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Simple Entertainment Questions
I am looking for a simply home entertainment system. I live in an apt
and will likely never get even 5.1, no less some great home theater experience. I don't care about HD until I can't get a TV that does not have it. My TV is non-LCD and I kind of like it that way. But I do have thousands of CDs I want to digitize and would like to use my computer as a DVR. I currently have a 100W per channel stereo and never push the volume at all. Oh, and my current computer is a newish Compaq Presario (Intel dual core E2140, on-board sound and video, DVD). What I would like is to drive the TV and speakers from the PC. If it makes a big difference I can't get the TV closer than about 30 feet from the PC. So what kind of set up can I get? TIA. -- Matt Silberstein Do something today about the Darfur Genocide http://www.beawitness.org http://www.darfurgenocide.org http://www.savedarfur.org "Darfur: A Genocide We can Stop" |
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Simple Entertainment Questions
Matt Silberstein wrote:
I am looking for a simply home entertainment system. I live in an apt and will likely never get even 5.1, no less some great home theater experience. I don't care about HD until I can't get a TV that does not have it. My TV is non-LCD and I kind of like it that way. But I do have thousands of CDs I want to digitize and would like to use my computer as a DVR. I currently have a 100W per channel stereo and never push the volume at all. Oh, and my current computer is a newish Compaq Presario (Intel dual core E2140, on-board sound and video, DVD). What I would like is to drive the TV and speakers from the PC. If it makes a big difference I can't get the TV closer than about 30 feet from the PC. So what kind of set up can I get? TIA. If you look at some of the video cards, they have a round mini-DIN connector on the faceplate. You can see in the picture here, it is labeled as "TV-out". http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggIma...102-152-03.jpg Pictures of some of the pinout possibilities, are shown here for mini-DIN. The DIN connector could have seven pins for example, of which four on the outside circumference would be the S-video pins. (VIVO cards have all but disappeared.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-Video The TV set could have a composite video connector (RCA jack). It could have an S-video connector (DIN 4 pin). More modern sets may have component video input (YPrPb), and the advantage of a format like that, is there isn't a bandwidth cap. Composite and S-video are related to broadcast television, where the video signal is designed to be passed in a limited bandwidth TV broadcast channel. When you buy a video card, they can come with various adapters and cables included. If you're buying a video card, just for the ability to drive more types of display devices, then perhaps you'd be looking for a good assortment of cables to go with the video card. In the picture here, the video card example above, comes with a couple accessories. For example, the yellow thing has a DIN connector with four pins on one end (gets S-video from the graphics card output) and there is an RCA connector on the other end, and that connector has composite 75 ohm on it. Composite is the only input my cheap color TV set has on it, and so I use that "yellow bullet" to do the conversion. Inside the yellow bullet, should be a capacitor that joins the luminance and chrominance together, to give the composite signal. http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggIma...102-152-06.jpg The other adapter in the picture, wires certain pins on the DIN, to three color signals. They labeled that adapter as "HDTV", as the HDTV is more likely to have those connectors on the back. In the article here, you can see the cable ends in three male RCA connectors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YPrPb If the TV set had S-video (4 pin DIN) on the back, then you'd need an S-video cable to go from 4 pin DIN to 4 pin DIN. Some video cards bundle one of those cables, but it may be easier to just go to the store and buy the length of cable you want. So those are examples of analog TV outputs. There are also digital means of getting a signal to a TV set, such as DVI or more likely HDMI, which is more popular with modern (LCD TV) sets. The length of the digital cable, may be more of a problem, but the picture quality should be a lot better. This is what I'd do - 1) Purchase video card with DIN "TV-out" connector on the faceplate. Ensure "yellow bullet" or DIN to composite video adapter is included. Or, a DIN equipped cable for carrying S-video to the TV set. 2) Install video card, install drivers. Connect any necessary adapters and cables, between video card DIN and back of TV set. The cables used should be coaxial and 75 ohms impedance. Stores like RadioShack may have examples of cables, but more reasonably priced products can be found elsewhere. (Everything doesn't need gold connectors on it.) 3) For audio, you'll need a 1/8" stereo miniplug to whatever standard your stereo uses for input. My stereo had a mixer, with multiple stereo interfaces with RCA connectors. So on my stereo, I need a 1/8" plug to dual RCA adapter, to allow cabling the computer audio to my stereo system. http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2103225 To go from that adapter, to the stereo, I'd use a patch cord like this. As this is an "audio" cable, it doesn't use coaxial cable, and should be as cheap as dirt. Again, you can get lower prices elsewhere. http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2102939 As for the length of the cable, I haven't tested really long runs of video. I wouldn't expect too much of a problem with composite or S-video, because the bandwidth is about 4MHz, and not quite as much of a problem as extending the 15 pin VGA for a computer monitor. Long runs of cable have losses at high frequencies, and for computer monitor usage, sometimes you have to drop the resolution setting, to be able to use it that way. A long run of cable would probably work OK with analog video. Just a guess. Another word of caution. Don't expect miracles from the TV set. My cheap color set is uniformly miserable with just about every kind of composite signal I've tried on it. So after going to all that trouble, you might not get a crystal clear picture. Good luck, Paul |
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