Playing MAME (Computer) on a regular TV set??

[arcadecab]

I have a MAME setup right now running on a regular PC monitor and it works great.  The big disadvantage for me is having to sit at a 15' monitor to play the games, especially when 2 players are playing--ie not much room.  I would really like to be able to run my MAME setup on my regular 32" tv, just like my consoles.  I am wondering, what is the best way to go about doing this?  Is it a specific graphics card or add-on or otherwise?
Is the picture/graphics of a high quality on a regular tv??--just as they would be on an arcade monitor/pc monitor?  What is the best/highest quality way of doing this?  Any downfalls to running MAME on a good quality TV set?
Thanks for any info or websites that look at this issue.

[Brad Lee]

There are video cards with Tv-Out (I'm partial to the ati radeon's, but most manufacturers offer a card with tv-out), and these will typically have a 15-pin monitor output and also a RCA/S-video output to go to your TV. usually you can run both at the same time, either to show the same image on both screens, or to make your desktop twice the size(ie 1600x600 for example) spanning both monitors. Or you can just use the TV out, to use your tv as your only monitor.

The setup is pretty straightforward once you have the card installed, it's just some settings under the Display settings in windows

Drawbacks... Hmm only one I can think of is that if you start using it for mame, you might never go back to a regular monitor. Seriously though, if you intend to use a TV as your only monitor, the clarity usually just isn't there when using Windows, text can get fuzzy, unless you run at a low-res, like 640x480. A dual monitor setup is pretty sweet when youve got games and videos going to the TV and your regular windows on the monitor

[paigeoliver]

Some TV cards need no setup at all if you boot them with no monitor attached, but WITH the s-video hooked up. I installed Win 98 on my artic without ever having to hook up a real monitor to the thing.

[Sasquatch!]

The only real pieces of advice I can give you are:

1. Get a good video card; don't get some $15 piece of shite.  ATI is the best choice for TV-out at the moment.

2. Use S-Video, and not composite.  The difference is night-and-day.

[Distortion]

The only real pieces of advice I can give you are:

1. Get a good video card; don't get some $15 piece of shite.  ATI is the best choice for TV-out at the moment.

2. Use S-Video, and not composite.  The difference is night-and-day.

yeah, i second that.  a poorly made video card will F up during the resolution switching on occasion.  this can be really annoying to try and fix.  sometimes the only good fix is to reboot!