27" TV as Monitor

[kayliebug]

I need help. I just bought a 27" TV to use in my cabinet and I have a video card with video out, DVI out and S-video out. I tried the video and S-video and can't get it to look good. Does anyone have any suggestions. I am going crazy.
My tv has all video inputs including componet video.
Also my video card will only go down to 800 X 600. Do I need to adjust my TV or what. I don't need it to be perfect. I just need to be able to read the text, etc... I didn't know it would be that much difference.
Thanks for any help

[Hoopz]

If you are using windows, you can try using the magnifier to make it so you can read the text.  I haven't used it so I don't know if it will meet your needs.

If your video card won't go lower than 800x600 and nothing else works, then you may have to find a new video card.   I had to take mine lower than that with my 27" tv to be able to read text.  What video card is it?

[kayliebug]

It is the Radeon ATI 9250. I was thinking about getting a VGA to RGB cable.

[Truecade]

Use the component inputs on your 27" TV.  This picture quality will be much better than either S-video or composite.  You will need to buy a VGA-Component adapter to do this.

Also, run your desktop at 640x480 resolution to make the text as large as possbile. 

[brian23]

Yep. Component is the way to go if you have it. Not all TVs do, but the higher-end versions mostly do. Since your TV does, like the previous poster said, a VGA to Component cable will do.

You can get one here:

http://bluejeanscable.com/store/component/vgatocomponent.htm

And just for clarity's sake for anyone who needs more information S-video vs Component vs Composite:

"An S-video cable actually carries two separate signals, one for luminance (Y) and one for chrominance or color (C). The Y signal is the same as in the native component video format. And the C is simply a combination of the B-Y and R-Y color difference signals. (Sometimes you will see S-video referred to as Y/C.) By keeping luminance and chrominance information separate on two wires it prevents most of the signal degradation that is inherent in the conversion to single-wire composite video."

All in all, go for S-video as the cheapest and good quality solution for your dollar. Component is the best solution, but can be more expensive.

[ahofle]

How does component input from a PC card to a TV compare to a true arcade monitor?  Still not nearly as nice looking?

[Doc Thirst]

While we are on the topic...

Given the choice between a 21" computer monitor and a 25/27" TV for a cab what would you choose?

OK what about this...

Given the choice between a free 21" computer monitor and a not free 25/27" TV for a cab what would you choose?

[kayliebug]

Is there any way to make my desktop 640X480. It only goes down to 800X600 on my video card. I think my s-video would look ok if I could do that. Any help?

[Hoopz]

Is there any way to make my desktop 640X480. It only goes down to 800X600 on my video card. I think my s-video would look ok if I could do that. Any help?

I am pretty sure you can.

[ahofle]

Right click on desktop, properties, settings tab, advanced, adapter tab, then click the list all modes button and select the one you want.

[Hoopz]

Right click on desktop, properties, settings tab, advanced, adapter tab, then click the list all modes button and select the one you want.

Yep, thats it.  Couldnt get there on my work PC. 

[elvis]

Another thing to try is to set your fonts from the default 96DPI to a much higher number.  Windows allows 120DPI, but you can add custom values like 200 or more DPI to really make them big.

Also, there are a number of high-visability (ie: large font) themes built into windows.  These are for people using TVs and people with vision problems.  Try using them to see what you are doing.

The only way to get a TV to look as good as an arcade monitor is to use true RGB input (ie: SCART) with native modelines.  Component (ie: YCrCb) is the next best, followed by S-Video and then Composite.

Think about what your PC is doing: It has a native digital size (800x600) which then gets sent to a video card's DAC (Digital-Analogue Converter) to convert it to analogue, then a transcoder which converts it to Y/C, then it gets scaled down to native TV resolution and spat out across a noisey, high-interference line to your TV.  And you wonder why the picture looks so rubbish?

[Sensei]

I too am running Mame on a 27" television.  It connects to the PC via s-video.
I'm running a NVidia video card but in the past had an ATI based card in there.

For both video cards, there was options for clearer fonts for tv based viewing under the advanced option in the  Display Properties.  Clicking through (sometimes they're horribly buried) should eventually come across them.
I found it made a pretty good difference. (of course make sure you have the most current drivers)

Also using either MameWah as a front end makes visibitily even at 800x600 no problem at all for viewing game name/information.  Mame32 was alright but you had to manually bump up the font setting in the options menu.

Personally I opted for the bigger screen of the television as it was .... well.....bigger than most affordable computer monitors.  (sure you could get one about 21" or more but holy crap....the $$$$)

Just my $0.02

Good luck

[kayliebug]

Do they make video cards with component video out?
I got it to 640X480 but how do you move the windos around when they are too big. It displays well but can't  move the windows. Does anyone know where the setting is for tv's
in the properities.

[Sensei]

The settings for television output depends on the drivers for your video card.
Each operate differently and offer different adjustments. (some more than others of course).

Accessing them usually starts with
Control Panel
 ->Display
    ->Settings tabs
       ->Advanced
            -> this is where it depends on your driver (often it will list a tab specifically with your video card brand model having its own tab)
This will also can be different depending on what it has determined you are outputing to.
(if you are currently connected to a computer monitor it shows only those options.  If you are currently connected to a television then....suprise....it should show those options)

Click on this tab and experiment.

As for the 640x480 resolution......I think that operating a computer at that resolution would be frustrating to say the least.  I run the computer (outputing to a television) at 800 x 600.  This makes menus, MameWah (and Mame32 with an adjustment to font size) and game play easy.  Increasing the resolution to 1024x768 makes fonts sometimes difficult to read.

Of course the resolution is accessed by:
Control Panel
  ->Display
    ->Settings tabs

Just my $0.02

Good Luck

[elvis]

Do they make video cards with component video out?

Yes, but it varies from card to card.  It's not a case of "all GeForce 6600GT cards have TV out".  You have to go and look up the particular model on the *card* manufacturers site, and see if they've included component out in that model.

[DreamWeb]

I was very happy with my 25" television.

Until I found Vpinball.

Then the TV no longer made me happy.

Now my 22" computer monitor does the trick.  And, I'm ok with the smaller size.

d.

[kayliebug]

OK,

I found a VGA to Component Video cable and hooked it up to my computer and to the component on my TV. I just get rolling color lines in weird patterns. What am I doing wrong.

[Bloinkxp]

For the 640x480 issue see if PowerStrip or Omega Drivers give you the resolution you want.  What you are hitting is actually Windows "feature" not a driver issue per se.
I have used powerstrip for these special occasions in the past.

Good luck!