What exactly are the "video in" and "video out" things for?

[sbcanada]

On a video card, what uses do the "video in" and "video out"/"tv out" things have?

Does video out mean I can use a T.V. as my monitor? If I had a DVD drive, could I play DVD movies on the tv?

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SB
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slas33@hotmail.com

My system:
Soltek 75KAV-X w/sound
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[Stuff]

You are correct.. You see, computers and cable TV uses different ways to make video. TVs do it by analog (new ones are digital), computers and monitors are digital. So, to answer your question, the video in and out simply means your video card can translate between digital and analog making you able to display whatever is on your monitor onto your tv or your tv on your computer.. You can sit on the couch and play games on your TV, watch those DVDs, or with the video in, record a TV show to your computer for editing or storage.. Lotsa possibilities.

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AMD Thunderbird 1.2 on Abit KT7A-Raid, 256mb PC133, 45gb ATA100 HD, AIW Radeon, Acoustic Edge 5.1, ActionTec Modem, and an Acer LAN card.

[Gomez Addams]

"You see, computers and cable TV uses different ways to make video. TVs do it by analog (new ones are digital), computers and monitors are digital."

This is not quite correct. The computer-monitor interface through a VGA cable and connector is almost entirely analog. The big differences are a monitor takes separate signals for the red, green, blue components of each pixel along with separate horizontal (pixel) and vertical (refresh) clock signals. A computer monitor usually runs at more than 60Hz vertical refresh and is non-interlaced (progressive scan.) Most TVs take an analog input with all of those signals combined onto one wire. It is (for the USA) an interlaced signal with a 30Hz (actually 29.96) vertical refresh signal.

You are correct though in saying that the video in/out interface translates between a TV-type signal and a computer monitor one. This allows images from a computer monitor to be displayed on a TV (video out) and TV signals to be imported into the computer and displayed in a window (video in.)



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