JP1 Remotes

I know this is non JP1 issue.
Panasonic TV 20SL13G
Toshiba Satelite A75S226 laptop seems to have some sort of TV output, and black-on-black it says S. I don't see any R/L audio outputs from the computer other than the headphones job.
I have S cable now connected from my audio receiver to TV's input2. Receiver is Panasonic SA-HE100.
DVD video ouputs (3 RCA connections) go to TV, and optical output goes to the receiver.

Problem to solve:
I got a VCD from Poland. Does VCD mean Video CD?
My JVC dvd can see it, displays a menu to start but it won't play.
I suspect it needs to be played only on the computer. It does play on the computer, but we want to see it on a bit larger screen.
So, I suppose, I want the computer to send the video and audio signal to TV.

HOW?
what do I connect?
What do I tell the computer (XP)?

If you need more information, such as the connectors on the back panels of all this gear, let me know. I'll scan the manual and throw into Diagnosis.

Someone else will have to talk about hooking up a computer to the TV as I've never done it, but the HTPC folks do it all the time.

Anyway, most cheap foreign DVD players can handle VCD disks quite easily, and most of them will convert PAL to NTSC, so one option would be to buy a $30/$40 player from Walmart or somewhere to handle these disks.

The difficulty of interfacing a PC with a TV is the reason that I think that internet delivery of TV shows will ultimately fail. Almost every computer may have a different connection method so it's hard to offer many suggestions. You would probably need a cable supplied by the PC manufacturer to connect to a TV and the output enabled somewhere in the video drivers or possibly the BIOS.

It may be easier to convert the file to another format and use the DVD player. Most DVD players have the hardware to play VCDs but might not be able to handle the menu on yours. VCDs are region free and contain no copy protection. Some DVD players come with the VCD option disabled but hidden menus can re-enable it.

How old is the DVD player?
Can it play mpeg data files?
Have you tried another DVD player?
Does your PC have a dual output video card?

If your DVD player can play data files then there are some things to try.
Copy the main data file from the VCD disk to the PC, change the file extension to .mpg, burn it to a DVD as data and try to play it.

Convert the data file from the VCD to mpeg2 using something like "gui4ffmpeg" or "Super" and burn the resulting file to a disk as data and try to play it.

Take the converted file from the previous step and run it through an "Authoring" program, which will create a standard DVD that should play.

You can also convert VCD to DVD. HERE's one way to do it. It looks pretty involved, but it's an option.

To connect your laptop, you are correct that you'll have to use the headphone out for audio and the video connector (S-video?). It will just show what's on your computer screen. So you don't have to do anything special on the computer. However, the pic quality from a computer's s-video out is usually terrible. HTPC's and newer tv's have the right outputs/inputs for a high quality picture (VGA, DVI, HDMI, etc.).

I'd rather not buy another DVD. It's such a pain to hook these things up in the jungle of wires.

I forgot to look in the manuals.
Two DVD players here, 4-5-6? years old.
One is JVC XV-S500BK, and is now hooked as a DVD. When I put that VCD2 disk in, the player saw VCD and also said PBC. On the TV screen is the menu to start the film or select scenes, but the menu controls don't do anything and transport buttons don't either.
The other is Panasonic DVD-S35 currently hooked elswhere and being used only as a CD player. Manual dates from 2002. I'll try that tomorrow but it involves dealing with the jungle of wires

Both can handle picture files from a CD.
Both manuals say can play Video CD.

Now, the disks I got are VCD2 if that means anything.
Definitely file-type things. Directories are CDI, EXT, MPEGAV, SEGMENT, VCD.
Autorun file says it'll run VCD_PLAY.exe
There's a big file 600+meg in the MPEGAV directory, file is AVSEQ01.DAT.
That might be the video stuff. I suspect the second disk in a set will be AVSEQ02.DAT.

So I will try looking how to play them, but if some conversions are needed to burn a DVD, I suppose ImgBurn which I have might do the job.
And I'll probably be back tomorrow.

You guys are great. Thanks for the ideas, at least I can try something other than pressing play and be frustrated.

Far as the computer goes, how would I find out if it can do second video? I suppose it can if that S-output is there? But the idea of it might show what's on the computers' screen badly isn't too appealing.

EDIT: jvc plaer can play PAL (but I've only seen it on DVD), Panasonic wording is too confusing to understand.

Well, all your wonderful technical advices just got ignored.
I pressed "1". It played
Sorry to be a bother. Being used to the arrows array and transport buttons, I just didn't think of pressing "1" even though the menu/guide said 1 start, and 2 selections in clear Polish.

The only thing I don't know how to do is get back to the disk menus, i.e. start. My DVD remembers the location when I stop, and I want it to forget at this time. There's no ESC key and nothing on the jvc menus to get back to the very beginning. So I'm stuck in a place I don't want to be. And if you all want to roll on the floor laughing at me, please enjoy

Rob, great to see you back. We've missed you so much!

The AVSEQ01.DAT file is the data file. You can copy and just change the extension to .mpg and most software players will handle it.

My DVD player only remembers last position until another disk (or 2) has been put in, then it starts from the beginning again.