How Do I Connect …? - Technology Tutorial - Tutorial

Home Office Computing, July, 2000 by Gregg Ramsay, Lisa Rogak

I want to play DVD movies on my networked PC. Got several PCs and only one with a DVD-ROM drive? Now you can watch movies on any of them. Simply configure the network to share the DVD drive, and load the appropriate video player software (included with the DVD drive) on each PC.

I want to play movies on my VCR and view them on my networked PC. This is easy, with the help of a TV tuner and capture card like ATI Technologies' TV Wonder Card ($80). With it, you can connect a VCR to a PC and watch videotapes on your PC's monitor using the PC's video card as the output device. The image is scalable from 160 by 120 up to 640 by 480 pixels, as well as full screen. Note that with full-screen images of more than 320 by 200 resolution, the image gets fuzzier as you scale up. These cards also let you connect an audio source and a video camera using the included audio and S-Video connectors.

TV

I want to watch TV on my networked PC. Most capture cards in PCs already include a TV tuner that you can use to connect your TV cable; all you need is a cable or antenna connection near the computer. For the best results, you'll want to swap out your existing capture or tuner card with the ATI TV Wonder. Most of these cards are plug-and-play, so all you need to do is make sure the installation CD-ROM is loaded when you start your PC. A word of caution, however: If you also have the new ATI Rage 128 Pro video card on your system when you install the ATI TV Wonder TV card, first download the latest Windows 98 drivers from ATI's Web site. The new drivers from ATI (which should be included with the card by the time you read this) will correct any problems with the setup. Once you install and configure the card, then launch the application that came with the card and set your channel list. Pick the show you want and you're off and running.

I want to pipe TV shows into the video display on my home security monitor that's hooked into my PC/LAN. Security video monitors are normally small, inexpensive, black-and-white displays that have poor resolution at best. However, if you really want to do this, you'll need an RCA cable long enough to reach from the back of the display to your PC. Connect one end to the Video Output on your TV and the other to the Video Input on the display. Next, hook your TV into your PC/LAN as we've described. You may need to buy a special cable (depending on the display model) from the manufacturer, since most electronics stores don't stock these and special orders from Radio Shack would probably be costly. Also, realize that video camera displays lack speakers, so you'll have to connect a set that accepts input directly from the TV.

GAMING

I want to play multiplayer PC games on my Sony PlayStation, Dreamcast, or Nintendo 64. According to Tasos Kaifas, editor-in-chief of Incite's PC Gaming, forget it! "The only way you can play computer games on a console system is to wait for a console version to come out--if one ever does," he adds. "Besides, the Nintendo 64 and the PlayStation don't have multiplayer capabilities except on the same machine in front of the same TV." I want to play PlayStation, Dreamcast, or Nintendo 64 games on my networked PC/LAN. "Now, we have some options," says Kaifas. "There's a PlayStation emulator called Bleem ($30; Bleem LLC, 323-822-0932, www.bleem.com) and a Nintendo 64 emulator, but the Nintendo 64 one is mostly illegal," he warns. "And rumor has it that Bleem is also planning [to develop] a Dreamcast emulator. The problem is, neither lets you play against other people unless you play on the same computer."