How to hook up your computer to your tv to watch movies
Check beforehand:
DO YOU HAVE AN S-VIDEO OUTLET? You need one in the back of your computer, and one in the back of your TV. Both appliances usually have them, but if you got a cheap one of either, it's half-chance. This is kind of what it looks like.
Two things you need:
S-Video cable: you can buy it at any electronic section. Be sure to think about how far away your computer is, and get the right length: 3 feet away is not very far.
Computer speakers that you can move close to the tv, or a cable that has a headphone jack on one end and the left and right audio prongs on the other.
Why: S-Video only transfers VIDEO, not sound, so unless you want to watch something on the TV screen and hear it coming from your computer, you should find away to hook up your sound to the tv, or at least move your computer speakers in the vicinity of the TV. I do the speakers thing.
Once you have those:
1. Plug in your S-Video cable to the back of your computer and to the back of your TV. Plug in Speakers to computer OR, if you have that cable, be sure to plug in the headphone side into the headphone jack on your computer and the two prong side to THE AUDIO OUTLETS THAT ARE CLOSEST TO THE S-VIDEO OUTLET. If you, for instance, plug in the audio to the front when the S-Video is in the back, it won't work.
2. Since the S-Video is plugged in, there should be an extra setting (like cable, video 1, video 2) that is called S-Video. The screen should be blue. Now you have to turn on the application. This is how you do that.
3. On your computer, right click on the desktop. Go to properties. Go to the Settings tab. Click Advanced button. Go to the Displays tab. If the S-Video is plugged in correctly, the tab for the TV in Displays should be red. Click on it so that it is blue. Both Laptop and TV tabs should be blue now. Apply changes.
This makes the TV show exactly what's on the computer screen. That's fine, but if you still want to do stuff on your computer, you can turn on theater mode, which takes whatever video your playing and only shows that, fullscreen, on the TV screen.
4. Theater mode is still in that advanced settings section. Go to the tab Overlay. Click on the checkbox on the bottom that says Theater mode. Apply changes and close.
Also, my computer does this thing that if I close the lid, it turns into "showing exactly whats on the computer screen mode" and all my work in advanced settings is reset. Sometimes, in order to skip the whole Advanced Settings process, I make my movie fullscreen and then just close my laptop. It will pop up on the TV automatically. Not every computer does this: it might have something to do with my settings.
The downside of doing it that way:
It's harder to change things: volume up or down, fast forward, rewind. You have to open the computer--it will turn off the tv--and close it again--it will turn the tv back on. In my experience, rapid changing of settings is hard on the computer and sometimes causes it to freeze. That's why I do the advanced settings thing and then not close my computer all the way.
Each of the cables needed are about $15 at your local Freddies, and really you don't need the second one. I'd say, if you watch a lot of AVI's, this is a good investment. McKenzie and I lived strictly off of S-Video last semester, since we didn't have a dvd player. Even now, I use it nearly everyday. What's better than TV? Watching whatever you want on your TV without paying for a thing!
DO YOU HAVE AN S-VIDEO OUTLET? You need one in the back of your computer, and one in the back of your TV. Both appliances usually have them, but if you got a cheap one of either, it's half-chance. This is kind of what it looks like.
Two things you need:
S-Video cable: you can buy it at any electronic section. Be sure to think about how far away your computer is, and get the right length: 3 feet away is not very far.
Computer speakers that you can move close to the tv, or a cable that has a headphone jack on one end and the left and right audio prongs on the other.
Why: S-Video only transfers VIDEO, not sound, so unless you want to watch something on the TV screen and hear it coming from your computer, you should find away to hook up your sound to the tv, or at least move your computer speakers in the vicinity of the TV. I do the speakers thing.
Once you have those:
1. Plug in your S-Video cable to the back of your computer and to the back of your TV. Plug in Speakers to computer OR, if you have that cable, be sure to plug in the headphone side into the headphone jack on your computer and the two prong side to THE AUDIO OUTLETS THAT ARE CLOSEST TO THE S-VIDEO OUTLET. If you, for instance, plug in the audio to the front when the S-Video is in the back, it won't work.
2. Since the S-Video is plugged in, there should be an extra setting (like cable, video 1, video 2) that is called S-Video. The screen should be blue. Now you have to turn on the application. This is how you do that.
3. On your computer, right click on the desktop. Go to properties. Go to the Settings tab. Click Advanced button. Go to the Displays tab. If the S-Video is plugged in correctly, the tab for the TV in Displays should be red. Click on it so that it is blue. Both Laptop and TV tabs should be blue now. Apply changes.
This makes the TV show exactly what's on the computer screen. That's fine, but if you still want to do stuff on your computer, you can turn on theater mode, which takes whatever video your playing and only shows that, fullscreen, on the TV screen.
4. Theater mode is still in that advanced settings section. Go to the tab Overlay. Click on the checkbox on the bottom that says Theater mode. Apply changes and close.
Also, my computer does this thing that if I close the lid, it turns into "showing exactly whats on the computer screen mode" and all my work in advanced settings is reset. Sometimes, in order to skip the whole Advanced Settings process, I make my movie fullscreen and then just close my laptop. It will pop up on the TV automatically. Not every computer does this: it might have something to do with my settings.
The downside of doing it that way:
It's harder to change things: volume up or down, fast forward, rewind. You have to open the computer--it will turn off the tv--and close it again--it will turn the tv back on. In my experience, rapid changing of settings is hard on the computer and sometimes causes it to freeze. That's why I do the advanced settings thing and then not close my computer all the way.
Each of the cables needed are about $15 at your local Freddies, and really you don't need the second one. I'd say, if you watch a lot of AVI's, this is a good investment. McKenzie and I lived strictly off of S-Video last semester, since we didn't have a dvd player. Even now, I use it nearly everyday. What's better than TV? Watching whatever you want on your TV without paying for a thing!