I'm planning a holiday this summer inThailand, where I would like to purchase a flat-screen TV set for my (wife's) house.

Can someone advise me whether I will be able to project video, using HDMI or VGA from a Kubuntu laptop, to this TV set, or will I face issues related to PAL vs. NTSC?

I'm traveling from the US. The video originates from DVDs procured both in the US and in Thailand that have been copied using 'vobcopy'.

I watch my TV shows and Movies through a USB, download them onto my laptop and then plug the USB into my TV.

Samsung TV now 2 years old, plays lots of different formats.

TV also Has a HDMI cable which I can use to play from my laptop to connect to the TV.

THe downside to that though is that the Computer can run out of batteries when it is near the TV and then it is a ballache to connect it to the power outlet. Also when running the computer through the HDMI cable it means that I can't use my computer whilst watching TV.

Which I am incidently doing right now, Series 3 of Mad Men and typing this.

Good luck. Personally I think USB is the way to go.

I am assuming the Videos are .avi, mp4 or wmv or similar formats that you have downloaded so no I am sure PAL/NTSC has any thing to do with it as PAL/NTSC is to do with the way the TV signal is broadcast.number lines and frame rates. This was an issue with VHS Video Recorders. Most TV have VGA and HDMI. I use HDMI to my TV from my laptop all the time no issues.

Barry,

Awesome! Thanks for allaying my concerns about PAL vs. NTSC.

I experimented yesterday with my Vizio set (VOJ32OF), but to my surprise, I could not get the HDMI input to work. Upon digging out the owner's manual, I found that the TV only supports PC connections through the VGA port. I guess that an indicator that my TV set is waaay past its prime.

Hopefully I will be able to (easily) find a set in Thailand that supports HDMI connections. Do you suppose that store owners will allow me to "test drive" a TV set at their store before I purchase it?

-----------------------------------

Dorkers,

I also tried connecting my laptop to my Samsung 50" DLP, via the HDMI port, and it worked fine, but only at the 1280x720 resolution. I don't plan to buy such a large/expensive TV while in Thailand, but instead something smaller. I just hope the less expensive TV sets have the features I require.

Since you are going to buy a new TV anyway make sure that you buy a Smart TV, which will have a media player built in. No messy cable to deal with. Just plug in your USB stick or external hard drive and play your media

Most of the new TV's here now have this ability

You need to be careful with the laptops screen resolution by setting the output to no more than 1920x1080 as above that most TV will not sync up correctly and you get no video. If you have proved your set up in the US first then I see no reason they won't let you try before you buy there are normally many staff hanging around in most stores that sell TV's any way so you get lot of assistance. Language will be your only issue as most don't speak much English hows you Thai.

I run a free program on my PC/Laptops called Media Portal http://www.team-mediaportal.com/. that organizes all my TV shows and movies etc if you interested.

Just to add a little closure to this thread, I decided against using my laptop to view movies, and instead procured a Micca Media Player (specifically this one). The Media Player reads my 1TB USB HDD without a sweat, and plays back video (and audio) onto the TV using the HDMI port. The device also has a power transformer that permits usage in 110V and 220V countries.

I hope to be testing this device in Thailand in a few days.