TV out dongle

Posted by: wfaulk

TV out dongle - 03/10/2004 16:02

I have a laptop that does not have a built-in TV output. Does anyone know of a USB, FireWire, or even PCMCIA dongle to provide TV output so that I can play video files onto a TV? I'd have thought that this would be easy to find, but apparently not.
Posted by: tfabris

Re: TV out dongle - 03/10/2004 16:48

Quote:
I'd have thought that this would be easy to find, but apparently not.

Yeah, because it's not just an adapter plug. Converting VGA to television requires scanrate conversion and such, which is do-able but not a trivial task. And it's gotten to the point where that feature is built-in to enough video cards and laptops that it's not as huge of an issue as it used to be. And since most people needing to put computer pictures up on a bigger screen are usually doing it on conference room projectors which have VGA-in, there's not a lot of corporate push for that sort of thing.

But anyway, what I think you need to be googling on is a VGA to TV converter. I know they exist, I have no idea how much they cost or anything.
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: TV out dongle - 03/10/2004 17:18

I suppose VGA to TV would work, but I was thinking that there would be something that would do native NTSC.
Posted by: tfabris

Re: TV out dongle - 03/10/2004 18:14

Right, that's called a video card with native TV-out.

But you're talking about a laptop. And they don't make PCMCIA video cards, not enough bandwidth on the PCMCIA slot.

Dunno about how firewire would work, I suppose that feature would exist on some video-editing-station thingamajigs, you know like the "snap" thingys... Perhaps that's the tree you should be barking up.
Posted by: webroach

Re: TV out dongle - 03/10/2004 19:27

Quote:
...And they don't make PCMCIA video cards, not enough bandwidth on the PCMCIA slot.


Errrr.....no.

PCMCIA Video Card
Info regarding PCMCIA video cards at the Berkeley Center For Embedded Systems Design
Posted by: drakino

Re: TV out dongle - 03/10/2004 19:42

Quote:
And they don't make PCMCIA video cards, not enough bandwidth on the PCMCIA slot.


Out of a PCMCIA slot, probably not. Out of a modern day Zoomed Video Cardbus slot, yes.
Posted by: webroach

Re: TV out dongle - 03/10/2004 19:44

Quote:
Out of a PCMCIA slot, probably not.


Again, I point to the first site I linked above.
Posted by: drakino

Re: TV out dongle - 03/10/2004 19:50

Quote:
Again, I point to the first site I linked above.


Thats what I get for keeping a reply window open too long.

The above linked card is a Cardbus card using Zoomed Video. As far as I know, there wasn't a 16 bit PC Card video solution. Not that lack of Cardbus or Zoomed Video support should be a problem, as every laptop worth using these days likely has it. If you start getting into 486 laptops, then it could be an issue.
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: TV out dongle - 03/10/2004 20:01

This looks about like what I want. Even includes audio out, which is super.
Posted by: gbeer

Re: TV out dongle - 05/10/2004 05:53

Quote:
This looks about like what I want. Even includes audio out, which is super.


Looks like that meets your requirement. Did you intend to mirror the desktop as well? I don't think it does that.

I have the Instant TV gadget. Works well hooked up to a bullet cam.
Posted by: g_attrill

Re: TV out dongle - 05/10/2004 06:48

Otherwise this kind of thing can be had on ebay for very little money.

Gareth
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: TV out dongle - 05/10/2004 13:01

Nope. I just want to be able to play video files on the TV. My only concern is whether it'll be able to play random codecs over that link or if they'll need to be in their own format. I'll find that out before I commit.