How to Connect a Laptop Computer To Your Television Screen

I’ve been using an S-video to SCART (Europe) on our main TV for years, but have to use AV25 as the input (not AV1 or AV2). If I try to use AV1 or AV2 it’s fuzzy black and white. Not all TVs have a second SCART socket to connect to. Our little portable doesn’t and I only get monochrome when connecting to that. It’s something to do with the pins in a SCART plug apparently, there may be a way around it though, if you know what that is, please tell me

db

Hi Amit
Me and Abhishek had tried this experiment some time back and its interesting to see it happen. And it is also possible to connect the laptop to TV even if TV does not have a S-video input, there is a cable available in market which has S-video port on one end and a DVD component ports on other end, we used that cable as our TV didn’t have a S-video input. The resolution was not very good though.
Also there is a setting in TV for PAL/NTSC setting which improves the picture if selected properly.

If youtube and flickr are the only requirements, Apple TV should be the right choice :-)

With the setup as explained above you will not get any sound when you use only the S-Video cable.

In order to get sound you will need to connect the audio cable where you have one audio connector at one end and a dual connector at the other end.

Connect the single connector to the audio ouput of the laptop and the dual connector to the audio input on your TV screen.

I watch a lot of movies downloaded from bit torrent sites this way and the resolution and sound clarity you get is quite amazing.

That great..I want to try later.. :)

How can this be done on XP if one does not have Vista?

If you have a older generation TV set

Try the S-Video to RCA adaptor (http://www.directron.com/svideotorca.html)

OR If you don’t have a S-Video output try the VGA to S-Video/RCA adaptor(http://www.amazon.com/EFORCITY-VGA-S-Video-RCA-Adaptor/dp/B000P3UB24)

I’ve tried them both and it does work with some reduction in picture quality.

The quality is a lot better if you have a Flat screen LCD TV.

I forgot to add that this works with Win 2000,XP and Vista.

I connected my laptop to my TV (LCD, HDTV)using VGA to HDMI cable but it doesnt seem to work. I’ve followed all the instructions above and then some. Do you have any suggestions on how I can connect my laptop to the TV (TV only supports VGA to HDMI according to TV manual). Thanks!!

Amendment to above, I mean DVI to HDMI cable, thanks

James, I’v recently hooked up my Gateway laptop to my Samsung DLP HDTV using the VGA out on the laptop to VGA in on the HDTV and works great. However, if you have a DVI out on your laptop go DVI to HDMI! Not sure why the manual would say that, but you would have to buy a converter box or cable(s) to go grom VGA to HDMI, not sure if you even can. The KEY is to right click and go to either properties or Graphics options. There you will need to reset the resolution and set your TV as the primary monitor. For resolution for a 720p HDTV you can go to 1200′ish X 768p. The audio is pretty simple…just use the headphone out to component IN on the TV using a 3.5mm mini jack to RCA (Red and White splitter)cable. Hope this helps.

i connected my laptop to my tv using an HDMI cable (HDMI 2 HDMI cable)i get the video but no audio comes out of my tv just the laptop. what setting should i change to get audio from my tv?

You need to buy a separate audio cable that fits from your PC headphone socket to your TV audio input. In other words a Twin Phono to 3.5mm Stereo Jack Lead

Just type this into google, the leads are cheap as chips.

Porto

I connected the VGA cable from my laptop to my samsung HDTV, but then the “pc” doesn’t comes out on the settings. Only HDMI(which is connected to my DVD) and TV are the only one appearing on video mode. I lost the manual so I’m totally clueless on what to do. In my laptop it works, only on my TV doesn’t work. Do I have to connect that s-video thing to it? PLs help me!!!! Email ur concerns to queen.lei@yahoo

Thank you so very much! I had a time trying to figure out why I couldn’t get my laptop connected to the TV. I didn’t realize I had to go in and muck around with the settings in Personalize, hit the Connect to projector blah blah blah and hit the connect display button there. Even then, in the settings; a help window pops up stating if the screen still isn’t displayed to hold the function key while pressing f5(had to toggle it a few times)..for me it’s f4 but whatever it works now! Thanks!!

