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Loading ...Every year more and more people prefer to buy laptops instead of personal computers and large screen TV-sets instead of monitors. Laptop is enough for desktop applications and Internet surfing, but for multimedia tasks much larger screen is more desirable. Playing computer games on a big television screen gives you new impressions as well as watching photos and movies on TV provides new level of comfort not only for your eyes, but also for your mind. That’s why people often wonder how to connect laptop to TV without sophisticated equipment and special skills.
How to connect laptop to TV
There are several ways of connecting laptop to TV. They depend on the type of ports your laptop has: VGA (old models surely have at least this one) or DVI (less popular, but still can be found in some of modern laptop models), S-Video (analogue interface with audio support) or HDMI (all new models of laptops are equipped with this up-to-date high-speed digital interface). The former two interfaces transmit only video signal (analogue by VGA and digital by DVI). The latter ones support both video and audio (S-Video transfers analogue signal, HDMI deals with digital one). Though each of them is suitable for our needs. So, let us review all four ways how to connect a laptop to a TV.
VGA
The simplest way how to connect laptop to TV using this type of interface is when both laptop and television have necessary VGA-ports. All you need in this case is to open a Windows control panel and adjust the double display feature in the settings of graphics adapter. After that you need to select VGA as a source of signal on your TV. Note that Video Graphics Array interface does not transfer audio signal, so additionally you have to buy Mini-to-RCA audio cable and connect it from your computer’s headphone jack to your TV’s Audio In.
S-Video
Separate Video interface provides easy way of connecting computer to television as the majority of laptops as well as TV-sets are equipped with S-Video port. Considering it transfers both audio and video you will need only one laptop to TV cable with male connectors on both sides. Make sure your laptop and TV have the same S-Video ports (they may be four- or seven-pin). How to connect laptop to TV if the latter one does not have S-Video port? In this situation you may use S-Video-to-RCA cable connecting to TV’s Video & Audio In ports. One should know that using S-Video interface the cable length should not be over 6 feet (180 cm) as analogue signal is constantly fading while moving through the cable from one device to another. It causes degradation of image quality. Use S-Video cable with gilded connectors only.
DVI
Both DVI and HDMI are used for transferring high-definition video to televisions supporting HD and/or Full HD video signal. If your TV has DVI port, you will need DVI-to-DVI cable, but majority of modern TV-sets are equipped with HDMI ports, so it is more convenient to connect laptop to television using DVI-to-HDMI cable. Please, note that Digital Visual Interface does not transfer audio signal, so you will have to follow the method described above – hook up the audio by connecting from your laptop’s headphone jack to your TV’s Audio In via Mini-to-RCA audio cable. That’s simple.
HDMI
The most convenient and easiest way how to connect laptop to TV is via HDMI interface. The major part of modern laptops and TVs are equipped with High-Definition Multimedia Interface making possible simultaneous transferring of both high-definition video and high-quality audio signals. Any ordinary HDMI-cable will be enough. Length of cable is not important – fading of digital signal is really unapparent. But it is still not recommended to buy very cheap cables because of low-quality materials used for their production.
Now you know how to connect your laptop to your TV. These tips are also applicable to any personal computer or netbook having at least one of the abovementioned ports. According to a prediction, by 2015 the average TV will be 60 inches, meanwhile laptop displays will hardly ever be over 20 inches.