how do i connect my cpu to my existing television???

Question

i have recently been given a new surround sound/compact av system and wondered if there is any way i can now hook my pc to my television and use the television as the monitor and the sorround sound as the speakers. any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Answer 1

Connecting to a TV is fine for watching videos, but unless you have an HD TV or a good Plasma or LCD screen, forget it. Reading text - including the names of the programs - on a TV can be VERY difficult if not impossible. Standard Television resolution and the way it's displayed is awful.

How you connect it depends on the TV and if your system supports connecting it. Some systems have an SVIDEO out connection. Otherwise, you would need adapters.

Frankly, what I do, I have a computer just for the TV to watch downloaded movies and online TV episodes and I use a program called UltraVNC to remotely control it so I can READ what the icons and web pages say, using the TV purely for video.

Answer 2

This is an area where you want to be careful, there are some things you can do that could damage your TV and you may not be able to get decent quality out of it.

If your TV is an LCD or plasma then you can probably do pretty much anything without destroying it (whether you'll be able to get an image is another matter) but if you've got a CRT then you could very easily destroy the TV by just plugging it straight in using DVI or VGA. This is because TV's can't handle the full range of display modes that computers can output and which proper computer monitors are expected to be able to handle so if your TV does have a VGA or DVI connector you'll need to try to run it as a HDTV (1280 x 720 @ 60 Hz would be the mode to try there).

If your TV doesn't have a DVI or VGA connector then you could try S-Video or Composite since your video card may have TV out although that will give you crappy quality (you'll only get a standard analogue signal).

The one thing to realise is that TVs are intended to be watched from a bit of distance and so don't need to have a very sharp display while computer monitors are right in front of your face and used to display text in high resolution which means that TVs are often of lower quality than computer monitors though with High Definition TVs are moving to computer monitor quality levels. A lot of smaller LCD screens are actually just computer monitors with a built in TV tuner so if you've got one of those it should be easy to do, otherwise you might have trouble.

I'd check up on the website of the manufacturer to see what each component can handle.

For connecting the speakers you should be able to get a stereo setup working but whether you can get surround sound will depend on whether your computer can output that, if you've got S/PDIF connectors that should be able to connect to your surround sound system and give you surround sound or you might have a whole heap of stereo 3.5 mm jacks which with the right converters can be connected to the surround sound system.

Answer 3

yes it is possible!! but it does deppends on the tv!! if the tv has a VGA or HDMI connection its easy just use a VGA - VGA or a dvi to hdmi cable it depends on the tv and your graphics card on your pc! hooking up the sound equipent is independant of the picture as the picture is carryed off the graphics card and the sound from the sound card!! the conection of sound is quite easy with use of phono leads into the aux conection of the sound eqipment

Answer 4

It sounds to me that it's mainly the AUDIO you want in better quality. Connecting the audio output from your pc to your new surround system depends on what outputs your pc has, and on what inputs the surround system has.

Answer 5

i assume that you mean the thanks to get the output of your demonstrate to television. definite, it really is possible. First, examine your picture card if it helps S-video out or no longer (examine out the position you connect your computer screen on your computing device), use a S-video cable to connect out of your computing device on your television. in case your picture card would not help S-video out, you ought to purchase an equipment that ought to output your demonstrate to television. What you want is only a USB port. style like top or Dazzle produce this kind of equipment. (it really is regarded like a field) i'm no longer positive what it really is said as. i imagine it really is said as "action picture field" or some thing. or it really is advisable to purchase a sparkling picture card that helps S-video television-out.

Answer 6

Most video cards have a S-video output that can be connected to the tv S-Video input.

The image on the screen has a relationship with your resolution settings. Although all S-Video outputs use a fixed low resolution to maintain compatibility with your TV, it scales according to what the resolution of your computer is set to. Adjust your resolution in the settings tab of your display properties. Use a selection no higher than 800 x 600 with 16-bit color. A setting of 640 x 480 will be much easier to see, but icons and windows will appear very large.

http://www.svideo.com/compaq1700.html

How to Connect a Computer to Your TV Set
http://www1.electronichouse.com/columns/gear/7069.html
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/2a2cde13-b60c-4f2f-b9da-4a433cc51ca91033.mspx

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VGA output only: Buy a VGA to TV interface

VGA to TV Video Converters
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=1430&
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?SrchInDesc=vga&Page=1&Category=38&N=2000380047&Submit=ENE&Nty=1&SubCategory=47
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DVI output to HDTV

How to Connect a Computer to Your TV Set
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/2a2cde13-b60c-4f2f-b9da-4a433cc51ca91033.mspx
http://www1.electronichouse.com/columns/gear/7069.html


Make sure the HDTV has a DVI input.
Make sure its 1366 x 768 . Some sets are 640 x 480.

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getting 1366 x 768 external resolution from a sony vaio s3hp with geforce go6200
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=707715

Setting resolution to 1366 x 768
http://www.neowin.net/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t413100.html

How to connect your PC to your HDTV
http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/02/08/how-to-connect-your-pc-to-your-hdtv/

Custom Resolution Guide for 1080i HDTV-HTPC-POWERSTRIP-RADEON
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=206854

Connect your computer to a HDTV
http://lifehacker.com/software/hdtv/connect-your-computer-to-a-hdtv-153916.php
search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGGL%2CGGGL%3A2006-45%2CGGGL%3Aen&q=connecting+computer+hdtv+1080p&btnG=Search

Answer 7

your tv should have a RGB connection facility. then you can simply connect the appropriate wire just as if you were connecting your cpu to a monitor.

Answer 8

some tvs accept dvi and vga inputs........................if yours does not then get an adaptor.

Answer 9

you need a vga to scart lead or convertor box
they have them on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BRAND-NEW-RGB-VGA-TO-SCART-LEAD-WITH-S-VIDEO-CABLE_W0QQitemZ220101444487QQihZ012QQcategoryZ67859QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
or
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Laptop-PC-VGA-to-TV-Scart-converter-VGA-TV-adapter-II_W0QQitemZ250102101775QQihZ015QQcategoryZ67859QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem