TV Out

[OwenTMoL]

Ok. I have a feeling this is a really dumb question but I need an answer pretty badly.
I've got 2 graphics cards with tv out.
I've never even attempted to use tv out before.
I set up thinking it'll be a doddle until I realise I have a PC to TV wire that dosn't fit in my tv.
Both ends of the wire are fitted for a PC TV Out socket. That normal? If so how the hell do I connect it to my TV.

[Rythmic]

Depends what inputs you have on your TV. Theres four major types atm:

Composite - single phono - nasty quality
SVideo - mini DIN plug, sort of like a PS/2 keyboard but with 4 connectors - OK quality
SCART - big 21pin connector - can carry RGB (great quality), Svideo or composite.
Component - three phonos - best quality

(ok some tellies have DVI as well, and theres a few other standards up and coming - but this is all is likely to be there).

Tell us what you've got and we'll be able to give you more of a hand

[OwenTMoL]

Um, Well the one i'm most concerned about is a circular socket with a big centre pin about the size of the Tv Output socket.
The standard Aerial cable I believe.

[directhex]

that's either composite or rf

i've never seen kit to connect form tv-out to rf, though bear in mnind the quality isn't just "eye bleeding", it's "lie on the floor crying as your limbs fall offf from no longer considering life attached to someone exposed to that image quality worth living"

[Rythmic]

If you're talking about the same connector as you aerial - then as directhex says - it's rf - and thats really, really, really, really, really nasty.

Sure you've not got a SCART socket? - they've been on teles for about 15 years now.

[malfunction]

Sounds like you've got a composite out. If you have a composite in (phono) on your TV there's usually 3 in a row (yellow = composite, red = right audio, white = left audio IIRC). If you've got a scart socket instead you can get a converter that you can plug the composite lead into (the scart leads that come with the PS2 and Gamecube have these converters with them...)

Edit:

If your TV only has an RF socket on the back it will look SIMILAR to required phono in but won't fit - the inner (female) pin's diameter is roughly the same size as the phono plug's inner (male) pin and so won't fit... If you TV is that old though maybe it's time it went the way of the dinosaur?

[OwenTMoL]

Well I only want it to play games on a bigger screen. I'm more interested than anything else. I'm not looking for a pro image however in my house I have TVs with pretty much any fairly common socket you can imagine.
I'm pretty annoyed there's no way to run it through RF as I wanted it on my big TV.
None of this explains though how the hell I have a wire that can have either end plugged into my Card's TV Out and nothing like any kind of TV connection i've ever seen.

[OwenTMoL]

EDIT: I'm fairly well aquainted with connecting Tvs. I've had several VCRs, Games Consoles and Set top Boxes.
Think it'd be possible to set it up To SCART, To VCR, To RF?

[malfunction]

Do the plugs on the lead look like this:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=e...8&q=phono+plug

Or this:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=e...&q=svideo+plug

?

[malfunction]

Does your TV have one of these:

http://www.rfconcepts.co.uk/scart.jpg

[Rythmic]

TBH - probably the lead you have is an svideo lead - not brilliantly common on UK gear, except computers (4 pin connection on a MiniDIN)

If you look at the plug and the socket on the gfx card you'll probably also notice that theres an pin in the socket thats not used - this normally carries a composite signal. Your gfx card should have come with an adaptor to let you use this instead of svideo.

Yes SCART through a video recorder is possible - though quality is fairly poor.

You can get Svideo to SCART adaptors and composite to SCART adaptors. Svideo through SCART may not work as many SCART inputs do not support it.

[OwenTMoL]

http://www.boadica.com.br/imagesdica/svideo.gif

That one.
Well that buggers it all up dosn't it.
Actually one of the reasons I was bothering with all this was os I could hook my PC up to the TV downstairs because my monitor is upstairs and bloody heavy and my work desk is downstairs.
That way I could make sure the PC was running without having to lug it up and odwn a set of steps.
So lemme see if I've got this right.
I've got a lead with an uncommon output, Adaptor's appear to be hard to find and a scart adaptor might not work anyway?
Fantastic.

P.S I would like to clarify that I do recognise a phono plug, a scart plug, an RF (but i've always called them aerial wires) and most other Tv Wires. I had however never seen this particular socket before.

[Rythmic]

Unfortunately in the states SVideo is very, very common.

Don't panic - normally if you've got a telly with multiple SCART connections, one of them will support SVideo. The adaptor can be bought from maplins (quick code: VA12N) and for £8.50 its worth a try.

[malfunction]

Owen... Relax! You can get a converter and it will work AFAIK. Probably a bit messy though - most GFX cards that have s video include a converter to change that back to phono (if not let me know - I have a couple of spares still I think) and if you don't have phono-in on your TV you can convert that to scart if you have it... You can convert composite to RF too but you really will get kaka picture out of it. Even via composite (and indeed s-video) you'll get a pretty bad picture - OK for DVDs, ok for most games but absolutely crap for 2D (especially text).

If / when you set up the TV out you'll need the PC, monitor and TV in one place to do it anyway (unless you have a bloody long cable and want to run up and down the stairs a few times!)

[OwenTMoL]

*Deep Breaths*
Sorry, I'm just a little stressed at the moment. I have exams (Though not many left, most of the important ones are done) and I was expecting this PC building scheme to be relaxing (I dunno where I got that from.)

How about I give a rundown of the exact contents of my graphics card's box.
1) An XFX Geforce MX 4000
2) A wire that fits the TV out socket on both ends
3) A manual
4) A driver disk.

If I should have had an adaptor i'm a little more bugged.
I did however get a little touchy but you're all being really helpful so

[malfunction]

PM me your address and I'll post off an svga to composite / phono adapter to you next time I pop out...