# Hooking my computer up for video output to a TV via RCA, and modding a dance pad.



## CrmsnKtsne (Sep 1, 2007)

Alright peeps.
This summer, I decided to take on a massive undertaking: Hooking up a Playstation Two dance pad to my laptop, running Stepmania on it as a DDR sim, and exporting the audio and video via headphone-jack-to-RCA and VGA-to-RCA, respectively.
So far, I am not entirely successful.
My problems are many.
For one, I found that most PS2 dance pads can NOT record two steps at once, "jumps" are near impossible to land. Also, the foam supplied to be inserted inside of the outer plastic shell is doing a poor job of remaining in one place, and the corners are curling up. Not a great surface to dance on. Also, I have been successful in exporting the sound from my headphone jack into the TV, but the video situation is different entirely. It works by plugging one end into my VGA slot, which goes through an adapter to become RCA format, and is plugged into the TV. It does not work. I am guessing that my computer is not recognizing the TV as a monitor, so I need to know how to trick it into thinking so.
I'll take any help I can get.
In a list, what I need help on:

How to get my computer to export video via VGA to my TV
How to modify my dance pad to make it easier to step on (one cheap option is to staple it to a wood board, but eh.)
How to modify the pad's electronics to get it to export two movements at once (I have an experienced uncle who can help me with this, too.)

Dance Pad model: PS2 Deluxe Dance Pad V.2.0 P2-003
Computer: Compaq Presario running WinXP Home


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## cwwozniak (Nov 29, 2005)

CrmsnKtsne said:


> It works by plugging one end into my VGA slot, which goes through an adapter to become RCA format, and is plugged into the TV. It does not work.
> 
> * How to get my computer to export video via VGA to my TV


What kind of adapter are you using?

If you are talking about using a standard definition TV, unless your computer's video controller has a specific hardware option to reconfigure the VGA connector to output a composite or S-video TV signal, you will need a VGA-to-TV scan converter box. An inexpensive converter will probably create a blurry image with all kinds of strange color artifacts. A more expensive converter will give better results but will probably cost a lot more than just buying a new video controller card with built-in TV output.


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## absolutezero1287 (May 23, 2007)

Hmm about the dance pad, the one that I bought came with DDR. It works fine and is like two years old, i think. Did you fold the pad in a way other than how it was originally folded? Cause that can mess up the sensors.


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## CrmsnKtsne (Sep 1, 2007)

Hah, ok. I think you may be right about the scan box, as I only recently found out that computers don't just export plain video like I thought before, they actually try to communicate with the monitor and such. However, I heard from someone else that a driver might do the trick, so I think I'll go after that first. Thanks!

Andddd, about the pad, I found that the PS2 mats technically aren't supposed to be able to hit two arrows at once, so I went and tried Wii mats which I'm currently figuring out how to get working, so I think that'll work OK in the end! ^^


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