ould you like to be able to demonstrate or present computer information on a big screen TV, or show student work from the computer to the whole class without using expensive projection devices? An external PC-to-TV converter box can make this possible. Another possible use of this device is to videotape the presentation from the computer as it is being shown on the TV. In this way, you can transfer computer images and graphics onto VHS tape for future review or presentation. Then you could remove these files from the computer, thereby opening up hard disk space. Incidentally, most converters allow you to display images on the computer monitor and the TV screen at the same time.

o hook up a scan converter, first unplug the cable from the computer that runs to the monitor. Next, attach the cable (15-pin VGA) that came with the scan converter to the place on the computer where you just unplugged the monitor. Attach the other end of this cable to the VGA IN-port on the converter box. Plug the free end of the cable which is still attached to your monitor into the VGA OUT-port on the scan converter. Finally, plug one end of the black video cable into the TV's video-in port (or into the video-in port of an attached VCR), and plug the other end into the scan converter. (There is only one place it can go.) Now, plug the power cord for the converter into an electrical outlet. Turn on your computer, your scan converter, and your TV and adjust the image. If you also want the sound to come from your TV, you'll have to get an audio cable and run it directly from the PC's audio-output plug to the audio-input plug of a TV or VCR.

o see a diagram and steps for setting up a scan converter, created by Tena Reese, click here. PC-to-TV and Mac-to-TV converters actually change the scan rate of the computer signal to that of the TV. In other words, they take the output from your computer and convert it into signals that are compatible with a TV set. Most of them are compact, lightweight, and easy to set up, and they generally are sold with the necessary connection cables. rices for these devices start at around $100.00, and produce 256 colors at 640 by 480 resolution on a standard TV set. Additional features such as highlighting and zooming add to the cost. If you want to run programs with up to 16.8 million colors at high resolution (800 by 600 or higher), you can expect to spend about $400. Manufacturers of PC/TV scan converters include AITech (www.aitech.com), Antec (www.antec-inc.com), Focus Enhancements (www/focusinfo.com), and VideoLogic (www.videologic.com).

ne way to find product information, and either buy a product or locate retailers is by doing an Internet search for "scan converters" or "PC to TV." Using this method, I found that AVerMedia makes a converter called the iMicro, available from beyond.com for $91.99 at the time of this writing. Antec, Inc. makes a product called the TVator II, which offers such features as highlight, a pointer, zoom and pan, and freeze/unfreeze. This one is available for about $189.00 from the manufacturer's online store. Focus Enhancement offers similar products, including the PresoCard which is actually a PC Card which fits into any laptop with a type II or type III PC Card slot. This product is available from the 7-24 Shopping Network for $59.95. I'm not endorsing any of these devices, but simply mention them as examples of what is available at this time.

dditionally, if your institution is shopping for a large screen TV, some new televisions, especially those made for the educational market, come with a scan converter built in. Zenith, for example, has a line of large screen presentation TVs that do this but they are not the only company that offers these products.

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