Jun 18 2008

Connect Laptop Computer to Digital/LCD TV

Published by Richard at 12:14 am under Quick Solutions, technology

How to Connect Your Laptop or Desktop PC to Your Digital/LCD TV

how to connect laptop to tv The other day I was considering buying a new LCD monitor to use with my laptop. At the time, I would either use my laptop monitor or connect my existing monitor, one of those old clunkers with the big huge back on it (that I bought only 3 years ago!). I was tired of this old monitor. It took up too much space and it just wasn’t cool anymore. So, I did some research and decided what I was going to buy.

On the way out the door, I noticed my 46 ” LCD TV and thought, “Why can I not just hook up my laptop PC to the my big screen LCD TV?” After all, I was only going to buy 22″ LCD monitor and here, in my living room, I have a relatively new 46″ Toshiba LCD TV–over twice the size of the monitor that I am going to buy.

How difficult could it be to connect my PC to the digital/LCD TV? It turns out that it is not difficult at all to learn to connect computer to TV. You only need one thing to connect your laptop or desktop PC to your LCD high definition television. Yep. That’s it. Just one thing. And with this one thing, you turn your TV into your PC monitor.

And it looks fantastic! So what’s the one thing?

The One Thing You Need to Connect Your Computer to Your TV

So, on that day, when I had the revelation of using my LCD TV as my computer monitor, I looked on the back of my TV. I could have consulted the manual, but I don’t like to RTFM (Read The F*&cking Manual) . It’s kind of like asking for directions.

There on the back of my TV was something that looked just liked a VGA port. A VGA port is typically what you use to connect your computer monitor. These ports come in two varieties: Male and Female. This is for obvious reasons. Take a look below:

hook up your pc to your tv using a vga cord

Obvious no? Now, these are 15-pin VGA cables, called so because…yes, they have 15 pins. The female, the reciever, has open spaces for the 15-pin male. Normally, your standard computer monitor has a 15-pin male VGA connection, which fits snugly into the 15-pin female connector on your laptop or PC.However, in this situation, my laptop had a female 15-pin connector AND my LCD TV also had a female 15-pin connector. What do these two female receptacles need? You guessed it–they need males, two to be exact. Two strong 15-pin male connectors to fill their holes.

This got me wondering…Which cables do i need to connect my PC to a TV? And so…here is what you need to buy to connect your Laptop or Desktop PC to Your Digital/LCD TV hopefully big screen TV. One VGA (also sometimes called SVGA) cable with male 15-pin connectors on both sides. What, you say, where the heck do I get that? How am I suppose to know? You’re not. That is why I am going to tell you. You can buy this VGA cable here. Did you click the link or pass right by it? OK one more time: Buy the Belkin F3H982-25 Pro Series High-Integrity VGA/SVGA Monitor Replacement Cable (25 ft.) here.. I don’t know how, but Amazon currently offers this for $9.89, which is a savings of $35. However they do it, I like it!I bought my mine at the local store because I was so excited to test it. I went to several places to find it: Office Depot, Office Max and none of them had it. Do you know who had it? WalMart. Yep. I was surprised…they actually have a lot of technical stuff. Go Sam, no wonder you’re worth billions! And it was pretty cheap there too, but not as good of a deal as on Amazon.com. I suppose I should have bought mine online. If you go to the store, you are looking for a Belkin HDDB15 Male/HDDB15 Male SVGA Monitor cable. It’s part #F3H982A06.

For more information on cables, including finding the best HDMI Cable if you want to go with an advanced connection, please see the article Connect TV to PC for graphical illustrations.

After you get the cable, connect your laptop or desktop to the LCD TV with this cable, hit the INPUT button on your LCD TV and choose computer, and then find out how to switch your computer over to the LCD high-def big screen TV. On my Dell and almost all Dell laptops, you hold down the FN (function) key and press F8 a couple of times. For a desktop, you’ll probably have to go into the display card settings by right-clicking on your desktop. We also have how to videos on this topic in this post: How To Connect Computer To TV.

You’re off and running now. Enjoy the experience of using your LCD TV as your PC computer monitor. You may also want to get Satellite TV on your PC. I did this, then cancelled cable TV, and saved $900. Plus, if you read my blog, you know I like to travel. Now I can watch TV anywhere!

