How Do I Get My Computer Presentations onto a Projector / VCR

HOW DO I GET MY COMPUTER PRESENTATIONS ONTO A PROJECTOR OR VCR?

By Kevin Shepherdson

Have you ever wondered how a computer presentation delivered on Microsoft Power Point or any other presentation program gets projected on a large screen? Or how computer presentations are transferred to video tape?

Hmmm... Interesting questions. And the answer lies in a device called a VGA-to-RGB converter. You see, your CPU sends out what are called VGA signals to your monitor so that you are able to see your screen display. As for a projector, TV or VCR, the signals transmitted are in the form of RGB (or video) signals (but we won't go into technical aspects of that now).

Now here's the problem:
If you try to connect your CPU to a projector or VCR, you will discover that it is difficult if not impossible to have your computer screen displayed or transferred.

Solution:
Use a VGA-TO-RGB converter such as Creative's TV Coder (unless the projector is able to convert computer signals automatically).

Using Creative's TV Coder, you can:

Use a large TV set as your computer monitor screen
Project your computer display to a large screen using a video projector
Record your own presentations on a VCR

This means that you can conduct training sessions and presentations to a big audience or a small group in a room. It also means that you can provide training materials or presentations to your clients or customers in the form of video cassette tapes.

Creative's TV Coder features outputs up to :

16.7 million colors at 640 x 480 in NTSC or PAL
64K colors at 800 x 600 in PAL

Outputting Presentations to a Video Projector
When you output your computer presentations to your video projector, you should note the limitations of video projectors. Some projectors can only handle 640 x 480 resolution. Ensure that the configuration of your Windows display is compatible. Look for the VIDEO INPUT found in your video-projector and connect your TV Coder to it.

Outputting Presentations to a Video Projector
If you intend to record your Power Point presentation to a video cassette recorder, ensure that you configure your Windows display to high color to get the maximum quality.

Using a Multimedia PC
What if you are using a Multimedia PC? Well, if you are connecting it to a video projector and also require the sound output of your PC, you should connect your sound card to a mixer. Sometimes the video projector may have an AUDIO-IN connection.

To output sound to an external sound system, connect from your PC (sound card) LINE-OUT to AUDIO-IN of your system. For those who want to record multimedia presentations that incorporate sound, look for the LINE-IN connection in your VCR.