Video display on TV from laptop?

[heffo]

A friend of mine wants to know can he can set up to display from his laptop to his TV. He has a Dell P2 300 CPi laptop. What does he need to connect from laptop to TV to use the TV screen as his monitor.

[confus-ed]

You can buy converter leads, otherwise you need a compatible video card (one with TV out) which is tricky for a laptop....

Perhaps something like this ? (http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/PC-TV_video_adapter.html)

Be warned they can be expensive ! (that one above is !) I found them googling with "VGA tv converter cable" .... if you are an electronics whizz , you can pick up how to make a basic one yourself too .... but they are all beyond me ! :D

I'm sure a bit of 'diligent' googling would find one in your price range, I'm sure I've seen much cheaper stuff .... ;)

[heffo]

Thanks confus-ed, my friend recently borrowed his bosses Toshiba Tecra 9100 and was able to use his TV, but since reading your reply I looked up specs on this model Tecra 9100 and it has a s-video outlet, which would explain why he could do it. Thanks for your reply.

[confus-ed]

Just what video card does this dell have in it ?

Some cards are compatible with very cheap converters, but it depends on the card, I have a matrox G400 max dual head for instance, the TV converter cable for that came free & a replacement is only about $25... it depends if the driver for the card is designed for TV out ... If it is you are on a winner ...

If not though, you need a 'dear' solution like the first link :sad:

What quality of output you want & at what resolutions will govern the choice as well as cost ... (In my case I can have 800x600 on TV ... but the one in the link does 1600 x1200 as good as my monitor)...

[heffo]

The Dell laptop has a Neomagic video!!

[confus-ed]

....a bit of 'diligent' googling would find one in your price range, I'm sure I've seen much cheaper stuff

Maybe's I was being optomistic the 'best' price I can find for a general converter is $69 ..... cheese video box (http://www.tvone.com/cheesebox.shtml) ... not bad but still not that cheap ....

So I guess that's borderline over buying a new Video card with TV out, if its that simple with that particular laptop....

I don't think you can just plug a converter cable into your particular card without it having an rf modulator ... if it were mine I could of course just plug the cable in & see ... so unless you know a matrox owner ....

I doubt it does work without the modulator except with certain cards otherwise all these firms selling fancy converters wouldn't have any market ....