Play DVD from laptop to Cabin TV

[gofeo]

I am going on Solstice next sunday and just thought about using my laptop as DVD player in cabin. Anyone know if this is possible and what cables do I need.

[mtwingcpa]

I'm not sure what your starting point is, but note that most computers can't be plugged directly into a TV without an intervening "scan converter box" of some sort. If you have this working at home, I would simply take whatever converters or cables you have. If not, then I would suggest some preliminary research and experimentation. Sadly, connecting a computer is much more complicated than, say, a portable DVD player.

 

But I have no idea whether the TVs on the ship you mentioned have video/audio inputs.

[DanJ]

The TV's we have had had red/white/yellow RCA jacks on the front, but those were older CRT TV's. I believe most new ships are coming out with LCD screens and it may be difficult to access the jacks on the back, as that seems to be where most of them are on flat panels. If you can get to the jacks on the TV, then it depends on what your laptop has for video outputs. Many LCD's have a VGA input, which is how you connect a desktop to a monitor, and most laptops also have this. You may also have an HDMI output on the computer, and since most LCD's are high definition, they would also have this.

 

But in all honesty, it doesn't strike me that most cabins have very large TV's to begin with. Maybe in a suite, you might get a big screen, but many suites also have DVD players as well. You can probably just watch the movie on your laptop screen as easily as hooking up to the TV. A 5 inch bigger screen 7 feet away won't look any bigger than a laptop screen on the bed beside you.

[jerseycruzer]

Most TVs in the Cabins have RCA ports (Red, White and Yellow). If you have an older laptop, it might have a video out port (a yellow port) that you could use to connect the laptop to the TV. If you have Windows XP, it should be able to stream video to the TV...if you have Windows 2000, it might be difficult since it depends on whether your Video card supports multiple output types.

 

Some newer laptops have an SVideo port...and there are SVideo to RCA converter cables available that you could buy. Again the same challenge with Windows 2000 exists.

 

For ships that have a flatscreen in the rooms, they should have an SVideo port for input so you could use that for connectivity.

 

I have also seen some VGA to SVideo converters on the internet...but dont know if that would really work...

 

Hope this helps...