Connecting to TV From a Laptop

July 19, 2007

Connecting to TV From a Laptop
By J. D. BIERSDORFER

Q. Is it possible to turn my regular TV into a computer monitor so I can watch movies that I downloaded into my laptop?

A. With the proper type of cable to connect the two, it’s certainly possible to pipe the video files you download from the Internet from your laptop computer to your television set.

These days, RCA (also known as composite or phono plugs), S-Video, D.V.I. (digital video interface) and, the latest, H.D.M.I. (high-definition multimedia interface) are among the many types of connectors used between computers and televisions. With so many standards in use, start by inspecting both your laptop and your TV for what connection is offered. To identify what’s back there, Microsoft has an illustrated field guide of common cable connectors at tinyurl.com/87jqd. An easy-to-follow guide can also be found at www.techlore.com/article/10061.

You will find H.D.M.I. ports on new HDTVs, sometimes two or more of them. S-Video is commonly found on many laptops and slightly older TV sets. If you have the S-Video option on both sides, connecting them with an S-Video cable (less than $20 at most electronics stores) is easy. You will probably need to adjust your laptop’s display control panel to send the video image to the TV screen. Video cards, video-card drivers and other settings may complicate matters; check your manual or manufacturer’s Web site for your laptop’s video-out settings and options.

Older laptops and TV sets without S-Video usually have a standard yellow video jack instead, which accepts a video cable with an RCA plug on the end. Most video cables don’t carry the audio signal, though, so unless you have a great sound system on your laptop, you’ll probably want to get audio cables to connect the computer to the TV as well.

Computer and electronics stores offer three-line RCA cables with the yellow video plug and the red and white audio plugs on either end for these situations, as well as S-Video to RCA cables for when you have RCA jacks on one device and S-Video on the other. Gadgets like AVerMedia’s $80 QuickPlay PC-to-TV Converter (aver.com/ppd/quickplay.html) can also simplify matters because they support a variety of video connection types.