How do I hook up my computer to a TV?

Question

We would like to find a way to hook up the teacher's computer to televisions in their room; so the television can be used as a large classroom monitor (overhead).

What do we need to do this (cables, connections, etc)

Answer

This question was answered on April 13, 2000. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

There are several ways to accomplish this. The first requires a newer video card that has a TV Tuner built into it, such as the ATI All-in-Wonder. The other method is an external device that converts the SVGA signal to NTSC (TV signal) available at most of the national chain superstores. In either case, unless you have a TV monitor specifically designed to display computer signals you will be very disappointed. Computers display in pixels and TV's display in lines. In order to get the pixels to display on a TV they are squisheed into lines which makes text very difficult to read unless it is very large. Before you spend any money on this, try to go somewhere that may be able to show you what it will look like, so you can decide for yourself.

Author

Posted by Greg of University of Advancing Computer Technology on April 13, 2000