How to Hook Up a Laptop to a LCD TV

Hooking a laptop up to an LCD TV is a great way to enjoy your multimedia applications on your television and simply use the television as an external monitor to view your screen. While getting hooked up isn't difficult, it does require taking a close look at your equipment and purchasing the correct cables. Here's a look at some different ways to connect the two components.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• HDMI cable or DVI cable or VGA cable or S-Video cable

1. Inspect your television inputs and laptop outputs. Ideally you want to find a connection that matches, though adapters may be available to meet your needs. Some of the types of connections we'll be looking at are HDMI, DVI, VGA and S-Video. This is the most important step, as it will allow you to buy the right equipment.

2. Connect using an HDMI cable. This will be your best option, providing high definition video and audio to your LCD television. An HDMI port is rectangular with 19 pin holes. With both laptop and television off, connect the HDMI cable to the HDMI output port on your laptop and to the HDMI input on your LCD TV.

3. Connect video using DVI cable, and audio with mini-jack (3.5 mm) to RCA adapter. DVI is rectangular 24-pin HD connection with video only. Connect the DVI cable to your laptop's DVI output and then to the DVI input on the TV. Connect the single mini-jack end of the audio adapter into the headphone jack on your laptop and each of the two RCA cables into the corresponding audio inputs on your TV.

4. Connect using a VGA cable. VGA cable is the standard 15-pin connection that you would use to connect a computer moniter to a PC or laptop. Use a VGA cable to connect your laptop's VGA output with the television's VGA input. Use separate audio connection as in step 3.

5. Connect using S-Video cable. Be sure that both your television and laptop use the same type of S-Video (4 or 7 pin) and connect the cable from the laptop's S-Video output to the TV's S-Video input. In order to have audio, you'll need to connect a mini-jack to RCA adapter as in step 3.

6. Connect using an adapter. In the unlikely event that your LCD TV lacks any of the inputs above, purchase an adapter that takes one of the aforementioned output signals and converts it to a component video or composite video input that your TV will accept. Composite video is the most basic connection and is a simple yellow jack, much like you'd use to connect a DVD player. Component video is three separate plugs: a red, a blue and a green. Both methods require separate audio connection.

7. Turn on your devices. Once you've made the connections, turn devices on. Switch your TV to the input mode that corresponds with the input you used to connect your laptop, and you should now view your laptop on your LCD TV.