Hey

I have laptop model HP Pavillion dv6285eu and samsung Full HD TV both have VGA port. I connected both using VGA Cable. But after all this I could see only blank screen(back ground light of laptop)connection seems ok with VGA cable, but I couldn’t see any video on TV from laptop. I don’t know what kind of setting do I need to in Laptop. would you please

Ajish

Ajish I found link in the HP tech support. If the notebook PC is connected to multiple monitors, you can either display the same information on both monitors, or different information on each monitor.

Highlight the image of the monitor you want to designate as the main monitor and mark the check box at the This is my main monitor option. If you want different information on each monitor, highlight the image of the secondary monitor and mark the check box at the Extend the desktop onto this monitor option.

If the Windows desktop is placed on the secondary monitor, when the monitor is disconnected the desktop is not visible. Leave the desktop image on the built-in LCD monitor. link tells you how to set up the TV connection and how to troubleshoot it. Hope it helps. Lilly

I would like to connect my Presario C700 to my TV. I used a cable with S-video connector(7 pins) on one end and 3 output (2 audio and 1 video) tulip connector on the other end to connect to my TV. However, the TV is not recognised even after I change the settings in the display properties. Do I have to download any driver for the purpose? My system uses a Mobile Intel 965 Express Chipset family.

Hi,
I have an Acer Laptop with only a VGA output and an old television with RCA(i.e the 3 coloured cables)input. Is there any way to connect the laptop to the TV??? If so how? please help.

I have an Toshiba Laptop with a VGA output and an television with RCA input. but i don know how to connect the laptop to the TV?

hi earlier i was able to connect my laptop to tv using s-video cable but now i am not able to connect. i am not getting the options in settings –advanced where i get an option to connect to tv can anybody help i dont know how the settings changed

I have HP Pavilion 2000 notebook and trying to connect to Samsung 29″Flat TV using S video 7 pin output with 3 input type pin for TV. but i am not able to see anything on TV.

Please help

i have connected the audio cable from my PC to my TV (i.e 3.5mm Stereo Jack Lead) however I still cannot get any sound from the TV?? Pic works fine.

Is there a sound setting I need to change on my computer, and if so, what is it please???

This blog was great!!! I was able to find a solution to my problem in about 30 seconds after 6 months of trying. I am happy and can’t believe it was all within my own personalized settings. The problem is, it’s not user friendly on how to get there through my Vista’s help and support. So I thank you kindly!

Much appreciated!
~Joi Novo~

Hey i my compaq laptop has a 7 pin S video port and my TV has a 4 pin S-Video port i tried connecting using a 4 pin S-Video cable but am gettig no pic in the TV i have a XP OS do i need to change anything to get the picture…pls advise!!!

Hi, i have a Packard Bell laptop with a VGA port and i want to connect it to my Sony TV,which has no VGA port,but an S-video port,and a yellow,red and white port.What wires would i need to connect the two,and what settings would i need to adjust on my laptop and how?Your help would be very much appreciated.
Thanks.

Hi,
I have IBM T23 laptop has a 7 pin S video port and my TV has a 4 pin S-Video port i tried connecting using 7 to 4 pin S-Video cable but am gettig no pic in the TV i have a XP OS. I don’t have any options in settings –advanced option to connect to tv. I also can’t get sound with audio cable from my PC to my TV.

Hi,
I have Toshiba Notebook has 4 pin s video plus the connection for vga with windows vista and my tv is hdtv sony wega!I turn on my notebook n tv set on video5 but i get blank screen all the time !I clicked fn and f8 need help plz !Thanks for reading my msg !Wait for your reply
bye

