[YorkyUK1]

Hi,

I have a laptop with a S-Video output and wondered if it is possible to connect it to a CRT TV (old type TV, not a LCD TV) so I can watch DVD, surf the internet or watch you tube videos etc?

My TV has a Scart connection and my laptop has a 4-pin S-Video connection.

Also, if this is possible do I need to change any settings on my Laptop to achieve this?


Thanks for your time...

[Matt_C]

GOnna be really hard to offer any kind of advice without knowing what TV make and model you have, and what laptop make and model you have.....

[YorkyUK1]

The Laptop is a Toshiba Satellite A30 and the TV is a Goodmans 289NS.

Surely the make of the laptop and TV shouldn't matter as long as the TV has a scart socket and the Laptop has a S-Video connection?

[jon_mendel]

So long as the TV can take s-video over scart, it should be doable. You just need an s-video to scart cable, or the appropriate adapter.

Quality may be nothing to write home about, though, and it can be a hassle to get things like aspect ratio sorted out...

[onkeh]

TVs rarely accept s-video over scart, you'll probably have to go down the s-video -> composite route, which will look less than fantastic. Will be OK for movies but probably unusable for web browsing.

[aekostas]

Both of my CRTs (Philips and Sony) accept S-Video over scart. Thing is they also expose an S-Video socket, so yours not having one (perhaps hidden behind a tidy cover?) may not be a good sign.

Re setup, with both my Dells it was not that bad, but YMMV. The picture is indeed not great.

So YorkyUK1, you need to substantiate if your TV has an S-Video input. A cursory search on google did not yield anything immediately.

[fallenangle]

Originally Posted by onkeh

TVs rarely accept s-video over scart, you'll probably have to go down the s-video -> composite route, which will look less than fantastic. Will be OK for movies but probably unusable for web browsing.

Sorry to contradict but I've only owned one CRT which didn't allow S-Video over SCART. That was one with a single RGB SCART socket and a separate 4 pin S-Video/composite RCA array. Currently I have Grundig, Philips, Sony, Sharp and JVC CRTs - all are S-Video capable via SCART.

Most of the time you'll find S-Video is only enabled on the AV2 SCART or whichever one is non-RGB. Often it has to be specifically selected from the TV's menus.

There's no reason why a laptop can't be displayed on a CRT TV like any other monitor but I do know that simply attaching a laptop via the appropriate cable probably won't work out of the box. As with all things PC related it is rarely that simple. The OP is best off asking about this on the more specialist PC boards.

[YorkyUK1]

Hi,

Just to provide an update I have managed to get the Laptop displayed on the TV and the picture quality is fine. The problem is now that it only displays the picture in black and white even though the settings on the Laptop is in colour.

Any ideas to make it display in colour would be appreciated?



P.S. "The OP is best off asking about this on the more specialist PC boards."

Could anyone suggest any specialist PC boards if they agree and don't think I will get a solution on here?

[fallenangle]

The most obvious and likely reason for why a S-Video connection is displaying only in b/w is that one element in your set up is not S-Video compliant.

Assuming the cable isn't faulty surely it must be the TV. So, as I said in my earlier post, make sure the SCART socket you're using is S-Video capable and that it is enabled from the TV's menus.

If this doesn't work it could be the laptop is outputting a NTSC signal (I assume your TV is PAL). Most UK TVs I've used are set by default to auto- detect the colour system from external sources so if this is the case it is a bit odd. However it maybe that you may need to change the TV's menu settings manually to NTSC if it has that option.

Otherwise if none of this works you really need to ask PC specialists elsewhere about how to change your laptop's output to PAL. I've seen several posts recently on video gaming forums asking about how to do just this so the info is out there if you search.

Best PC forum I've come across for help/questions like this is PC Format magazine's one - no idea what it's like now but there must be others.

[YorkyUK1]

*** Update ***

I have managed to get my Laptop to display on my CRT TV in colour and everything is working fine.

Thanks to all those who have contributed to me finding a solution.

[aekostas]

What was the problem that caused B&W display and how did you fix it?

[YorkyUK1]

It was the settings on the Laptop I found the properties for the external Monitor (the CRT TV) and changed it to PAL.

[zack1978]

I tryed connecting a Dell 9300 to my Toshiba 2577DB 4:3 through S-video i did get a Picture but it suffered terrible Pin Cushion and the fact my TV only scans at 50 Hz made the text look hard to read and a little blury and the sides were missing as the TV not widescreen. I tryed running a Divx movie full screen it looked ok but again not as clear as watching it on my 19" CRT monitor and there's no sound through S-video, had to use Dell notebook speakers, which was ok as the Dell 9300 has a bass speaker

I then tryed THIS !! ..............Scart - 2 RCA Phono & S-Video In / Out Adaptor

but never got a picture

I'm hopfully getting a Toshiba 32ZT29 soon, and as this is widescreen with 100 Hz scan, should give a much better rock solid picture

[aekostas]

Originally Posted by zack1978

I then tryed THIS !! ..............Scart - 2 RCA Phono & S-Video In / Out Adaptor

but never got a picture

Did you try it on an S-Video-capable SCART on your TV? That's what I use with no problems on Sony and Philips TVs with Dell series-4 laptops.