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[PacoSees]

So I've been looking around for a cable that can connect a lap-top to any RCA jack (The read, yellow, and white one.).  My current set-up is:

TV:
Input 1: 5-Disc CD/DVD player (surround sound)
Input 2: VCR (Video only)
ANTV: Cable from VCR

VCR:
AV Out: Video(Yellow) to Input 2 on TV; Audio to 5-Disc Aux(In).
AV In: RCA Splitter (switches between PS2 and Wii)
Cable Out: To TV
Cable In: From DirecTV

So, Input 1 on the TV is for DVDs, Input 2 is for Tapes and Video Games, and Channel 3 is for TV!

All I need is some way to connect my laptop to the RCA Splitter and I'll never have to leave the living room.

Any suggestions?

[0bsessions]

No, but I have a question:

You still own a VCR? Seriously?

[Dimmukane]

It depends.

If all you have is an S-Video out, then you're out of luck.  There are no S-Video to RCA Composite cables, only S-Video to component or S-Video to S-Video.

If you have a Video out (just the yellow one), then you can get a video cable for the yellow jack and then a Y-Audio splitter to go from the Line Out port to the Red and White jacks of the RCA splitter.

The Y-Audio splitter is what I use for my computer, actually.

[PacoSees]

@ Obsessions: Too cheap for TiVo and I know how to use the timer on the VCR!

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

A little bit of random googling and I found it.

Now all I need is a convertible sofa and I won't even need to sleep in a different room.

[Dimmukane]

Well, damn.

I mean, I figured they existed somewhere, but I thought it would only be in expensive boutique shop form.

How well that works with your video card and its drivers remains to be seen.

[dennis]

It depends.

If all you have is an S-Video out, then you're out of luck.  There are no S-Video to RCA Composite cables, only S-Video to component or S-Video to S-Video.

If you have a Video out (just the yellow one), then you can get a video cable for the yellow jack and then a Y-Audio splitter to go from the Line Out port to the Red and White jacks of the RCA splitter.

The Y-Audio splitter is what I use for my computer, actually.

S-video to composite dongles were often bundled with directx-7 era video cards since their TV-outs were typically only s-video. It's not difficult to convert s-video to composite (you basically connect pins 1 & 2 to the shield and 3 & 4 to the core) . Composite to s-video is what is difficult and uncommon (though dongles for such do exist. I have a couple somewhere).

I suggest he pick up a cheap AV switchbox for this purpose. The red/white/yellow kind should be pretty cheap (USD20 or less) if you can find one. Most places have moved on to component and digital signals.

[Dimmukane]

Well, I didn't buy my own video cards until DX9b.  Didn't realize that was an option.  I still am unsure how much that is still supported though, I'm not sure how long the GPU companies keep older tech supported.

[bicostp]

dennis is right, S-Video to Composite is really simple. Tie the grounds together, then connect the two signal cables together, but send the chroma signal through a 470pf capacitor.

http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/svideo2cvideo.html

However, if you have an S-Video input on your TV anywhere, use it!! S-Video gives you a noticeably cleaner signal than composite does, especially on a signal coming from a PC. (All the fine lines from windows and icons get that nasty dot crawl artifact on composite.) Check your laptop's manual to see what TV-out options it has, and use the best one both the laptop and TV support.

While you're at it, connect your DVD player using the highest connection both it and your TV support. You should notice a big improvement in clarity.

Video connections (in decreasing quality):
Digital (HDMI, DVI, etc)
SCART
Component
S-Video
Composite
Coax (RF)