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55 Responses to “Connect Laptop Computer to Digital/LCD TV”

# Blog Topics: Blog About Everything or Find Your Niche?on 18 Jun 2008 at 4:51 pm

[…] Connect Laptop Computer to Digital/LCD TV […]
# Michel Munieron 21 Jun 2008 at 10:41 pm

Hi I got to your site trying to connect my medion laptop to my tv monitor (NRP-601Lcd)
Via its VGA 15 pins connector input. I’m using a monitor cable (blue with the 15 pins)wich seems to fit ok.
I followed the instructions on my laptop. that is to press the function key + F4 once first and my laptop screen goes black and comes back, then again the same keys stroke to which my laptop screen respond by turning black again and stays that way but nothing happens on my large lcd tv screen but the original red writing telling me there is no connection.
Perhaps you’d would have somme sugestions?
I hope you could sent me an email if you do. although I’ll try to keep the url.
Thank you for anyone’s time
MM
Oh I found the box to tick for email notification request!
# John Son 05 Jul 2008 at 11:56 am

You’ll need to check your monitor’s capabilities … is it true 1080i or p? or 720 ?

You need to set your computer resolution to something that the monitor can display … if you have a 1080i monitor, but are running your computer at 1600×1200, you’ll have to reduce the resolution to something under 1080.

Experiment with the settings in the Display properties in Control Panel.

Also, you may have to reduce the reset rate (again in Display properties, under Advanced) to 60 Hz, instead of the 75 or 85 Hz that your computer monitor can display

ps… when you hold Fn key and press the F4 key, hold the F4 key down for a few seconds … the laptop screen should display which mode you’re in …
# Michel Munieron 07 Jul 2008 at 1:54 am

Thanks for the last update on this topic.
I was succesful in solving this problem after sending an email to “Setenta” a sport channel that has also a broadband facility and for which I was trying to connect my laptop with.
They sent me a detailed way to configure my media player on the laptop. I followed their instruction and soon was able to watch their channel. I missplaced their email else I would have copied it here.
But I think anyone could email most of those companies that broadcast programmes on broad band and get up to date help.
MM
# Toshiba LCD TVon 01 Aug 2008 at 6:10 am

Nice tutorial, I might do this to my LCD TV too. Hope it work. Thanks for putting this up.
# Justinon 07 Aug 2008 at 1:39 pm

Thank you for this post. I’ve been searching everywhere.. eh the press function and f8 key certainly did the trick. Cheers
# JamesLon 10 Sep 2008 at 11:29 am

Dude, I just checked out that satellite TV thing. Sweet! Now, I got Satellite TV running through my computer on my big screen. But, even cooler, I can now watch sports on my laptop whereever I go. Thanks again dude. Great tips!
# Annaon 13 Sep 2008 at 7:23 am

Hi there, thank you so much for the tips! i had so much trouble trying to figure out how to connect, especially not knowing much about computers and going to other sites with all these technical terms, and the writer expecting the reader to know these terms (which i had no idea).
Thank you so much for your help, i only have one problem now. My sound doesnt work.. I’ve tried to turn up the volume function on my Dell laptop but it still doesnt work. Any suggestions??

Cheers, Anna
# Gardneron 13 Sep 2008 at 4:30 pm

I have my laptop hooked up with vga and the picture is great but I don’t have any sound. I tried running red and white from the head phone jack but still no sound!! Can someone help?
# Michel Munieron 18 Sep 2008 at 1:55 am

In my case I had to buy a cable for the sound. On my monitor I have a VGA port as described above with pic. and next to it a sound port too. So my cable had two identical ends (male) as the sound output on my laptop looked similar to the one next to the VGA port on my monitor. I imagine that if the laptop is “output” the other one must be “input”. but it worked for me! MM
# Ryderon 15 Oct 2008 at 2:17 am

I have a Panasonic Viera 42′ Plasma and have no problems at all connecting my Dell Lap top which runs on XP but when I try to use my newer Dell desktop with Vista the TV goes black as soon as Windows starts up. Any tips?
# Shovieon 25 Oct 2008 at 1:39 pm

I have been trying to get my laptop to display correctly on my Sony bravia LCD screen. I have connected them up via the VGA connection but can’t seem to get it to display on the tv without an annoying yellow colour when it should be showing white.

Any suggestions? I have tried several cables but all produce the same annoying yellowish tinge.

Thanks

Ed
# Steven Chanon 28 Oct 2008 at 12:26 pm

Dear Sir:

I have connected my Sony bravia’s VGA port (on the back of my TV) to my Laptop computer and Audio port to my PC also. I have try by changign the TV to many different channels. But, can’t seem to get it to display.
Any suggestions?

Thanks

Steven Chan
# richardon 28 Oct 2008 at 12:52 pm

Steve, you are not concerned with the channels…just the input choice on the TV. Make sure that you choose PC INPUT.