Hi All
Anyone come across this problem yet and know the answer??
Wanted to connect the laptop to a big screen tv, used a VGA to VGA 15 pin D-sub cable, pressed F4 or F5 on the laptop and up came the desktop on the tv, brill.
Sound was through 3.5 plug to RCA x 2
Loaded media player on the laptop to play a DVD and watch on the tv, could see everything on the tv, media player screen, mouse.
Could see the film playing on the media player on the laptop but the screen was blank on the media player showing on the TV screen?????
Have you any ideas

is that possible to connect LCD monitor to my laptop….. if it is do inform me plz.
can any body guide me that i” connect LCD to laptop and h’ve different screen on LCD

i have a gateway with XP and trying to hook up at HD15 cable to the tv. Everything works after i change my settting to 1280 pixels but then my tv screen stays black for 3 sec and still says unsupported signal, please check the device output..can someone please help me!! ahhh

Hi guys. I have a toshiba laptop with Windows XP.

Itd b really nice if sumbody could make a me a step by step instructional thing or watever. on how to connect my laptop to my 40″ samsung hdtv.

By using a VGA cable.

ive tried to do it myself. but all that happens when i go to the pc input screen. well it comes up with my screen for 1 second then goes black saying no signal. then after a few more seconds the tv turns itself off.

any help is really appreciated.

If you could please submit your post to my email which is.

link

yes they are hyphens not underscores. thanx.

Hi guys,
I have the similar problem explained by David Bradley in this blog. I have an old Panasonic which has 2 SCART Connection (AV1 & AV2) and 1 RCA Connection (video + audio). I have bought a S-video+RCA Audio to SCART cable and connected my Laptop to TV. But now the video is not coming at all in TV. I have connected and tried in both AV1 & AV2 and video is not getting displayed. I have Win XP Prof and IBM T41 laptop.
Please help, how to make the video come on the TV? Thanks in advance.

hi there guys i just bought the vga to s-video and rca wire but i tried to connect to to the television but it doesnt seem to be working for me. i have an acer aspire 3050 as a laptop, is there something in my display settings that i have to do. let me know thanks in advance here is my email.

I have connected my compaq presario laptop to my lcd using the vga lead however the lcd only shows desktop or(screen saver) without any of the icons.If i run the curser to the right(out of the laptop)it then goes to the lcd.How do i make the screens the same?

Hi Lewis, There is a video in svideo.com for this. You have to go to Desktop properties, choose the 2nd Screen, right click and enable ‘Attached’. Thats basically like you are getting an extended screen of your laptop. Then drag your Window by your mouse to the 2nd screen which is your LCD. This should work.

Hi, me too.. i jest recently plugged in my laptop with vista to my samsung dlp hdtv 61″.. in laptop, it detected, i use graphic option to set the multi display or single display etc..but on my tv it is not detected..the back panel of my samsung dlp hdtv 61″ there is some pc in port (D-Sub 15 pin) and PC audio in (3.5 mm) besides the AV1,2,3,component,etc..normally when you connect some cable behind the tv panel using av,component, on the tv menu, select source, it detected and can be choosen..but this pc thing an exeption, after i plug both vga cable, on the menu tv i still couldn’t get the laptop detected resulting i cannot select the source to PC, only AV1 and AV2 which currently being used by my dvd and my antenna decoder..

anyone have some type telivision like this? do you know why the tv cannot detected the pc in port??

Hi, i have not solve problem. i have samsung tv. and i want to join dell laptop. so anyone suggest what i need and how i will do. i have cable tv connection too. so will you please give me suggestion.

Hey
I hooked my gateway laptop to my 42′RCA tv with a HDMI cord i have my picture and i bought 3.5mm mini jack to rca for sound and i still don’t have any sound what can i try now?

Hi Everyone,
I have an HP9000 with a VGA and S-video (7pin) also an expansion port 3 (not sure what this is), and want to connect to a Sony Wega HDTV 55″ to look at vacation photo’s and websites (it’s hard for others to see the notebook’s screen). TV has S-video and HDMI (according to the book). I need help to take TV out to see back where connection is, but book says it does not have VGA.

I bought S-video cables, connected them to front of TV and notebook, but couldn’t find anywhere in the notebook (under display) to change it to ‘out to TV’. I have XP not Vista.

Does anyone know the exact steps to change this in XP?

