Patent ID: 8473990

Claim:
A device for distributing video from a premises personal computer (PC) over a premises signal distribution media to a premises television, comprising: a video input interface for receiving video information from the PC; a control interface for exchanging control information with the PC; a video output interface for providing modulated video signals for transmission over the premises signal distribution media to the television; another video output interface for providing output video information to a PC monitor; a processing section for processing the video information and including: an encoder for encoding the video information into a digital television signal; a modulator for modulating the digital television signal onto the video output interface; and a controller that is operable in at least a first and a second mode in which the controller sends a respective explicit first or second video resolution to the PC over the control interface to cause the PC to provide the video information to the video input interface with the respective first or second video resolution; a video switch communicatively interposed between the video input interface and the another video output interface, the video switch being controllable by the controller in the first mode to direct the video information with the first video resolution from the PC to the another video output interface and in the second mode to direct the video information with the second video resolution from the PC to the encoder.