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]

BTW - 42" projection?   

Bleh.  Why did they even bother getting a projection that small.

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.

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.

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.

[Proin Drakenzol]

HDMI to DVI (HDMI is just DVI + audio anyway) and audio 'X' to audio 'Y' (where 'X' is standard laptop audio port and 'Y' is whatever the TV takes in).

I don't think it's even possible to fuck up the TV with a video signal.

[fohfoh]

Just make sure the settings on your laptop is correct. Either you send the video signal to the TV, or you mirror the laptop and tv. Otherwise, even with the cables hooked up, only your laptop will have an image.

Don't forget that step. I know of people who think the cable/tv don't work and a quick screw with function  + F7 or w/e makes the thing work.

[Aneroph]

I've had my laptop connected to my 19" LCD monitor for a while now (since the laptop screen is only 12" for portability) and there hasn't been any issues. For some reason however games refuse to run in full screen on my monitor. They run fine on my laptop but the television says it's not compatible with the signal. Also, the only resolution that will work is 1280x768 despite both the television and the computer having settings for 1280x720 and 1360x768 (both 12:9). Could be a graphics card issue, but it seems strange that the laptop screen can handle all games, all resolutions, and pretty much everything I throw at it while the television screen only handles 1280x768 and can't do FS games. It's actually quite the pain in the ass to have to open games in command prompt to window them, but then I can stretch the window to full screen and everything runs fine

Anyways, I like to blame the VGA cable for the problems though I'm sure it's not the cause. Stick with HDMI to DVI.

[ant900]

I've had my laptop connected to my 19" LCD monitor for a while now (since the laptop screen is only 12" for portability) and there hasn't been any issues. For some reason however games refuse to run in full screen on my monitor. They run fine on my laptop but the television says it's not compatible with the signal. Also, the only resolution that will work is 1280x768 despite both the television and the computer having settings for 1280x720 and 1360x768 (both 12:9). Could be a graphics card issue, but it seems strange that the laptop screen can handle all games, all resolutions, and pretty much everything I throw at it while the television screen only handles 1280x768 and can't do FS games. It's actually quite the pain in the ass to have to open games in command prompt to window them, but then I can stretch the window to full screen and everything runs fine

Anyways, I like to blame the VGA cable for the problems though I'm sure it's not the cause. Stick with HDMI to DVI.

Chances are your games are running at a resolution not supported by your TV, just change the FS resolution and it should work fine