Video Card for TV (Composite or S-Video)

[Tinker]

I wanted to see if anyone can recomend a video card to connect a PC to a TV using S-Video (or even composite) for a client machine. I have played with connecting laptops to a TV before for presentations etc and had very, very, very bad results. Any sugesstions?

[nitrogen_widget]

Just about any recent Video card will do.
You just need to make sure the TV is the primary monitor & the resolution is set to 720x480.

Windows text will look horrible if not unreadable at that resolution.

[Tinker]

I haven't shopped for video cards in a while. It used to be that the standard off the shelf video card has only the High Density DB15 connector. RCA jacks or S-Video connections on a video card, are they typical for current video cards? The one I am currently using has only the DB15 HD.

[stustunz]

pretty much all have svideo these days
the drivers can make a big difference sometimes older drivers work better if all you want is svideo out
the problem you will find now is that a agp card will be double the price of a pci-e(new type) card
depends on what you want to do really need more info

[gEd]

If you only want to watch standard definition tv, you might consider getting a second hand card off ebay. Something like an nvidea 6600, 7300, 7600. ATI 9600pro, 9800, x800 etc.

[crossnet]

Another option is to use a VGA adapter cable which will convert your video output to S video and composite. Or you could get a FX5200 AGP card on EBAY for around $10.00.

emr

[Tinker]

Thansks guys! Great tips.

[zed]

I have a spare FX5200 card I'll sell you...

[zaphod7501]

Another option is to use a VGA adapter cable which will convert your video output to S video and composite.

I'm guessing you mean a Transcoder, a bit more than just an adapter. They start around $100 and do work very well. They allow passthrough so you PC monitor is still connected and you don't need to mess with primary/secondary setup and videos you might play will always appear on the TV. It will always produce a TV compatible S-Video or Composite signal regardless of your desktop resolution.