to the cards themselves and the problems they
may present. The first step for owners of a GeForce or GeForce 2 based card is finding out
what TV-Out chip is used on their card. This can be either a Conexant/Brooktree Bt869KRF
or a Chrontel 7002 to 7007 series chip. Two simple ways to find out which one your card
uses is to either have a look at the board itself (some pictures of that later on) or
check out what the driver info tells you:
This is a screenshot of the relevant portion
of NVIDIA's reference driver. (I suppose I don't need to tell you what the orange line is
for...? *g* ). A list of all NVIDIA cards including their TV-Out chipset can be found here. |