Richard
# Peteron 04 Nov 2008 at 1:54 pm

Does anybody now how to display ‘WMS 100 Image Wireless Projector Adaptor’ with D-Sub 15 pin video output and ‘1024×768’ resolution to older LCD TV Panasonic Viera TC-32LX20 with any of its connections terminals(has no VGA input).
We have tried VGA male cable conversion to LCD’s RCA INPUT VIDEO, S-VIDEO and Component with no luck.
We are skeptical about VGA->HDMI TYPE A Connector as well.
Thank you very much for any suggestions.
# Naeem Ahmadon 20 Nov 2008 at 1:11 pm

Hi,
I am using VGA cable to connect my laptop Acer Aspire 5633wlmi to my LCD TV. But TV screen is blank. Can any body tell me how can I watch laptop screen on my TV.
# John Won 29 Nov 2008 at 3:29 pm

Hi,
This was definitely the most helpful post on this subject I have come across. I’m trying to connect a dell inspiron laptop 1501 (vista home premium) to display on a prima lcd tv/monitor. I have a 15 pin belkin vga cable connected, input on tv is set to pc and I have pressed F8 with fn key (crt/lcd) many times and tried holding it but with no success. The laptop screen has absolutely no change when I hit F 8 and the tv states there is no signal. Have checked all connections and don’t know what else to try. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
# Kaion 30 Nov 2008 at 5:23 pm

Hello!
It seems plug and play but the TV is not reading my laptop. I tried Fn F7 in Sony Viao VGN-FS700. I also put it to PC input in the TV (Samsung Series 6 630). I already tried 2 brand VGA cables. Do I need to get a sepcial cable for it or set to a specific resolution in the laptop. The manual of the TV says that Optimum resolution is 1920 X 1080 but the highest resolution in the laptop is 1680 X 1050 only. I called Tech Support of Samsung and he said that it should not matter. I played around the resolution to check if it will work but it didn’t. It still says ‘This source is not connected’. Please help. Thanks in advance.
# Melodyon 30 Nov 2008 at 6:03 pm

Hi,

I tried connecting my Dell Inspiron to my Toshiba HDTV and everything seems to be working fine, but there is no display on the TV. I tried switching display settings by lowering the resolution and hitting the fn+f8 buttons, but nothing is happening. Occasionally it will appear that the TV and laptop have a connection, but still no display. And sometimes the TV will read with ‘no signal’.

I have no clue what I’m doing wrong, any suggestions on how to get it to display on the TV?

Thank you.
# Frustratedon 06 Dec 2008 at 8:35 pm

Hi everyone,

I have dell laptop and I am trying to connect it to a Panasonic 32inch TV with a VGA connector.

My problem is the display on TV cuts out the edges - i.e I can’t see the tool bar, or when I am watching a movie, the side of the image is cut off.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
# Martin Con 16 Dec 2008 at 10:06 am

Hi there,

I have been having the same problems trying to connect my Acer laptop to a Samsung LCD. I was using a 3m VGA-VGA cable. Checked all settings still no joy. Also rang Samsung who were hopeless!!!!! Anyways……tried again using a 1.5m cable and guess what? Worked perfectly. Looks amazing. I did try the 3m cable on another computer monitor and it works, but not with the Samsung. So I reckon it must be a really poor quality cable that is degrading the signal over that length.

So my advice would be to try a short cable/higher quality. My next task is to find a longer cable that works as that was the point in the first place!!!
# Easwaron 25 Dec 2008 at 3:49 pm

Folks,
I am connecting my TV (Vizio 32″ LCD 1080p) with my Sony VGN-FW270J laptop using an HDMI cable. I get audio and video - however, the video image size is almost the same as the 16″ on my laptop - what setting do I need to change to get the laptop image as the TV size.
Thanks,
Easwar
# scotton 14 Jan 2009 at 12:33 pm

Hi there i have a acer aspire 5633 laptop with the male vga socket on the back but i don,t have1 on my tv, can u get vga cable with scart connection.
# lucason 16 Jan 2009 at 8:16 pm

Hi, the belkin cable gets u the image and the audio the sound right..?
so a better way to get it is with a dvi to a hdmi will be better? is this true ?
What if i dont have the output for the dvi in my pc or laptop?
# Mama Mouseon 17 Jan 2009 at 9:55 pm

I’m trying the same thing with my LCD tv and desktop computer. Got all the nifty little connectors on the back of the new tv, got the Belkin VGA cable, connected according to the tv manual, which, by the way, is exactly as you stated. All I get is “Invalid Format” when I select pc. TV user’s manual is useless for troubleshooting this. What do I need to change?
# Ellieon 21 Jan 2009 at 3:47 pm

I cabled an old desktop p.c. running WinXP to our LCD TV using a typical 15 pin VGA cable. It worked perfectly. I just booted up the p.c. and changed the Source (or Input, as it is called on some TV’s) on the TV to VGA. I use a Blanc mini wireless USB adaptor to receive wireless internet to the p.c.

