How to Connect a PC to a TV

Video formats like FLV, DivX, and many others are compatible with computer systems but not all DVD/CD/Blue-ray players. Situations do arise that we may want to connect our machine to the TV set immediately instead of going through the process of trying to convert the format to MPEG4 or any other common video formats that are generally compatible with many players. Imagine connecting the movie you got online to your big screen LED TV set. Today's generation of TV sets offers a sharper, smoother motion quality, and better image than do monitors and laptop screens.

To achieve this, the computer system must have a video card with an S-Video (whether 7-pin or 4-pin connector) port, or a DVI port, or VGA ports. Most Modern desktops and laptop systems come with video cards that have these ports. Some computers have HDMI ports. If you have an HDMI TV and your computer doesn't have a matching port, then you may want to get a converter. The VCR connector offers another great way do this as well. All you need to do is connect both devices with the VCR cable and set your TV to the VCR channel and voila you are there. Your TV will also need a matching port (S-Video, DVI, VGA, HDMI) as well to accept the signal from your computer. Almost all modern TVs will have these. If your TV is over 5 years old, you should check your TV inputs to make sure you can connect a PC.

Step 1-Turn off Computer

Failure to turn off the computer before installation may prevent the TV set from recognizing the connection.

Step 2-Connect Cable

First, plug in the Video cable. If you don't have one, you can always get it from the nearest electronic store near you. From the cable, one can easily decipher how to go about doing the connection.

Step 3-Computer Configuration

After making the cable connection, it is time to put on the computer in order to start the configuration. Start menu -> control panel -> Appearance and themes -> Settings->Advanced-> select the tab for your graphic card-> device settings -> TV.

It is important to note that the menu only appears when the connections are done properly. If all connections are perfect and the display is stretchy then there is a need to reduce the screen resolution on your laptop/desktop to preferably 800X600 pixels or thereabout until the display looks good. You can always resort back to the initial resolution.

Step 4-TV Menu

Use the TV remote control to change to the correct external input on the TV menu.

The Video driver of a computer system that was upgraded to Windows 7 must be upgraded in order to use S-Video output. For windows 7 users, connecting a computer to a TV set is easier as all they have to do is run the Windows 7 TV Wizard; hence going through any form of configuration may not be necessary.

Although the most common way people enjoy PC to TV connection is by using the S-Video TV-Out connection, other methods do exist such as DVI and VGA. We can also do this by using a converter box and a VGA monitor connector.

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-By Dominic

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