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General discussion

What is ''Integrated TV Encoder'' capability?

by Patrick Lam Oct 3, 2005 2:40AM PDT

I have a sony VGN-S150 which uses the ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 graphic card. On the ATI web site, this card has the S-Video output (to connect to a TV). On my notebook, despite it says it uses this card, it DOES NOT have the S-Video connection. It only has the VGA connector (to connect to an external monitor). However, the original 9200 card (on the ATI Web Site) says that this card has the ''Integrated TV Encoder'' and I found this ''VGA to TV S-Video & RCA Out Adapter'' on ebay, I'm wondering if this will allow me to output to a TV instead of the external monitor.

BTW, I chatted with sony help people and they didn't know. They also did not know why the S-Video plug (outputting to TV) is missing in the sony laptop either. Do they special make graphic cards for laptops?

Discussion is locked

7 Posts
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What card?
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Oct 3, 2005 2:51AM PDT

Some confuse laptops with "chips" and such to be a "card". There is no card and capabilities of the chips may be unimplemented.

If your laptop doesn't have said composite video output, then you can find VGA to TV adapters.

Hope this helps.

And there are special cards for laptops. However these will be from your laptop maker since such is highly specialized to fit your laptop. 99.99% of the laptops don't have a slot or card to replace the video section.

Bob

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How do I know if a chip has all the original capabilities?
by Patrick Lam Oct 3, 2005 3:03AM PDT

Now I understand we are talking about the main chip of the gaphic card in a laptop... but how do I find out what capabilities are built in the chips.. if Sony people don't even know? Any utilities to run?

One way of course would be to buy the cable and see what happens... but is trial and error the only solution? I found through the advanced properties of the gaphic card that it does not have the TV Icon as described in the ATI 9200 manual. I guess it means the capability is not built in?

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Think about it.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Oct 3, 2005 3:14AM PDT

The TV Out function not only required the VGA chip, but supporting chips such as the encoder to the composite video signal. It makes no economic sense to create a VGA chip with less features (most of the time) just to avoid confusion like yours. So a designer will use the same "chip" in many laptops with some getting the full support and others not having support chips, wires and connections.

Hope this helps you understand the issues.

" the gaphic card that it does not have the TV Icon as described in the ATI 9200 manual."

Since your laptop doesn't have the ATI 9200 card, that reads correct to me. Or otherwords, nothing's broken or missing.


Bob

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Thanks
by Patrick Lam Oct 3, 2005 3:41AM PDT

So you're telling me because of the lack of "supporting chips", my laptop probably won't play on TV even if I have the connection cable? I think it all makes sense. Thanks for your help again.

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If the cable was one of these...
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Oct 3, 2005 4:06AM PDT
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Cheap solution only
by Patrick Lam Oct 3, 2005 4:54AM PDT

I understand there is not a good reason to do this except maybe to project the image on TV when doing presentations. This is why I'm only interested in a cheap cable that cost 15 dollars (including shipping). I mean if my laptop already has the capability, why not... Thanks again.

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Link with specs.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Oct 3, 2005 5:39AM PDT
Back to Laptops forum

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