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connecting laptop to tv

post #1 of 11
7/12/06 at 1:11am
Thread Starter 
ok, iput in the video cable (vga) from laptop to the rear of the tv, now how do i get a picture up? like what channel do i put on, and also, this is a widescreen tv, how do i get the picture working?
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post #2 of 11
7/12/06 at 1:16am
Your TV has a VGA input? Or do you mean S-VIDEO?
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post #3 of 11
7/12/06 at 1:18am
Thread Starter 
umm, it has both, VGA 9 blue one 5-5-5), and s-video!
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post #4 of 11
7/12/06 at 1:25am
I'm not sure about anything, but go to your display properties, and there should be a box you can click down with a few options, so you can view both displays at once or whatever... or pick which one you want to use...
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post #5 of 11
7/12/06 at 1:30am
Thread Starter 
hmm ok, but on the tv, what channel do u select lol?
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post #6 of 11
7/12/06 at 1:30am
Most TVs have composite, S-video, and possibly component (3 cable) inputs. New sets have HDMI, a digital input.

You're probably going to connect via s-video?

Below find pictures of the video cable types that can connect to your typical TV set.


component:


HDMI:


(rarely) VGA:



And found on almost all sets--s-video:



An example of a DVI cable (um, DVI-D I believe):


Now, HDMI is the best way to connect if you can--if your laptop has a DVI out and your TV set has an HDMI in, you should be able to get an adapter cable to connect the two ports.

Oh, and some transition HDTV sets had DVI inputs as well--my Hitachi 51" HDTV does. If so, then you should be able to connect your computer's DVI out to the TV set directly.

2nd best is probably component--again, assuming both the laptop and TV set have this.

3rd best is s-video. Most laptops and almost all TVs have these.

4th is composite.

VGA is so rare that I won't bother ranking it----on second thought, if somehow by some weird coincidence your TV set has a VGA in, then that's probably ranked above s-video, below component.
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post #7 of 11
7/12/06 at 1:41am
Thread Starter 
hmm, well i am pretty sure it was VGA, if not, it must be DVi, and it definately has s-vid
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post #8 of 11
7/12/06 at 1:49am
Well, assuming that the physical connection is established, then you have do two things:
1. Tell your laptop to output on your VGA/DVI/S-video, whatever you're wanting to put a video signal out on.
2. Tell your TV set to switch to one of the alternate video inputs--the s-video for example.

Often, with your laptop running Windows XP, you hit a special key combination to transfer over--on Dell laptops its Fn-F8.

The TV? Well, exactly how to do that depends on which TV set you have...there is no standard way to run through the menus for this.
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post #9 of 11
7/12/06 at 1:51am
Thread Starter 
oh ok thanks, and also, can this be done with a stanard desktop? like i mean once everything is hooked up, do i have to push aspecial key on the keyboard tos ewtich to tv mode? like u do wif laptop?
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post #10 of 11
7/12/06 at 1:57am
Well, basically not--by that I mean, if you're hooking up your desktop to your TV via VGA, I believe that the two machines talk to each other through some back channels on the cable (called sideband signaling), and by default the desktop will be putting out video through the VGA anyway? I'm not completely sure about this, since I haven't had a desktop in awhile...
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post #11 of 11
7/12/06 at 2:02am
Thread Starter 
so does ne1 know?
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