Hi guys. I have a toshiba laptop with Windows XP.

Itd b really nice if sumbody could make a me a step by step instructional thing or watever. on how to connect my laptop to my 40″ samsung hdtv.

By using a VGA cable.

ive tried to do it myself. but all that happens when i go to the pc input screen. well it comes up with my screen for 1 second then goes black saying no signal. then after a few more seconds the tv turns itself off.

any help is really appreciated.

If you could please submit your post to my email which is.
link

I have Thoshiba and Vista and Sharp TV. But I couldn’t connect. I could hear sound but not a video. Anybody please help me. I have thoshiba 17 inch screen.

Please help me.

Thanks,
Suresh

hello,
i want to connect my laptop to the TV useing s-video. however my computer has 7 pin, and my TV has 4 pin. and there is no other way that i can hook it up (i don’t think) is there anything i can do? also.. i know i need a RCA cable. how do i go about hooking that up?
thank you

I have Dell D600. i bought the s-video cable and tried to connect my laptop to the Tv but it did not work. i pressed fn+f8 many times but it still does not work. i even tried to select the extend screen option in the display setings but it did not save the settings as it should. please help.

hi,

i have an ibm laptop and a vga output and a philips tv(lcd). i use the blue rga wire but the tv does not even recognise the connection. can someone explain me the vista settings??

thanx

Hi can someone help me? I connected my s-video from the laptop to a television, the extended display worked but i cant see any of my desktop icons on the tv screen. so its like just the background and nothing else. If i change resolutions , i can see the icons on the tv screen but my comp goes blank, and sometimes both go blank and i have to restart my comp. I use xp, my bro has a vista and it works fine, its like a mirror image of his desktop. can some one help me figure out how to do the same with my xp laptop?? thanx

Hey everyone, i managed to connect my dell inspiron 6400 from the 7 pin s video socket to my tv with a 3 pin ie the yellow, white and red jacks, that’s rca i presume what you guys keep talking about, i’ve used a separate cable for the audio.. my problem is the bloody picture is in black and white.. thats all .. the picture’s there so is the sound.. but why BLACK AND WHITE.. ??? its like so close yet so far.. .. please help

hello,

i’ve had the same problem as alex….was able to get the picture and audio to work great (using s-video and normal audio inputs), but the picture is in black and white…sooooo frusterating. if someone knows how to correct that i’d love to know.

hi there…ive got a HP laptop connected to my 52″ sony bravia but the picture resolution or graphic images is not that good on big screen compare to the pc monitor…what setting should i perform? should you recommend to purchase a pc tower with higher graphics/resolution? or can it be sorted out through setting change…please advise me…tnx

hi there.. i got a compaq pesario connected to my 42″ samsung plasma.. im use the vga for both but the tv does not even recognise the connection. can anyone help me? my OS is vista..

Hi,
I have an Acer Laptop with S-Video output and an television with RCA and DVD COMPONENT in (i.e the 3 coloured cables)input. Is there any way to connect the laptop to the TV??? If so how? please help.

Machine Configuration is
Acer Aspire 5052AWXMi, ATI Radeon Xpress 1100 chipset

I hooked my PC to flat screen using VGA 15-point at both ends (cable from another computer). When I restarted laptop, Windows screen was mimicked on TV, but then just black screen. XP doesn’t give the option (under Display, Appearances) to hook to another monitor or whatever you showed in the directions. Other options?
Thanks,
Karen

I have an HP laptop dv7-1070ev with Windows Vista and would like to make an HDMI connection to my LCD Sony Bravia TV, however when I connect the 1.3 HDMI cable there is neither picture nor audio on the TV screen. What do I need to do? Thanks again, Anna C

I am searching for a flat screen tv that I can connect to my PC. Im just unsure what is a better bet, Buying a plasma or a LCD. they both seem good but I need the best performing screen that will be hooked to a computer

hi there.can anybody please help me?
i ve tried to connect my tv(it s an old one HAIER 32”,CRT)using a cable that is scart from the side to the tv and an s-video to the laptop(acer aspire with ati x700 card)but the picture is black and white.i ve tried to fix it using any options but that was not possible.any suggestion please?

