Using TV as a PC monitor

Thinking of setting up a PC in the lounge under the telly and connecting the
PC and TV using S-Video to SCART adapter from graphics card to TV. Is this
going to look rubbish, or can I expect a fairly decent picture? Idea is to
then use PC as a DVD player cum MP3 player cum photo album cum internet
browset thing.

> Thinking of setting up a PC in the lounge under the telly and connecting
> the PC and TV using S-Video to SCART adapter from graphics card to TV. Is
> this going to look rubbish, or can I expect a fairly decent picture? Idea
> is to then use PC as a DVD player cum MP3 player cum photo album cum
> internet browset thing.

Sorry - wrong newsgroup...going to repost in uk.comp.homebuilt........

news.ntlworld.com wrote in message
L66mh.62858$(E-Mail Removed):

> Thinking of setting up a PC in the lounge under the telly and
> connecting the PC and TV using S-Video to SCART adapter from graphics
> card to TV. Is this going to look rubbish, or can I expect a fairly
> decent picture? Idea is to then use PC as a DVD player cum MP3
> player cum photo album cum internet browset thing.

It will look *very* poor for any fine detail like text and icons on web
pages. Sadly the quality of a TV is much worse than a computer monitor even
when it's using a 640x480 signal. However it will look OK for DVDs and
photos.

That assumes that you have a computer and a TV which are actually
compatible. My laptop produces S-Video and my TV accepts S-Video - but the
resulting picture is bleached almost completely white with throbbing
colours. Feeding the signal through the VCR (ie using the VCR as an S-Video
to PAL converter!) gives slightly better results, but still not the proper
brightness and contrast range. And yes, I've tried with the laptop set to
either PAL or NTSC - makes no significant difference.

In MsgID<4598f795$0$8722$(E-Mail Removed)> on Mon, 1
Jan 2007 11:59:13 -0000, in uk.comp.home-networking, 'Martin Underwood'
wrote:

>news.ntlworld.com wrote in message
>L66mh.62858$(E-Mail Removed):
>
>> Thinking of setting up a PC in the lounge under the telly and
>> connecting the PC and TV using S-Video to SCART adapter from graphics
>> card to TV. Is this going to look rubbish, or can I expect a fairly
>> decent picture? Idea is to then use PC as a DVD player cum MP3
>> player cum photo album cum internet browset thing.
>
>It will look *very* poor for any fine detail like text and icons on web
>pages. Sadly the quality of a TV is much worse than a computer monitor even
>when it's using a 640x480 signal. However it will look OK for DVDs and
>photos.
>
>That assumes that you have a computer and a TV which are actually
>compatible. My laptop produces S-Video and my TV accepts S-Video - but the
>resulting picture is bleached almost completely white with throbbing
>colours. Feeding the signal through the VCR (ie using the VCR as an S-Video
>to PAL converter!) gives slightly better results, but still not the proper
>brightness and contrast range. And yes, I've tried with the laptop set to
>either PAL or NTSC - makes no significant difference.
>

Depending on your graphics card, you can sometimes find updated drivers
that include a 'front panel' with gamma, contrast and colour range
adjustments. That might make it more bearable.

Dave J.
--
Support a referendum on UK ID cards before they are
inflicted at stupendous cost for negligible reward.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/IDreferendum/

In article <enb7f4$bf0$(E-Mail Removed)>
Dave J. <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
<snip>
>
> Depending on your graphics card, you can sometimes find updated drivers
> that include a 'front panel' with gamma, contrast and colour range
> adjustments. That might make it more bearable.
>
It might be worth trying EnTech PowerStrip.

>"Rob Morley" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed) et...
> In article <enb7f4$bf0$(E-Mail Removed)>
> Dave J. <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> <snip>
>>
>> Depending on your graphics card, you can sometimes find updated drivers
>> that include a 'front panel' with gamma, contrast and colour range
>> adjustments. That might make it more bearable.
>>
> It might be worth trying EnTech PowerStrip.

Buy a new TV with VGA Input, most Rear Project have them, I bought my Sony
44" for £130 on ebay not Hi Def but not Hi Price, perfect for a media
centre, as DVI input too and many more

"Martin Underwood" <a@b> wrote in message
news:4598f795$0$8722$(E-Mail Removed)...
> news.ntlworld.com wrote in message
> L66mh.62858$(E-Mail Removed):
>
> > Thinking of setting up a PC in the lounge under the telly and
> > connecting the PC and TV using S-Video to SCART adapter from graphics
> > card to TV. Is this going to look rubbish, or can I expect a fairly
> > decent picture? Idea is to then use PC as a DVD player cum MP3
> > player cum photo album cum internet browset thing.
>
> It will look *very* poor for any fine detail like text and icons on web
> pages. Sadly the quality of a TV is much worse than a computer monitor
even
> when it's using a 640x480 signal. However it will look OK for DVDs and
> photos.

i think you have a better chance with a TV designed for HD, as long as it
has good resolution.

but you can get units designed to do both jobs

i have a samsung 730MW here which is a 17" LCD combined TV and widescreen
monitor. (780 x 1280) - does well for both - but a fair bit more expensive
than just a monitor or a TV.

Only annoying bit is it takes a relatively long time to switch between the
sources.
>
> That assumes that you have a computer and a TV which are actually
> compatible. My laptop produces S-Video and my TV accepts S-Video - but the
> resulting picture is bleached almost completely white with throbbing
> colours. Feeding the signal through the VCR (ie using the VCR as an
S-Video
> to PAL converter!) gives slightly better results, but still not the proper
> brightness and contrast range. And yes, I've tried with the laptop set to
> either PAL or NTSC - makes no significant difference.
>
--
Regards

(E-Mail Removed) - replace xyz with ntl