How to Connect a Laptop to a Television Screen
This article has been discussed to explain how a laptop or notebook computer can be connected to a television screen with the help standard ports like VGA, DVI or S-Video.
If you want to watch web photos and YouTube videos on your big TV screen and there is no need for you to wonder if there is any simple way to connect the laptop to the TV.
Depending on the type of ports that are available on your TV and your PC, Well, there are a number of ways to connect your computer/ laptop to a Television(we have used an HP Windows computer and a Sony Bravia HDTV an example to explain this).
How to Connect Laptop to TV – Step by Step
Step 1 : An S-Video port available in most of the computers can be connected to the S-Video input of your TV screen using an S-Video cable which is very cheap in cost (this cable is round with 4 or 7 pins). If you are using an old monitor, the 15-pin VGA cable can be used to connect the computer to the television and it can be able to provide better picture quality than the S-Video cable.
The latest laptops computers and HDTVs are provided with DVI ports so a DVI Male to Male Cable or DVI to HDMI Adapter Cable can be utilized to connect the display of the computer and the Television. The DVI to HDMI Adapter Cable is made to use in a case when your HDTV is not supported to have a DVI port whereas it does have an HDMI port.
For Sound, the Audio RCA Cable has to be Connected
Step 2 : Now, using a physical cable, you have connected the laptop computer to the Television, there is a need for another cable to transfer the sound whereas all the above-mentioned cables are capable of transmitting only the video but not the audio.
You need to have a 3.5mm Mini Plug to RCA Cable Stereo to connect the audio line out from a laptop computer or a notebook to your Television. The red colored cable connector is let to go into the red socket of your TV, black cable connector into the black socket where the black connector goes into the 3.5mm headphone jack of your laptop computer.
Step 3 : Go to the “display settings” on your Windows laptop or computer and the output be activated to the TV screen. You can either observe the mirror content of your laptop or computer on the TV or the display can be extended just like a dual monitor screen.
If Windows 7 is the OS you are operating with, for a fast access to the display settings, then press the keyboard shortcut “Windows + P” or search, in the Windows Run box, for “Connect to External Display”.
Step 4 : Take up your TV remote and from the menu, switch to “External Inputs”. Depending on the connection you have made, you have to alter the default “Video 1” to another selection which may be either “HDMI 1” or “Video 2”.
Note : Make sure that the physical cable is connected to the TV before you turn ON the laptop or computer because there is a possibility that sometimes it fails to recognise the external display. Also, you may need to alter the screen resolution of your Television by using the Display settings available in your Control Panel otherwise the picture may sometimes appear distorted on your television screen.
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