Since doing this, I have read all sorts of instructions on various websites. It appears that the procedure is more complicated when using a laptop because you must enable the display on the seond monitor (the TV set). Also if you are using Win Vista, you might have to first activate “output to TV” in the computer display settings.
# nickon 06 Feb 2009 at 4:02 pm

hi! i have been having trouble to display sound from my HP Laptop to my LCD SAMSUNG TV using connection cable VGA, what happen is videos well display on tv and sound on laptop can you help? pls.
# scotton 18 Feb 2009 at 3:30 pm

hi i have a sony vaio vgn-fs415s and a samsung le32r8 32″ and i am trying to connect my laptop to the lcd screen. I already have the vga cable i have 2 of them but i cant seem to get the tv to connect to it i press source and have looked inthe settings and instructiions but no LUCK i really want this to work can any one help me please!

thanks in advance
# khurram bajwaon 22 Feb 2009 at 2:08 am

hi. i tried to connect my acer laptop to samsung lcd tv via 15 pin vga cable. laptop showed connected but tv showed no input. no solution found. finally connected laptop via s-video output to video input (requires s-vdeo to av connector lead). the audio output is via audio lead from headphone jack in laptop to audio input on av input port on lcd tv (requires headphone audio jack to av audio lead).
# Ronon 26 Feb 2009 at 12:50 pm

I, too, have the yellowish tint with my laptop connected. Its funny but I have a similar set-up as the author: 42″ Toshiba and Dell laptop. Only I get a yellow tint. Go figure! Anyone else get this? How did you solve it?
# peteron 27 Mar 2009 at 8:49 am

I am getting a yellow tint when connecting pc to lcd tv via a VGA cable, can anyone help

Thanking all in advance

Peter
# Sanjayon 06 Apr 2009 at 11:53 am

Hi,
Ive been trying to connect my new 42″ Sony Bravia to my Lenovo Laptop. I connected the 2 using a male/male 15 pin VGA cable (3m). However I am getting the display on the TV almost the same size as my laptop display. Ive tried reducing the resolution on my laptop with several options but i get the message ” Unsupported Signal….Adjust your PC Signal”.
Ive been trying this for the past 2 days with no result. Would really appreciate some advice on what i could do to get the display complete on the LCD screen. Do I need to change my cable or do I need to do something with the PC? any help would be most appreciated.
Thanks!!!!
# Ali Hamzaon 13 Apr 2009 at 8:39 am

Hi, I was trying to connect my Sony Bravia to Dell Inspiron 1501 via a VGA cable. It works fine but I am having some trouble getting the resolution on the TV to go full screen. I consulted the TV manual (yes! unfortunately RTFM) and it gives me a table of values of what resolutions to use with what horizontal and vertical frequencies? Could someone provide me feedback on what this is and how I could get my laptop to display fullscreen on my TV because right now I just have to live with a 26″ display in the center of the screen instead of using the full 46″ tv.
# Jesson 25 Apr 2009 at 6:02 pm

Hi i have hooked up my computer to my tv and am also getting a yellow tint. Does anyone know why?
# Shovieon 27 Apr 2009 at 9:35 am

Hi there

I had the same problem with connecting a laptop up to my Sony Bravia and also had this ‘yellow tint’ on the screen. After trying many different VGA cables and then reverting to another laptop, it became clear that the culprit was a dodgy VGA output on the laptop.

You’d be wise to experiment by process of elimination and try different cables / laptops to diagnose what is causing the yellow tint.
# How To Connect Computer To TV | Your Home For How To Videoson 20 May 2009 at 12:28 pm

[…] informative article that textually guides you through each of your PC to TV connection choices. Connect Laptop To TV: This article walks you through the process of connecting your laptop to your LCD TV and provides […]
# Sonyaon 08 Jul 2009 at 7:01 am

This was the most helpful answer i’ve come across and believe me ive looked at loads, i have an acer aspire laptop and was still able to sort my laptop out so it could connect to my TV with a vga cable so thank you.
# charlieon 20 Jul 2009 at 11:00 am

hi
pls i hav a toshiba 32″ REGZA and a samsung r60,
but i cant seem to connect can anyone help me??

