How can I transmit a video signal to TV?

[Regeesh]

Hi,

Does any one know how I can transmit a video signal to a TV? I have written a labview program to play the video on my PC...but i need to send the video signal to TV....I dont need my entire desktop to be viewed on the TV, just the video....what type of hardware do i need.....can i use the serial port to connect to TV??

I have a mpg file on my PC which needs to be played on TV....any suggestions on hardware or software!!!!!

Can anyone help??? Please.....

thanks,
Regeesh

[THailey3]

Hi Regeesh!

Simple! Sounds like you just need a video card on your computer! Actually, most PCs now come with an extra type of video-out (other than your LPT1 for your monitor), such as S-Video, that you can easily just hook up to your TV. In the S-Video example, you would need to have an S-Video cable that plugged from your PC to your TV. If your TV doesn't have an S-Video connection, you would need to have an S-Video to RCA converter (assuming your TV has RCA inputs - hopefully!!).

This would obviously just show the entire display on your TV. However, you could alter your LabVIEW program to maximize Windows Media Player to play in Full Screen mode (so it just looks like the mpg is playing on the TV).

If you don't have any video-out connections on your PC, you can buy another video card with either S-Video or RCA connections.

Hope this helps, Regeesh!

Travis H.
Application Engineer
National Instruments

[Ray.R]

Hi Regeesh,

Yes, it is possible to transmit 'just' the video from the PC to the TV.
Before proposing any hardware, let's see what you are using.
No, the serial port will not provide the video signal to your tv.

Let's start with the basics. From there we can propose the software approach.

How do you connect from your PC to the TV?
In other words, what video card / device do you use?

And where "in the world" are you located?
This is importanct for the video format to the tv (PAL, NTSC and SECAM)

Regards,

-JLV-

[Regeesh]

Hi,

thanks for the response....By the way....I am in the US...i am a RA at the University at Buffalo,NY...We are working on a project that take physiological measurements of a subject while he is watching a movie....the experimenter controls the start/stop/pause of the movie and DAQ....We have the latest dell dimesnsion xps with 256mb PCI express card connected to the TV through the s-video outlet...

But the problem is that TV is showing a duplicate of what is shown on the monitor...the DAQ results,the program,everything....that is too distracting to the subject...is there any way to send just the movie thru the s-video connection....

hope this helps clear everything....

thanks
Regeesh

[rpursley8]

One thing you might think about is getting a second video card. On one monitor you can have the program and the other you can run your movie full screen.

[THailey3]

Hi Regeesh!

Yeah, what rpursley8 suggested is probably the easiest and fastest (and probably the best) way to do this. By getting a second video card you can "fullscreen" the mpg on one of the video cards and just send that to the TV. This is the same as when people have 2 monitors for 1 PC (just, one of your "monitors" will be a TV).

Hope this helps!

Travis H.
National Instruments

[bzhnico_29]

Hello every body,

I am just trying to do the same. In fact, I wan to play a video or an image file with Labview on a second monitor of my PC. In order to do that, I have already purchased a secon video card but my problem is that I do not know how to do in order to play an mpg file and then send it to my secon video card.

Is it possible to have an example of code?

Thanks for your help,

Nicolas

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Travis H. a écrit:
Hi Regeesh!

Yeah, what rpursley8 suggested is probably the easiest and fastest (and probably the best) way to do this. By getting a second video card you can "fullscreen" the mpg on one of the video cards and just send that to the TV. This is the same as when people have 2 monitors for 1 PC (just, one of your "monitors" will be a TV).

Hope this helps!

Travis H.
National Instruments

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[Coq_Rouge]

For playing the mpg file take a look at this thread http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&thread.id=375638. You may use the activex version of windows media player. If the MPG file does not play try the QuickTime activex version. I am quite sure you will be able to play your file in one of the two activex tool. I also support the solution using a video card supporting two monitors. This is the fancy solution. If your school do not have such a video card. You may just put all your distracting controls and indicators at the bottom of your screen. Use some paper and tape to mask controls. This is the quick and dirty solution

[Coq_Rouge]

I also will ad, that you programmatically can hide all controls and indicators with a property node. This is done separately for each control or indicator.

[bzhnico_29]

Hello,

thanks for your help but I don't no see again how I can select the correct video output of my video card.

Is it possible to affect one output video to Windows Media Player?

Thanks for your answer,

Have a nice day,

Nicolas