watching TV on laptop 1

[dimofeevich]

How do I use the S-video-in port to watch video feed on IBM ThinkPad A31p laptop?

The documentation doesn't say much, other than the port can be used to capture video. I presume it can be used to watch video too. I connected it to my TV but nothing happened. There is much info on the Internet about using external monitors/TVs with a laptop, but not much about the other way around.
Thanks!

 

[ski]

I believe that the video input port will work with a video source like a DVD player, VCR, etc.

 

[Lemon13]

I connected it to my TV but nothing happened" - what did you expect to happen?
you need to provide a s-video signal in the notebook and the you can watch it on the notebook.

http://www.datapro.net/techinfo/videodoc.html

http://www.cybertheater.com/Tech_Archive/YC_Comp_Format/yc_comp_format.html

 

[dimofeevich]

Lemon13: "you need to provide a s-video signal in the notebook and the you can watch it on the notebook."

I believe this is what I did. I connected the S-Video-out of my TV to the S-Video-in of an external monitor and was able to watch TV on that monitor; this confirms I have valid signal. Then I unplugged it from the monitor and plugged it into the S-video-in port of my laptop but I don't know how to switch the laptop display to "S-video in" display mode, if there is such a thing. I fiddled with the bios, with the video card settings, searched the laptop documentation and the internet but nothing helped. I also ran Premiere and tried video capture, but the only choice of capture source was from FireWire. Perhaps I need some special software to do this?

 

[cdogg]

dimofeevich,
The A31p comes equipped with an ATI Mobility FIREGL 7800. The only specs I found don't state whether ATI capture software is included, but one title I found listed with your laptop was MGI's VideoWave 4. If this doesn't give you the ability to capture, then you might be able to download additional software from ATI directly or find it on IBM's site.

Once the capture driver is installed (which it should already be), then you should be able to use any software that's compatible with your card to capture video. Unfortunately, Premiere is not certified for many consumer-level cards, and therefore doesn't have a built-in feature to handle their analog input. It would be up to the card manufacturer to supply a plug-in.

I've got a Radeon VIVO in one PC that requires ATI's software for capture. It's probably the same in your case.


~cdogg
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[norty303]

Go to ATI's website and download the Multimedia Centre software (version 7 should be sufficient) If you installl the tool bar, on the next boot you'll see there is a video-capture/video in option. This should be all you need.