1 - Is there a way to play the video output on the tv, but not show it on the phone itself, as theres no point having both on at once?

2 - If the phone MUST show the image (as the tv would probably blank out when the phone does so), then is there a way for the phone to at least not light up when playing? This would be useful if the phone is outputting a long duration video to the tv, I cannot find the ac plug for the phone, yet am reasonably sure the phone will last till the end whilst I cross those fingers.. :O !!

3 - I have noticed on a 4:3 tv, video will show in widescreen, but some applications do not (dont take up all the space both horizontally and vertically-so even on a 4:3 there are borders left and right).. ? Is there no way around this as this is the way the programs were set to look?

4 - using the audio/video lead to output to the tv, the result is blurry, especially (as an example) showing the internet with small text. Is there a way around this? Is it a case of new tv and/or new leads, or is this just a general issue with television when compared to monitors in quality?

5 - The phone showing on a 4:3 tv screen has massive borders top and bottom. Is my only option to buy a nice new widescreen for the phone to show with (at least) slightly smaller borders?

thanks

It's an issue of using the low-quality composite video connection that the N900 does.

Probably, it'll always output the same as what's drawn for the screen, which is widescreen.

"1 - Is there a way to play the video output on the tv, but not show it on the phone itself, as theres no point having both on at once?"

Try Locking the phone screen. I think that should work, though I haven't tried it myself.

thanks to both - a nice idea, but unfortunately using the built in lock stops all videos from playing on this phone!

It shouldnt do. I use the n900's TV output on an almost daily basis and (using the default media player at least) I can quite happily lock the screen once the video starts, and itll carry on playing perfectly fine on the TV.

me too ^

Though I normally just let the screen time out (settings -> display then set backlight timeout to say 30 seconds) - that turns the n900 screen off once the vid is playing without manual lock.

Actually, if you lock the screen (with the dedicated button, or else), the TV won't blank out.