Getting the Game on the Big Screen

Jaybird180

Jaybird180

Final Approach
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Jaybird180
We have a large family even planned for September 13 and it happens to be the same day of the Howard U vs Morehouse AT&T Nation’s Football Classic game. I want to show it on the projector for those that may be interested and assume that it will be broadcast OTA.

I’m looking for an inexpensive solution or something that I can rig-up to run to my projector. The projector’s best connection accepts SVGA. I’m guessing I can use one of those USB-TV dongles into a laptop for this. Anyone with experience with an inexpensive and painless model?
 
Very interested in this answer.
My projector has no input for an antenna.

Is there an over antenna that has an hdmi plug?
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Very interested in this answer.
My projector has no input for an antenna.

Is there an over antenna that has an hdmi plug?
Click to expand...

Won't work. I'm planning to run the tuner to a laptop to the projector unless someone has a better idea.
 
Yes, a USB dongle should work fine. I personally use HDHomeRun tuners to ethernet to my computer, but that's probably overkill for occassional use. You might be able to get a Tuner with HDMI output and convert to the VGA, but that never seems to work that well.(The HDMI to VGA conversion that is, OTA to HDMI works great)
For the other question there are plenty of ATSC OTA tuners with HDMI output, just check Amazon($30-$50 or so), still need an antenna to hook to the tuner though.
 
FYI, HDMI and DVI are digital signals and anything VGA is an analog signal. You can not simply adapt the connectors to get a signal that works, you would need to "convert" that signal through some sort of processor. (Mac has confused the masses about this as they allow VGA to pass TROUGH their DVI to VGA dongle if you have a DVI port on your computer, but they are two DIFFERENT signal types at their core)

Only thing that spits out a VGA signal is gonna be a computer. Almost no home AV gear will have a VGA output and projectors do not have any tuner capabilities like a LCD TV to just plug in a cable coax. Projectors need a decoded video signal.

What are all of the available inputs on the projector other then VGA? There are usually several.

Here are some potential options:

-Do as you are thinking and get a "tuner card" for your laptop turning your computer into a TV then plug the VGA cable into the projector essentially using the computer as a tuner box.

-See if the game is steaming on line and stream through your laptop and connect the projector via VGA cable. If you have a Direct TV or Cable account, many of the providers will stream channels as well

-See if the projector has HDMI input. Get a long coax from Home Depot and move your cable box out to the projector then connect the cable box to projector via HDMI cable. If the cable box and/or the projector is older with no HDMI, it may still have S-Video connectors which will work just fine as well as another connection option.

-If you are sure that it will be over the air, go to best buy or radio shack and but a stand alone DTV tuner card and plug that directly into the projector via HDMI
 
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Projector has SVGA and composite only, and I think S-Video. I'd have to pull it out to be sure. I havent fired it up in awhile but it used to be my HT projector and I used a HTPC for content.

The cookout is in the park. So no cable TV, etc and I'm not on an unlimited data plan so OTA is the best bet.
 
For a 3:30p kickoff any projector outside during the day is gonna be dang near useless even in the shade. It is hard to compete with the sun using projection.

Run a test with your laptop to make sure you can even see an image before you try and figure out how to get a signal!

But based on what you said, getting a USB TV tuner card for your laptop would be the best option.
 
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Hook a laptop to your projector and pull the game off ESPN2 or wherever it's being carried. I do that for all NDSU Bison games (back-to-back-to-back FCS National Champs!)
 
Jaybird, what projector do you have?
I went kinda cheap with the Optoma HD25 and I couldn't be more pleased.
I know there are far better units with higher contrast ratios but bang for your buck this one is solid.
 
Shawn said:
For a 3:30p kickoff any projector outside during the day is gonna be dang near useless even in the shade. It is hard to compete with the sun using projection.

Run a test with your laptop to make sure you can even see an image before you try and figure out how to get a signal!

But based on what you said, getting a USB TV tuner card for your laptop would be the best option.
Click to expand...

Although we are at a park, we rented the while darn thing, which includes the building where I plan to setup. But dangit! I didnt think about the projection surface and I no longer have a portable screen. Time to do some recon!
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Jaybird, what projector do you have?
I went kinda cheap with the Optoma HD25 and I couldn't be more pleased.
I know there are far better units with higher contrast ratios but bang for your buck this one is solid.
Click to expand...

My projector is old, something like circa 2005. Havent pulled it out yet....guess I outta huh?
 
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