Playing Dvd's On My Computer

[dgoz]

Is it possible to use my laptop as a dvd player and watch it on a tv screen. Are there cables and how would I set it up?

[Crossy]

Yes, but it depends upon your laptop (and the TV).

Many have an S-Video socket that you can simply link to your telly (along with a seperate audio lead), most of these will also run in a 'dual-head' mode so you get the video on the TV and the normal desktop on your LCD.

Time to get out the manual for your laptop

If you've not got an S-Video output (it looks like a keyboard connector) there are boxes you plug into the VGA that do the conversion (1-2000 Baht), I have one of these which works quite well.

Of course, if you have an LCD TV, most (all?) have a VGA input anyway, QED.

[astral]

Don't forget the sound.

You need a cable with a jack on one end, to go in the headphone socket on you PC

and RCA plugs (red and white) to connect to the TV.

It is easier if the TV has s-video in, but one of my dvd drives came with an s-video to rca (yellow) adapter cable.

[solo siam]

If you have an LCD/Plasma or TV with a VGA connection, that will provide the best quality - make sure to select the correct resolution, even better if your laptop has a DVI out and the TV a DVI in or HDMI in.

[monty]

Ben,

My PC's got a DVI out, but not my TV (Benq LCD 32"). It does have the HDMI input.

Is there anyway to hook it up that way? I'm using the TV as a super dooper monitor on my desk, but the image is not completely stable using the plane jane vga cable, eventhough I'm using the by Benq recommended resolution!

[astral]

Try swapping the VGA cable.

Any bad connection will affect the image.

I have this problem at work when using video projectors for presentations.

[solo siam]

Hi,

Yes you can buy a DVi to HDMI cable which will do the job fine, the VGA resolution however should be stable, what refresh rate are you using? the BenQ has a resolution of 1280x720 if I remember correctly.

You can also get a DVI-VGA dongle which may be of some use as a last resort.