Travel Technology - Connecting laptop DVD player to hotel televisions

I have an IBM T20 with a built-in DVD player that I'd like to use to watch movies in my hotel room. There seems to be an S-Video jack in the back that I could probably use to output video but what about the sound? I don't want to wear headphones or use my laptop "speakers". Any suggestions? Anyone else do this with their laptop or would it be easier for me to just watch the movie on my LCD? Thanks.

If the TV has RCA jacks you can get a 3.5mm jack to dual RCA jack cable.

Most TV's have 3 inputs, the yellow for video and 2 for the audio.

This is the cable you should need:

http://www.svideotorca.com/prosvideo6.html

There is also a thread here somewhere on travel tech by cblaisd on the same topic.

I remember trying to connect a newly purchased Sega Dreamcast to a TV in a Sheraton once and having no luck whatsoever. It seemed like the TV was specifically configured not to accept input from the RCA jack or from the RF modulator.

I remember trying to connect a newly purchased Sega Dreamcast to a TV in a Sheraton once and having no luck whatsoever. It seemed like the TV was specifically configured not to accept input from the RCA jack or from the RF modulator.

Yeah. I've had many experiences at hotels regarding the TV's RCA jacks, and they almost always seem to be different. Sometimes even at the same hotel it can vary from room to room (different rooms often have different sets).

At some when you plug in the cables it just automatically hijacks the TV system and your output instantly appears. At others, you have to change the channel to AUX or Line 2 or something. And at still others, it seems the AUX has been eliminated from the channel lineup and you are poop outta luck.

There are Svideo to coax connectors that will convert both the audio and video to a standard cable coax which should feed most any TV out there.

http://www.svideo.com/svideocoax.html

You may be able to remove the coax from the TV and just plug this in. If not at the TV end, then at the wall end. If not at the wall end, then unscrew the jack from the wall and connect behind it, just make sure you are feeding the TV and not the rest of the rooms in the hotel :rolleyes:

When I was traveling all the time I had a network took kit with me (no, not for hotel TV's, that was just an added bonus), I've cut many cables and put connectors on them before leaving the next day.

There is also a thread here somewhere on travel tech by cblaisd on the same topic.

Thanks. I searched by cblaisd's user name and found the following thread:

What do you need to use the S-video output on a ThinkPad T30 (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=283277)

Also I have to tweak my video display settings on my ThinkPad:

Television display settings


To make sure that you can see everything on your screen, you will need to set your display properties as follows:

Open the Display Properties windows.
Click the Settings tab.
Set Screen area in the window.

NTSC (US and Japan): Lower than 640 x 480

PAL (Europe): Lower than 800 x 600

Note: If you are using Windows XP, do the following to set your display properties for NTSC:

Open the Display Properties window.

Click the Settings tab.

Click the Advanced button.

Click the Adapter tab.

Click the List All Modes button.

From the list, select 640 by 480.





Playing sound



To play computer sound through a television, you will need to purchase an audio cable. Connect one end of the cable to your headphone jack, and connect the other end to your television audio-input connectors.



If you use a television that has only one audio-input connector, use the left-audio connector of the audio cable.

cordelli...when you hijack the coax cable for your output, where does it show up on the TV? AUX? Or is it a Channel 3 thing?

Depends on the TV, some have the coax in the aux jack, so those would be aux, others have it as 3 or 4 in the regular jack.