Heh...my kid didn't even want to use the big TV in the living room. Kid's original plan was to have guests huddle around the 14" laptop screen for 7 hours. Kid didn't like my idea at all! Typical 15yo, right? ;-) (Actually, my ex had tendencies like this also. The stories I could tell about his expectation that all the humans had to adapt without any effort being made to arrange things right!!)
I couldn't find a vertical hold control on the TV. I know we used to have to fiddle with them frequently on the first TV my family ever got (back in the Dark Ages!), but I didn't find one on this TV.
I did try plugging directly into the RCA jacks on the front of the DVD player, but that went nowhere. In fact, that was what I tried first. I didn't get the RF modulator out of the drawer until the computer-to-DVD-to-TV connection failed. Oh, I just remembered I couldn't figure out how to get the DVD to use "aux" input. That would have been the thing to do, right? I'm using a universal remote for the DVD, and I couldn't even get a menu to come up.
There's also an analog-to-digital box in this setup. Or is it a digital-to-analog box? When our cable went digital, we all had to go pick up a cable conversion box from the cable company. As I recall, even my kid's brand new flat screen TV required one. That seemed odd to me.
I didn't try plugging the coax into the cable conversion box first, as if it were the coax coming from the wall. That might be worth trying - unless you just flat can't EXPECT an old tube-type TV to work as a monitor for a computer???
Should I give up on this pipe dream?
--- In simplycomputers2@yahoogroups.com, "RogerX19" <helpmeroger@...> wrote:
>
> I know you said you tried all of the refresh rates, but 60 Hz is the only one that should work correctly.
>
> Did you try adjusting the Vertical Hold on the TV? you didn't say.
>
> The computer doesn't get any "handshaking" from the TV or any other monitor. The display is an output signal only, the computer doesn't look for a response signal from the display device.
>
> If you tried a higher refresh rate than 60 Hz, the RF modulator may have been correcting for it, which is why you didn't notice any change.
>
> You probably cannot make any adjustments to the RF Modulator, so if you can't adjust the TV frequency to match, you may be out of luck.
>
> You'll have better luck with the 23" monitor, and the boom box.
>
> ps ... you did all that messing around because your "kid didn't want to burn a DVD" ????
>
> rogerX
>
> --- In simplycomputers2@yahoogroups.com, "BeautyIsAGeek" <toyotaokiec@> wrote:
> >
> > I connected my desktop computer (XP Professional) at home to my TV using a VGA-to-video converter and RF modulator.
> >
> > The TV is old, but it works great! And it fits in my entertainment center. That's one of the main reasons I haven't sprung for a new flat screen TV. It's a Philips Magnavox CRT 25" with stereo speakers built in. It cost $12.50 a couple of months ago at a second hand store. It only has connectors for coax and antenna, so that's why I used the RF modulator. I already had it because my old GE 19" TV was the one I bought in 1985, and it only had coax and antenna connectors, too. It still works, so it's been moved to a bedroom. (I know that seems OT, but it illustrates how FRUGAL I like to be!)
> >
> > I was able to get the picture to show on the TV, but it had no color and would not stop rolling. I tried every refresh rate setting I could find on the computer, but nothing changed on the TV. It almost seemed like, since the computer was unable to receive any handshaking from the old TV, it refused to change anything in the signal that went to the TV. Or, was the RF modulator overriding the changes I was making on the computer?
> >
> > The sound worked fine. I got it to the TV using an audio splitter cable that plugged into the VGA-to-video converter, then into the RF modulator. The sound connection only worked when the video was plugged in, too. There was also a USB cable that ran from the computer to the VGA-to-video converter. I did try hooking up external stereo speakers using just an audio cable, but they weren't powered, so no sound came out.
> >
> > We ended up putting the computer next to the TV, covering the TV's display because the rolling was annoying, using a new 23" flat screen monitor on the computer, and the speakers built into the TV. I ran out of time to rig up anything else. (We were getting this ready for some friends of my kid to come over and watch some videos. My kid's idea was to have them gather around the laptop in the bedroom, but I said I didn't think that was a very good way to treat guests and suggested trying to use the big TV in the living room.)
> >
> > I'm sure there are lots of different ways to accomplish my goal of playing the computer-based videos on the TV. (My kid didn't want to burn a DVD.) Is there anything else I can do to get the video on the TV to stop rolling and show color? It seemed like I was really close to getting it to work!
> >
> > If we do this again and I can't come up with a way to make it play completely on the TV, I think I'll get a 3.5mm-to-3.5mm cable and run the audio to my boom box audio in. That should give good enough sound from the computer to not be annoying.
> >
> > Still, I'd rather get it to play on the TV.
> >
> > Ideas?
> >
> > If you can't tell, I'm trying to avoid spending money I can't justify. In other words, I can't justify a new big HD TV and all the extra stuff (furniture!) go to with it. I didn't plan to buy the new computer flat screen monitor, but the old monitor was starting to flake out anyway, so I went ahead and got one.
> >
>
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