Maximum PC

I have a smaller 20-something inch TV that only has a coaxial jack on it. Is there a card or USB device I can get to output video from my computer to this TV. The TV only has the coax jack and that is it (no AV inputs or HDMI or S-Video... just co-ax).

I just want to be able to play DVDs from my computer to the TV for now...

Suggestions?

There are RF Modulatorsthat can do the job if your video card has an s-video output.

But an old VCR will do the same thing.

Use your videocard's S-Video out with an RCA adapter plugged into the VCR. Then do a similar thing with your computer's sound card.

Then use the coax output of the VCR to the TV.

Actually, the primary issue is whether or not the TV can be recognized by the display card as a monitor. If so, then that's a major step, but if not, you need to get a card that WILL allow using that TV as a monitor. In all actuality, it may just be best to go buy a $30 DVD player at Target or somewhere else. I understand your question as well as your desire for application and usage, however I'm just providing you with what could possibly be the most feasible answer available.

I normally would have gotten a regular DVD player, but the problem is that I have my movies on my computer so there are no physical discs to be handled (many of them were converted from VHS tapes to the computer so I had no real desire to burn tham all to DVD, or buy them in DVD form. This is why I'm trying to pursue this route: to save some time and about $500-800 worth of videos (it took me quite a while to convert them onto the computer so I'd like to not have wasted that time.

There are TV out cards that you can buy, right?

There are cards that have TV-out on them, yes. But, none have (or, AFAIK, have ever had) a coax out on them. The 'lowest' they've ever gone is S-video (with an adapter to stop that to composite.)

So, like Satch said - use the S-vid/composite out with either an RF modulator, or an old VCR as the modulator.

A few months ago I tried this. I have an S-Video output on my FX5200 card, so I got an S-Video adapter and connected a coax RCA cable to my VCR to use it as an RF modulator for my TV set's RF-only (=antenna) input.

Windows and computer apps look great on the TV. But playing a DVD on the computer using VLC results in a totally washed-out pic. I can't get a viewable pic at all, no matter how I tweak settings for VLC or the video card.

Now, had you said movies, I'd have gone a different route in my suggestion, but in my defense, you did specify playing dvd's. No biggie, but yeah, what the other guys said can potentially make sense. What are your system specs? We really need to know what we're working with before making assumptions and random out-of-the-blue suggestions.