Does anyone know how I can make my computer screen go onto my TV? My dad was somehow able to do it through an RF modulator, but I have one and a load of cables and I've tried all sorts of different ways to get it to work and I got nothin. I have an S-Video cable, a S-video cable port on the TV and computer, an antenna jack on the TV and a cord that goes into that, and the white red and yellow cables (and the jacks for those on the TV). How in the world do I get this thing to work?
Also, the RF modulator "On" light isn't even coming on no matter what I do, so is it possible its defective? It's from Radio Shack.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
You need a video-out port on your computer, or else a RGB-to-S-video adapter. I suspect that the S-video port on your computer is Video-In, not Video-Out.
Posted by Dr Strangelove (Member # 8331) on :
So it can't be done?
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I would think that the S-Video is video out . . . at least, it is an all of our computers that have S-video ports. Are we talking about a laptop?
The TV has an S-Video input and connecting them directly is not working? Here are two things to check: Your TV remote probably has a button to switch to video input instead of antenna/cable. Have you pushed it? If you have multiple video inputs, you make have to push that button multiple times. Finally, your laptop might need to have a button pushed to make it put the video out--it may not be automatic like VGA is. Bring up the display properties (you can right click on the desktop to get to this quickly), click on the Settings tab, and click on Advanced settings. One of the tabs might be for monitors, but on all the computers I have seen, it has always been different, so you might need to play it by ear, or, perhaps, take screenshots. On many computers I have worked with, you can bypass all of this by hitting the Function key and F4, or possibly one of the other function keys. (I know, vague again, but look for diagrams above your function keys.) Also, on one computer I have worked on, you could turn on the video output simply by right clicking on the desktop and choosing that option. But the long and short of it is that video out is not usually enabled; you have to make it so.
If for whatever reason the S-Video doesn't work, you can buy at adaptor to convert S-Video to RCA at Radio Shack or at Circuit City, and use the RCA (yellow) input instead of the S-Video.
Worst case scenario, if Tom is right, and you really don't have a video output, CompUSA sells a USB/VGA adaptor for about $60.
Can you tell that showing video from laptops is a big part of my work? Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
It CAN be done, but possibly not with the hardware you currently own. Do you know what kind of video card you have?
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
(It doesn't seem like you should need an RF modulator at all, btw.)
Posted by Dr Strangelove (Member # 8331) on :
Yeah, I've now come to that same conclusion, as I'm looking at this on the TV now. Unfortunately its a crappy TV, so it's not exactly working out as well as i'd hoped, but oh well. Turns out that I'm an idiot: I just needed to put batteries in the remote and change it to Video 1, and then change the output to Television, and it worked fine. *sigh*. Well, that will hopefully fill my ignorance quota for a while. Anyways, thanks for helping guys.
Posted by Dr Strangelove (Member # 8331) on :
Oh, and I'm still happy I got the modulator. It just sounds so cool. "Watchya doin?" "Oh, I'm fiddling with my RF modulator".
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