Connect laptop to LCD TV?

Question

i have a lg lcd tv and a hp laptop, they both support hdmi, but the laptop does not support dvi can i still connect them? it needs to play sound, as i intend to use the computer to stream movies to the tv. is this possible? please help!

Answer 1

There are adapters available to convert DVI to HDMI, i'm not sure from your description which product has which port. The new LCD tv's usually have the HDMI input tho. When you figure out which adapter to use (bring it into and electronics store maybe), and connect the laptop to the TV. Now turn on your TV and press the input button on either the remote or the TV itself untill you select the HDMI input to which your laptop is plugged in, they should be numbered.

I hope this is a vista or XP laptop, cause the following description is based on those.

Right-click on the desktop and click properties/personalize

Find the Display properties/settings.

You should see two or three black boxes number 1, 2 and/or 3. One is usually your computer monitor, and 2 is for a secondary monitor (your TV). left-click on number 2, then left click 'Extend desktop onto this monitor'. You may want to go one step further and left click 'This is my main monitor' as well

Hopefully your desktop now appears on your TV, but don't worry if it doesn't look right, you probably just need to change the resolution (it is underneath the black numbered boxes). Try starting at the highest resolution, click ok, check if it needs to be adjusted more, and repeat the process. You will eventually find a resolution that makes the entire desktop visible, while taking up most of the screen on your TV.

Now onto audio

Audio is alot simpler if you have a speaker system like surround sound. If that's not the case e-mail me, i'll try to help more, but if you have a system, run a cord from your headphone jack on your laptop to an input on your stereo system. You may need to buy an adapter for this as well. My system has a 3.5mm jack on the front that says 'Music Port'

but there may be something on the back that says 'Aux' and has two plugs, one Red, and one White. While you're at the store looking for the adapter for the video, pick up whichever adapter you need for the audio. If it's the Red and White one, ask for a 3.5mm Male to RCA Male adaptor, if you have a 3.5mm jack on your system, ask for a 3.5mm male to 3.5mm male cable.

I want you to note that I live in Canada, and 3.5mm is milimeters, the measurement may be inches, like 1/8th or 1/16th of an inch, i'm not sure.

Anyways, almost done now, hook up the cables and change the audio input on your speaker system to Aux, i'm not sure how you do that on your system, mine says 'selector', it may be 'source' or something similar. now, try playing something like a video or a song to test our setup, if it doesn't work e-mail with as much detail as possible and i'll try to help.

I have this setup at home, and it may seem like a pain while you're setting it up but it's pretty sweet once you get it goin

Peace