How to Connect a Laptop to a Flat Screen Television

How to connect a laptop to a flat screen televison.

Connecting a laptop to a TV is a relatively painless process. Nearly all modern laptops have the hardware capability to display an image on your flat-screen TV. All that is required is determining the necessary cable and settings for your equipment.

Things You'll Need

• S-Video cable
• 3.5mm RCA Y-adapter
• S-Video adapter (Optional)
• Component cables (Optional)

Instructions

1. 

   An S-video port.

   Look on your laptop for the S-video port.

2. 

   A typical S-video to component adapter.

   Look at the back of your flat-screen TV, or refer to the manual, to learn the connection types it supports. If your TV also has an S-Video port, a simple S-video cable can connect the two devices to provide standard definition video.

   If your TV has component inputs, you can provide high definition resolutions to your TV by purchasing an S-video to component adapter.

3. 

   3.5 mm headphone jack.

   Locate the 3.5 mm audio output on your laptop. This is where you normally would plug in your headphones.

4. 

   A 3.5mm to RCA Y-adapter.

   Using a 3.5mm to RCA Y-adapter, connect the 3.5 mm end into your laptop and the red and white ends to the red and white jacks on your TV audio input.

5. Turn all of the equipment on. Right-click your Windows desktop and select "properties or screen resolution."

   If using Windows XP:

   Click on the settings tab. You will see two icons labeled "1" and "2." The box labeled "2" is your TV. Click on the number "2" box to highlight it and put a check next to "Extend my Windows desktop onto this device," and then click "Apply."

   If using Windows Vista/7:

   In the "Multiple Displays" drop-down menu, select, "Duplicate these displays," and click "Apply."

Tips & Warnings

• You may need to adjust your screen resolution to provide a higher picture quality.

• You can use your laptop speakers if a Y-adapter is not available.

References

• SVideo.com: How to connect S-Video from Computers to TV's