Ashton said:
I"ve got a computer running Win7 with media center. I'm on Cox cable.
The cable modem goes to a wireless router. A cat5 cable goes from the
wireless router to my win7 computer. The wireless part I use with
laptops.
My question is... is there a simple way to "connect" my computer to my
TV so that whatever I would otherwise watch on my computer monitor
gets sent to my TV? My thought is some kind of box so The TV input
would be from that "box" that would get the data from the computer,
over the wireless, and then run that thru and HDMI port into the TV.
Computer --- Video Card ------- Regular_LCD_Monitor
------- VGA or HDMI output, running to TV set
Computer --- Streaming_Software ---- Ethernet_Cable or Wireless --- TV
In the second case, what you see on the computer monitor, is not the
same as the TV. The TV is used like it was a "projector screen", in the
sense that you can stream movies to the TV set.
The first setup, the video card has three connectors on the faceplate,
and you can use any two of them at the same time. You run the screens
in "clone mode", such that both the LCD monitor and TV have exactly
the same resolution.
There are occasionally problems with sending video to the TV.
The NVidia driver for their video card, prevents at least one
cloning mode from working with a TV, and that's part of preventing
people from copying movies or something. So that can be an issue,
depending on what you're trying to do. Things didn't always work
that way. And this would be for the first setup.
Since a VGA or HDMI cable, will have a limited length, there
are also wireless transmission methods to get the signal to
a TV set. But at that point (if TV is far enough away), you're
better off using a streaming method instead, as network methods
can reach further. Not all TVs have networking, not all TVs even
have VGA/HDMI.
My TV has composite, and you need an older video card with a mini-DIN
on the faceplate, to talk to my TV set. The composite cable, a coax,
I think that would reach about as far as VGA would.
And another way to get to a TV set, is via the antenna lead.
You can use an RF modulator, to go from composite or S-Video
(4 pin) to a Channel 3 or Channel 4 analog TV antenna. This is
how I've connected a $50 DVD player, to a small TV. You could
take the composite or S-video from a computer, and run it through
one of these, and the RF antenna signal could be run a reasonably
long distance (as the TV set has AGC on the antenna input, and
can detect a relatively weak signal).
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103095
The picture quality on my small cheap TV, looks better over the
modulator, than over a direct composite cable connection. Which
is pretty hard to believe. The direct connection really should
have been better.
The VGA or HDMI should look better than any composite or S-video
path, as those have higher bandwidth for a sharper picture. But
the cable length is limited in that case.
And finally, just for chuckles, this gear will run an HDMI signal
wirelessly. The wireless is UWB (ultra wide band). The setup would
look like this (computer screens in "clone" mode)...
http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-for-HDMI-UWB-Technology/dp/B000VBBPPM
Computer --- Video Card ------- Regular_LCD_Monitor
------- HDMI output -- Gefen_wireless
/
/
Gefen_wireless --- HDMI --- TV
For the price of the Gefen, you could buy another computer
Or buy another TV and stick it next to the computer.
Paul
