Hooking your PC up to a Television

NOTE: This tutorial was written by TheFaimousOne (aka TFO), a former administrator of the FastTrack Central (FTC) forums. I have copied it in its original form to provide supplementary information to my guide "How to watch AVI files on your TV", and have hosted it off-site so that it is accessible by all, not just registered members of FTC. Unfortunately TFO is not currently contactable, so I have not been able to obtain approval to use his work in this way. However, if he ever does re-appear and has an objection to this page, it will be removed immediately.

All Forums

For New Members

Tutorials

Hooking your PC up to a Television

Author

Topic

TheFaimousOne
Administrator

USA
2364 Posts

Posted - 03/10/2003 : 06:51:05 AM

Hooking your PC up to a Television:

If you always wanted to hook up your PC to your Television but you didn't know how, we are here to help! If you take a moment to look on the back of your PC you will see several different ports or connectors. There are basically three types of connectors to look for when hooking your PC to your TV. These are RCA Composite, SVIDEO, and VGA (Shown in order).

The newer your computer is, the better chance that it comes with either a RCA Composite or SVIDEO connection. Some notebook computers also have video outputs on them. When buying a new computer always look for the words "TV out" or "video out" in the computer description.

If you only have a VGA connector and don't have an HDTV then your best choice is to buy a newer video card with an S-Video connector. There are other third party solutions out there but the quality is very poor and we do not recommend it.

The VGA port is the connector that's connected to your PC monitor (the TV like device that came with your computer). This connector is usually only usable for VGA Monitors or HDTV setups. If you have an HDTV this will give you the best image possible.

If you have an RCA Composite connector on the back of your computer, then you can use that. You may also need to power down your computer and reboot to be able to get the signal. You need an RCA Composite cable that will be long enough to reach from your computer to your PC. Connect the cable to the back of the computer to the back of your TV SET.

S-Video is superior to that of RCA Composite and will give you a clearer picture. If you have a fairly new TV you should have this connector in the back. You will need to buy an S-VIDEO cable, which you can buy just about anywhere you buy home video products. Connect the cable to your S-Video on the back of your computer and then connect it on the back of your TV.

NOTE: If your TV has many video modes you might need to select the video mode that the cable is plugged into. Read your instruction manual that came with your TV to do this.

If you have cables that are not long enough, there are some wireless solutions you may look into.

Most video cards with at least 64 Megabytes of memory will come with a S-Video connection and there are some with 32 Megabytes of memory that will come with the connection as well. Prices can range from $50 all the way up to $300. What you get with the price is power and speed of the video card.

Topic