Hi all,

I have used a VGA to VGA cable to link my laptop (Windows Vista OS) to my LCD TV (Samsung LCD).

Tips….

when i first plugged the cable in, the TV and Laptop auto configured to clone screen.

I was messing around and messed it up. the solution is to use the NVIDIA control panel (right click on desktop). Here, you can play around with the resolutions and whether you want to clone your secondary screen (TV) or use it as an extension of your primary screen (PC/ Laptop).

The clone mode shows the same on both screens and the extension mode lets you drag items from your primary screen onto your secondary.

My problem….

I bought a stereo jack to RCA (red and white) for the sound, but it doesn’t work. i have various RCA connections on the back of my TV, but they don’t work. does anyone have an idea how i can try to resolve this?

Thanks,

Adam

have dell inspiron, trying to connect laptop to tv with s- video cord, however only the screensaver is showing on tv and nothing else. Can someone please help?

I have a LENOVO laptop & i have both VGA & S-video cable ports & i tride connecting them both to TV but it dont work. Can some one help me to solve this problem PLEASE.

Hello i have a gateway laptop and i have svideo out i bought a rf modulator with s video and my tv is still black how do i change the settings on my laptop i have xp thank you

Hi.
I just connect my Dell lap top to my TV Hitachi by VGA
After I press Fn+F8, tv screen had appeared all colors revelution only. Please help me what I should do next
Thanks

Hey everyone, i managed to connect my compaq presario,xp, from the 7 pin s video socket to my tv with a 3 pin ie the yellow, white and red jacks, my problem is,picture is in black and white.. n no audio. the picture’s there .. but why BLACK AND WHITE.. ?? an the sound?? do i need to get any other cables??plz help

Hello
I`ve got Sony Bravia LCD TV and I`ve been trying to connect it to my my Windows Vista Packard Bell laptop.
I`ve bought a VGA HD15 to 3 RCA TV / HDTV Component Video 2 Meter Cable but every time I connect it to the laptop my screen turns black straight away and I can`t do anything.
I`ve been changing the tv modes from tv,av1…hdmi1…pc and com but nothing happens. When I use the pc mode a read a message “no sync” on the tv screen
Could anypne help me? Thank you in advance. Hristo

Hi
I have a HP laptop and trying to hook it up to my olevia tv. Ive connected using a s-video but the screen on the tv and my laptop is so small when i put it into “full screen”. I get a decent size when i put it into “fit to screen” but i still have to make my desktop background black and hide the taskbar and all the programs on the desktop to enjoy it. This happens when i play any movie through itunes, media player and quicktime. How do i ajust “full screen”?

Hi
I’ve had a quick read through but can’t find the answer to my problem and hoping someone may be able to help. I have a samsung HDMI TV 1080 LCD tv and a sony vaio lap top. I’m trying to connect my lap top to the tv to show photos etc. Have got a VGA lead as lap top doesn’t have the S-video connection output which is mentioned a lot. The VGA lead is plugged into the lap top and the tv and i’ve tried using the function key plus the F4/F7 key (which is what I use at work to get the laptop to display through an AV unit but it doesn’t seem to work here. Has anyone got any idea of how to do this? advice would be hugely appreciated.
thanks
kath

I have connected my laptop to TV using a 4 pin s-video to RCA convertor cable. Seperate arrangement for audio. Everything is fine except I see a black & white image on TV. Using the same cable with my DVD player (i.e my DVD player has a video out in form of S-video) it shows color. Any idea What might be wrong? I have checked all graphics settings (changing it to PAL/NTSC..whatever was available) but the colors just wont come.. Any ideas????

hi there everyone

i have hooked my Vaio to HD TV through a HDMI cord.

everything works great - audio / picture etc

However the only thing i cant get audio to is Itunes - it remains playing through computer internal speakers??

any suggestions?

Hi Guys,

I’m really frustrated now. Either I cant get anything right or there is something terribly wrong with my connections.

this is what I did.

