What do I need to connect my laptop to a old school TV?

I have a tx2500z it has S-video and VGA.

I've been trying to figure out what cable or box converter I need to connect my laptop to my TV that only has RCA.

I heard people using S-video to RCA but quality was horrible.. (black and white and blurry)

thanks guys.

 

7-pin or 4-pin S-Video? 4-pin will go straight to RCA using an adapter, I use it with my desktop all the time. 7-pin is much trickier. I have a 7-pin to component (high-def) adapter which works to some degree and a 7-pin to RCA adapter which doesn't work at all. No signal whatsoever.

Don't even bother with VGA, it requires a special powered adapter box and the quality is useless for anything but picture slideshows if your lucky.

Grand Admiral

 

I have a 7-pin S-video. So you're saying a 7-pin S-video cord to RCA will not work?

 

Well it must be possible otherwise they wouldn't market it, I would think. I should note my notebook is using modded drivers, not official ones. Basically I think its pretty much a matter of trial and error. Try ebay, thats the best place I've found. They're only a few bucks each (less than AUD$20) so just have a go. But they're tricky to find. Read and look at the pictures carefully because many are not what you're looking for. You can try a 4-pin adapter, but when I used the one for my desktop in my 7-pin laptop I got black and white output only.

Grand Admiral

 

You need a 7-pin s-video to rca adapter, I used one for years up until I got a new TV a month ago. They quite commonly come with component out on the same adapter, so there are red, green, blue, and yellow cables on the adapter, you only need to use the yellow one, and a 3.5mm (headphone) to 2xRCA cable for audio. This has worked on about half a dozen computers for me, so I think people with problems just have the wrong adapter.

 

Awesome! thanks for clarifying. So would this be ok?

http://cgi.ebay.com/7-Pin-S-Video-T...ryZ73388QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

You can... (tries it on TV)... ... ... ... Oh I'm gonna break something... HELL! I spent all that time looking for a 7-pin to composite adapter and I had one all the time!

Grand Admiral

 

Lol @ Grand Admiral! thats too funny. but does your cable look like the one in the ebay link I posted?

 

Exactly like it. Go for it!

Grand Admiral

 

And thanks tumnasgt, I was having a video output problem I was working out in another thread which has been solved by switching to composite output. +Rep

Grand Admiral

 

Alright, so I recieved the RCA to S-video cable. I just used the video wire to connect since I plan on using external speakers. I get the picture on the TV but the problem is its not very clear. When watching movies the picture is not too bad but when trying to browse the web, its nearly impossible because you can't read any text.

 

Don't break your eyes, get yourself a new flat screen for less than $100.

 

forget about reading text on an old tv , movies are okay not interweb pages

 

Old televisions have low resolution(about 720x480 in ntsc or 720x540 in pal) and have interlaced video, if you go down on resolution you can somewhat read the text there, but you have a notebook you can use it to browse the web in your couch!

Also a s-video(4 pins)->rca works fine with my dv8000 and my girlfriends laptop, both of which have 7 pin tv out.

 

Where can I find one of these larger than my 30" old school tv for less than $100?

Thanks for explaining the resolution stuff guys..