Hooking-up Laptop to TV

TheVinster Member

From: Illinois Registered: 2009-07-15 Posts: 985

I was just thinking that maybe I want to hook my laptop up to my TV. If I can get it to work correctly, I can always just have the Japanese media playing on the TV while doing Anki, reading articles, etc. on my computer. I always do want to have an influx of Japanese media to listen to, but a personal issue is that I don't want to play the content that I can't see. That means I don't want to have a movie running in the background if I can't physically see it (I'd have to switch over to it). Just something I don't like; however, I'm perfectly fine with something running off to the side. Whenever I used to play WoW a few years back I always needed a movie running in the DVD player. The fact that I can hear it, but am also able to see it out of the corner of my eye means I'm satisfied.

Enough rambling, anyone have advice for me on how to do this?

yudantaiteki Member

Registered: 2009-10-03 Posts: 3619

You have to be more specific about your computer and TV -- what inputs and outputs do they have? (i.e. my laptop has an HDMI output so if I have an HDMI input TV it's as simple as one cable, but if your TV and/or laptop are older that may not be an option. My older laptop had an S-Video output.)

prink Member

From: Minneapolis Registered: 2010-11-02 Posts: 200

I use a VCD cable to connect a desktop computer to my LCD TV. I could hook up my laptop in this way if I wanted to as well.

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TheVinster Member

From: Illinois Registered: 2009-07-15 Posts: 985

I've got a VGA port and HDMI. My TV has a port for PC (so probably VGA) and HDMI slots. Just now my dad took a cable running from the monitor to the CPU of a desktop computer we have and we plugged it into the TV and laptop successfully. I believe it's a VGA cable, in this situation. On the "Personalization" screen (I use Windows) it detects a second screen. I do not know how to proceed from here, however, or if I still need something.

Edit: Seems at this point I don't know where the "extended display" is outputting to. My TV has a channel for the PC output, but all I have is a black screen. Maybe HDMI would be the easiest option?

Last edited by TheVinster (2011 September 27, 9:39 am)

Sebastian Member

Registered: 2008-09-09 Posts: 583

You have to set the TV input to "PC", and set the computer to use both displays, since the connection isn't recognized automatically by them. In Windows 7 you can access the second display easily by pressing Win+P.

If you also want to hear the sound from the TV, you'll need an audio cable too.

kainzero Member

From: Los Angeles Registered: 2009-08-31 Posts: 945

also, going through HDMI doesn't change the problem. it gives you the same problem in a different way.

i don't know about your laptop but it might also output audio through HDMI too so you wouldn't have to get the audio cable.

blackbrich Member

From: America Registered: 2010-06-06 Posts: 300

The simplest solution would be the HDMI solution. Since it brings both the video and audio.
Grab an HDMI cord, hook it up from your computer to the TV, switch to HDMI mode for your TV, then use the dual display.

TheVinster Member

From: Illinois Registered: 2009-07-15 Posts: 985

Yeah I'm sure an HDMI cable would be a good fix. My TV doesn't have many settings, but it does have 2 HDMI slots and 2 channels regarding HDMI that come up when I hit "Source": HDMI(1) and HDMI(2) for their respective ports. I now know how to set-up the computer for extended screens, and so if I buy an HDMI cable and hook it to my TV, then switch the TV to HDMI(1) it should work just fine, I believe. I do believe that, yes, HDMI carries both audio/video so no other cable is required.

kainzero Member

From: Los Angeles Registered: 2009-08-31 Posts: 945

well, if you can't get it to work on vga, you won't be able to get it to work on hdmi... so make sure you got it going first, otherwise you're just moving the problem to a different cable.

JimmySeal Member

From: Kyoto Registered: 2006-03-28 Posts: 2279

Sounds like Vinster might have figured it out and just wasn't too explicit about it:

I now know how to set-up the computer for extended screens, and so if I buy an HDMI cable and hook it to my TV, then switch the TV to HDMI(1) it should work just fine

TheVinster Member

From: Illinois Registered: 2009-07-15 Posts: 985

Well I know how to set-up the computer end of it; how to set extended screen and such. I wasn't able to get the screen visible on the TV side of things. I changed the TV's source to PC and the VGA cable yielded no image on the TV. My computer detected the 2nd screen, however, so I'm not sure what was wrong. Like I said the options are extremely limited on my TV and it should be as simple as changing the source to PC. A HDMI cord is relatively cheap so I may have my dad pick one up because even if it does change the problem to a different cable, at least I can then focus on a single cable.

kainzero Member

From: Los Angeles Registered: 2009-08-31 Posts: 945

well, if you set it to extended display then you should see something on the TV when it's on PC input.

at the very least, set it to cloned display and you should see an exact copy of what you see on the laptop. it might be black on the extended display because you didn't drag anything there, so cloned display will at least confirm that it works.

another thing you might want to look at is your graphics resolution; make sure you're using a resolution supported by the TV.

TheVinster Member

From: Illinois Registered: 2009-07-15 Posts: 985

Yeah I think checking out the resolution settings may prove useful, I hadn't messed around with that at all. I just chose the option it gave me for their output.

TheVinster Member

From: Illinois Registered: 2009-07-15 Posts: 985

Quick update: HDMI made it work just fine. Can I make the sound come out of the TV, though, and not my computer?

yudantaiteki Member

Registered: 2009-10-03 Posts: 3619

It depends on your computer. HDMI is both an audio and video connection so in theory it should work, but if you can't set up your computer to output through the HDMI rather than the speakers, it won't work.

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