TV-Out Software - How can I output a live internet stream from my laptop?

[admin_exported]

Ok guys, a query for you.... please bear with me here, it's kinda tricky to explain. I want to be able to watch football from the internet on my TV screen. I have a laptop that includes both an s-video out and a standard, old school, VGA out. I think the easiest way to get a live internet stream onto the TV is to site the laptop near to the TV and connect a VGA cable from the 'VGA out' of the laptop to the 'PC' input on my Panasonic TH37PX80. (I don't want to *** about with AV senders or anything like that. Plus, the content isn't saved on a HDD so I can't steam it over my network - This is for live internet streaming only.) In an ideal world, I'd like to find some freeware or a windows hotkey/shortcut that will just let me hit Function+F4 and output the video to the TV. Basically the laptop would perceive my TV as a secondary monitor, as like when using Powerpoint with a projector. NB - The graphics card doesn't have any software that can help. Also, I'm after a software solution here not a hardware one. (I know I could solve this issue straight away if I went out and bought a new graphics card for £50, but I'd prefer not to!) Any suggestions??

 

[Anonymous]

VGA is indeed your simplest and best option for the equipment you mention, however I am not quite sure what you are struggling with. By default in windows xp, it should just treat your TV connected to the VGA socket as an extra monitor and display the same as what is on the main screen.

You mention that you would like it to behave the same way as when you connect it to a projector to use powerpoint. This is exactly how it should behave when you connect it to your TV, have you actually tried just connecting it and then just playing the content on the laptop? If you have tried this and it doesn't work, then could you describe the symptoms and I will try to help you diagnose the problem, or have I misunderstood your question and in fact you don't want it to behave like when you are using a projector and powerpoint?

Also, what operating system are you using on the laptop? Most modern OS have the capability built in to be able to manage multiple monitors/displays so I don't think you will need any additional software.