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Need help connecting laptop to tv.
zherok:
I have a Sony Grand WEGA KF-42WE610 42" Rear-Projection LCD TV in the house. I recently got a new laptop. My ability to play PC games actually released in the past few years has got me interested in potentially connecting the laptop to the TV.
Some caveats: the TV is not mine, and I know very little about the potential risks. I'd like to know what needs to be done to avoid ruining the living room TV. The manual warns, "the DVI-HDTV input terminal is compliant with the EIA-861 standard and is not intended for use with personal computers." This sounds like denying liability rather than an outright inability to handle being connected to a computer, but any help clarifying would be wonderful.
Secondly, the TV is several years old and only supports up to 720p, and my laptop and the TV share no common video ports (the TV does DVI, but the laptop only has VGA and HDMI.) So I'd have to get an HDMI to DVI cable, as well as headphone jack to RCA cable to connect the sound. I don't have a whole lot of money to blow on connecting this, so I'd like to avoid really high end Martian Ray deflecting equipment, but again, I have no clue on the matter, so I'd like some suggestions. I'd love to pick up cables that cost me more in shipping than their list price, but I assume there's some sort of downside. I don't need them to be amazing, I already have to downgrade to DVI to connect to the TV, and again, it only goes up to 720p anyway. Thanks for any help offered, appreciate it.
Mostly looking to play MAME through it, as well as Street Fighter 4.
ant900:
so you are just looking for cables? If that is the case I bought my 4' hdmi cable for my ps3 for about $10 at monoprice.com, and I am sure they have the converters you are looking for.
kyanwan:
It's probably an ages old warning if the "Hey, don't hook up your PC and expect it to work ... then complain to us when it doesn't. Not our problem." sort. They don't want to tech support for peoples PCs (when there's so much variety in the PC marketplace.)
Just hook the thing up. See if it works. More likely than not - the laptop will detect the TV and present you with the set-it-up hoopla - then you will be playing ... on a huge ass screen.
BTW - 42" projection?
Bleh. Why did they even bother getting a projection that small.
Arveene:
The cables aren't any issue at all. You're exactly right, you can either use a VGA to DVI or HDMI to DVI cable. Get a headphone jack to RCA cable for sound and you should be good. I would suggest just driving to a nearby computer/electronic stores for the cables. You can take the money you'll save on shipping and buy some decent quality cables at the store.
What I can't say with any certainly is if you'll cause any harm to your TV. I'm not really sure, I've had both a PC or a laptop connected to my TV for years for watching stuff on it. I haven't had any issues. With that being said, it might be different for your TV.
More than likely you won't have any issues at all getting it to work though.
zherok:
--- Quote from: kyanwan on September 10, 2009, 04:23:29 AM ---BTW - 42" projection?
Bleh. Why did they even bother getting a projection that small.
--- End quote ---
That's what the had in the store at the time. I'm not sure we'd have gotten a larger one had they had it in stock anyway. It was pretty expensive at the time.
--- Quote from: Arveene on September 10, 2009, 04:29:06 AM ---I would suggest just driving to a nearby computer/electronic stores for the cables. You can take the money you'll save on shipping and buy some decent quality cables at the store.
--- End quote ---
Found a deeply discounted set of Monster cables on Amazon, so with some luck, those'll be fine. They were considerably cheaper than what the local Radioshack would have wanted anyway. Price checking on their website, it looks like they start around $50 and only go up from there. I can't imagine finding that many uses for DVI to HDMI to justify the cost.
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