Is it possible to play a video signal from a laptop on a television?

I have video files on my laptop that I want to play on a television screen. Is it possible to play them on the television without burning to a DVD and using a DVD player? Is there anything like a USB to RCA cable that could export the video signal as if it were from a DVD or VHS player? Would I need a special program to do this?

Thanks.

Are there any s-video inputs/outputs (one black circle with holes) on your computer? If so, do you have any on your TV?

If you only have VGA on your computer (blue trapezoid with holes) then you would need to figure out how to convert that to composite video with some type of converter.

If you have a PS3 or Xbox 360, you can put one of those and your computer on a network and access your files that way.

JMK

http://realjobdescriptions.com

If you buy the proper VGA cable you can hook up the laptop to an LCD tv and act as a giant monitor...its pretty awesome. However if you do not have an LCD TV you're options are somewhat limited. If your laptop has S-video out or something like that you could go that route. I'm aware of products that convert s-video to RCA but I'm not sure about USB. Check out some consumer level video editing solutions you may find what you're looking for with one of those. Or if your laptop has firewire and you have a camera that has firewire you may be able to pass the signal through the camera to the TV. I'm not sure how tech savy you are.

Cheers