What best way to connect Notebook to TV?

Hi, Im looking to buy a notebook in the next few months and one of the most vital, decisive factors above all else, is that its easy to connect to a TV, because even after the notebook becomes obsolete, I want to keep it at least as a media player.

I was doing some reading on VGA out connections and such and read that it carries Video only. Does that mean to watch a movie on my notebook through a larger TV, Id only be able to see the video and have to hear the sound from the Notebook? Or would I need another cable to plug the sound into the TV as well?

How does it work exactly, or am I just being dense?

I know I could go for a Notebook with a HDMI out connection, but there dont seem to be many of those out yet.

What other practical solutions are there to watch AND LISTEN to media on your notebook, on your TV? Any USB/PCMCIA solution would be good too.

Thnks in advance for any help provided!

 

Well I would say S-Video would be the easiest, since 99.9% of tv's made with in the past 5 years have them. But if you want sound the only thing I could think or would be to get PCMCIA or ExpressCard, which ever you have, TV tuner for your notebook and connect it to the TV that way. That should do it.

 

If the TV has composite ports for audio, can push the sound out using a 3.5mm stereo jack to 2 RCA port cable through the notebook's headphone jack

 

my tv doesn't have the S-Video input anymore so I use my WinTV USB2 from Hauppauge

 

You can use the Win TV adapter to get the image and sound on your laptop on your TV? I thought it was the other way around.

 

So you're looking to play your movies you have on your laptop on your tv?

If so... and you have a SD tv then you'll want to use S-Video out to your tv for your video and then use your line out (or audio out) to a RCA (composite cable, then red, yellow, and white one) and use the red and white cable to connect to your audio (tv or receiver). This should work well. If you don't have svideo out, you may have to try to get some sort of adapter for your vga output.

If you have an HD tv then you should be able to use the same method, or use the DVI output. The DVI will carry only video, but if you have an HD tv i'd imagine you have sort of home theater to connect your laptop audio to. You can also go with HDMI. HDMI will give you the same quality as DVI but will allow you to carry audio over the cable as well. Either way will work fine, and if you get an HDTV w/o HDMI you can use an adapter to switch it to DVI and have the audio cable seperate.

Hope that helps.

 

Is it possible to game using the TV for display and audio while having wireless keyboard + mouse? What should I look for in the notebook to have this feature, DVI?

 

I would not recommend gaming on a tv unless you had an HD. The resolution is not good enough. If you have an HD TV then using DVI/HDMI will work fine.

I forgot the exact resolution of a SD tv, but ti's below 640x480, so it would look like crap.

If a laptop doesn't have a DVI output, i wouldn't bother getting one. There is no reason a manufacturer should use a VGA out instead of DVI out. You can use a cheap unit to convert the DVI to VGA but cannot go from VGA to DVI (that I know of). Likewise, you can go from HDMI to DVI.

Yes, you should be able to use wireless mice/keyboards. I use the Microsoft Laser Desktop 6000 and it works fine for my desktop. Keep in mind the ranges on these things is pretty short (you're lucky if you can get 8 feet). So you may end up wanting toget a USB extension cable if your laptop will be far away from where your sitting.

 

I use my laptop in my room to watch movies on my TV.

For video:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009ETKT/102-0262602-3104112?ie=UTF8

For Audio:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...1_5/102-0262602-3104112?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

works with no problems....my only complaint now is that i dont have a remote

 

I just use an s video chord to connect to our tv and that red white chord for audio going into my headphone jack in my computer. I think the video looks great.

 

I had an S-Video cable but was disappointed in the quality. It looked crappy. Was it supposed to look crappy? I guess a number of factors detirmine the quality of the picture. So who makes the best S-Video cables?

 

I've always gone to www.bettercables.com for any high quality cables for my HT setup. Nice stuff. $$$ but great quality.

 

Well, if your looking at yoru desktop or what not, of course it's gonna look like crap. You're tryign to run something at say, around 1024 or 1280 x whatever ... and your tv can't support anything close to that (unless it's HD). So you'll be missing pixels or be really zoomed in. Really, I find only movies watchable on the TV when I connect my machines to the TV, since they're at the same native resolution as a TV anyway.

 

I've bought them but once I plug the s-video one, how can I see my desktop on tv? Do I need to activate something?

Thanks in advance

 

Yes, you will have to go to your video settings and check the settings to setup the output. On the desktop, right click on propertys, go to settings then advanced.

That should get you pointed in the right direction, from there, it depends on your video card manufacturer as to how you enable the svideo out.

 

is thinking of going with something like this

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006RVNF/ref=pd_cp_e_title/102-5727815-3874535?ie=UTF8


edit: no composite to headphone plug, i.e. no audio

 

Angels, you can get an adapter at a place like radio shack that can take the headphone jack and split it into 2 rca jacks. Probably costs around $8.
And thats a lot of money for that kind of cable... I think Monster is highly overrated IMHO.
Just as long as you don't get a really thin, crappy svid cable, the rest will give you the same quality.

BTW, 4 feet is REALLY SHORT! I'd have to have my laptop behind my tv with a cable that short.

 

Can anybody help, I'm trying to watch movies from my notebook, on my TV. I've brought an S-video cable. When I try to switch from notebook to the TV all i get is a blank screen. However when you keep tapping the button to switch modes the TV screen flickers. There is a signal there somewhere but I can't seem to resolve the problem. I've been through the TV setting to no avail, and I've tried the advance setting in the Display option, still nothing. What am I doing wrong??????