I connected my Dell Inspiron 1525 with Vista to LG 21″ Flat TV with DVI Cable - 15pin connected to Lappy n 3 Cords - RED,Blue n Green Connected to TV.

Lappy detected the extrenal device automatically but the display is completely turbulant and black n white. I see 4 screens kinda squeezed and costantly rattling kinda noise.

I tried various permutations n combinations of Screen Size and refresh rate. but nothing works.

Please please Help Me.

THanks

i connected my compaq laptop to my samsung hdtv with a vga cable, but as soon as i connect the cable my laptop screen goes black and when i disconnect the cables everything on the laptop screen is big then bcomes small and nothhings coming on the tv. plzzzzzzzzzzzzz help me someone

Hey Aamna,

There is a Fn Button on Your Laptop. Use this button with one of the function keys Function Keys… F3 to F7 and also if you go to your Lappi’s Display Settings, you would find an option to Mirror the Laptop Screens on both Laptop n TV.

do post back if you are successful.

Cheers

Hi

I have bought all the necessary cables and can get a picture on my tv but no audio. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Hello every one, I found the easiest way for me was, to just make the purchase of a HDMI cable, as both vdieo and ausio stream over the one connection, now it took a while to woik through Vista’s mobile settings, but now I streaming large blueray ISO’s to Sony Bravia, and the quality is great, saving on money, not interested in paying the mass amounts for blank blueray media, all you need is a virtual clone drive of some sort and the rest can be worked out as you play, good luck

Got good picture via VGA cable, but cannot get sound via Red/white to phone cable. Using a regular PC with XP. Any ideas?

I am trying to connect me computer to TV ..I am using HDMI 1.3 cable connected to both and have awesome picture but no sound..

Hi,

I have a HP Entertainment Laptop running windows vista. I have hooked my laptop up using a HDMI cable and a a prong to two Coax Right and Left cables but i still get no sound. The video is perfect but when I go to sounds it is like my computer isn’t even seeing that it is hooked up to the tv. Any advice on how to get some sound going?

I have Dell Latitude D600. i bought the s-video cable and tried to connect my laptop to the Tv but it did not work. i pressed fn+f8 many times but it still does not work. i even tried to select the extend screen option in the display setings but it did not save the settings as it should. please help.

A VGA cable and s-video cable only provide picture no sound.

If you want sound then either get some pc speakers or run a audio cable from your computer to your tv and change the settings on your tv.

My problem is the laptop screen is smashed and i can’t see a thing to be able to change the settings also, the tv turns onto standby when the laptop is connected.

Any ideas??

Hello:

I have pluged my Acer 6920G laptop to my JVC TV (LCD FLAT)by HDMI cable ,my intention is to play blue ray disc with acer arcade software ,but is not possible ,once playing it appear a message on the screen indicating that the graphic controler is not compatible.
I made the same thing but now pluging the laptop to a Panasonic Viera TV and it works perfectly.
Could you please let me know what i need to do to allow play BD on my JVC tv?
Thanks a lot for your support
Salvador

It seems a lot of people seem to have a problem getting sound to play from their TV speakers and not the laptop.

If you don’t have HDMI, you will need to buy audio cables to connect the headphone port on your laptop to the audio input on your tv.

HDMI cables transfer both video and sound so no extra cables are required. To get the sound to work with HDMI, do the following:

Go to control panel -> Sound. A window should pop up showing both the local sound driver as well as HDMI. Right-click on HDMI and make it the default sound driver. Click on test. Sound should now play through your tv speakers.

NB: Remember to change your default audio driver back to your local one after you’ve disconnected your laptop from your TV!

Hi ALL

Need some Advice ya, i just had a LCD TV wanna connect to my laptop using VGA cable it works great. Today i just bought Twin Phono to 3.5mm Stereo Jack Lead to connect. No sound. But from LCD TV i saw a 3.5mm just next to VGA cable. Should i buy a 3.5mm to connect to my 3.5mm from LCD to laptop? Please advice =)