charlie
# Zerpon 23 Jul 2009 at 12:23 am

I’m trying to connect my HP laptop to a Sony Bravia. When the computer is booting up the tv displays what’s on my computer screen; however, once my computer gets past the initial boot up phase, an error message appears on the tv and says “unsupported signal. please check the device output.” I have Windows Vista. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
# david .gon 12 Aug 2009 at 11:52 am

I hooked up my desktop pc “not laptop” to 42 inch LG lcd tv i bought,and every time i try to put the highest or any ressolution a black screen shows on the tv screen and says “INVALID FORMAT” I hate it ,so to fix it i restart my pc and it works but i dont want to do that my whole life ,,,,,,PLEASE I NEED YOUR HELP””””’

”
__
# Ryanon 15 Aug 2009 at 6:51 am

I have my Samsung LCD TV (L32B350) 32″…. I connect it with my laptop using 15 pin VGA cable… It connects… however I see “Check Signal Cable” on my screen even though I saw the picture from my laptop…. can anyone help mwe with this?
# Sidon 18 Aug 2009 at 7:27 am

Hi Ryan,

Even I face the same problem with my Samsung LCD TV (L32B450C4LXL). I connect it to my laptop using 15 Pin VGA Cable, the laptop diplay gets shared on the LCD TV but along with the message “Check Signal Cable”. Can anyone help me with this?
# Sidon 18 Aug 2009 at 7:28 am

Sorry for the typo. The model number is LA32B450C4LXL and not L32B450C4LXL.
# Jadeon 18 Aug 2009 at 11:25 am

Hi! I have Toshiba Satellite Laptop. How can I connect it to my Samsung LCD Series 3 32″ TV. Is the sound and picture will work? Please help.
# Harfaon 03 Sep 2009 at 10:14 am

HI there,

Thanks alot and its easily work from my comp to my sony LCD monitor.

Just i need one more of your help. Is it possible the audio from laptop can be on also from monitor?

Thanks.
# abhishek dograon 24 Sep 2009 at 6:50 am

Hello sir,
i have samsung 32 inch LCD and HCL laptop,
I connected my laptop with LCd But im not able to watch videos and also there is no sound output.Im using 3 m VGA cable 15 pin.
# Christmas Electronics: The ASUS O!Play | Best Christmas Gifts for 2009 | The Christmas Store Onlineon 14 Oct 2009 at 2:41 pm

[…] to TV and the process could be rather time-consuming and cumbersome. For example, if you want to connect your Laptop Computer to your TV, you need to constantly be wiring and moving things. Until […]
# Lizon 17 Oct 2009 at 4:31 am

I have a samsung 52inch LCD tv that I connected to my HP computer, everything seem to be working fine but, for some reason I have to scroll up down or side to side to view my start button or to view all my icons. Can some help my please. Thnx
# acon 18 Oct 2009 at 3:36 pm

Thank you!! This did the trick!
# Christmas Gadgets: The LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player | Best Christmas Gifts for 2009 | The Christmas Store Onlineon 20 Oct 2009 at 6:51 pm

[…] course, you could connect your laptop computer to your LCD TV to do this, but can be hassle that involves moving equipment and […]
# sumiton 21 Dec 2009 at 1:33 pm

I am having buzzing noise(high pitch) problem when I connect acer aspire 5920 “audio output” to “rgb audio input” of vizio lcd tv.

I notice this buzzing noise start even though systems is booting up. So it is not the driver problem.

There is no sound problem when I connect TV to another Dell laptop or No problem when I connect this Acer laptop audio output to speakers.

I don’t understand weather it is a TV problem or Acer BIOS/Firmware problem.

I don’t find any solution on the google.

Please help me.

sumitghaiin@gmail.com
# don nelsenon 20 Jan 2010 at 1:11 pm

I have read your article how to connect pc to lcd tv. When I look up a cable hdmi to dvi it states that this does not support audio signal only video does the vga connection support both ?
# Balaon 21 Jan 2010 at 4:07 am

Hai,

I have use vga cable connection from ACer laptop to Sharp lcd 42″ for past 6 months. Recently I cannot see the red color and the pictures are dull and not so bright at lcd.

wHAT is the actual problem?

I have checked the cable, it ok.

Can someone help me.
# Tervoon 31 Jan 2010 at 10:29 pm

Yeah i got a toshiba laptop computer and just bough a 47″” lcd 1080 60 hz I was wondering if i boght any diffrent type of video card for the laptop that it would increase the performance for the tv resouloution???
# Michel Munieron 04 Feb 2010 at 6:01 am

Re: “No Audio”, you do have to get the audio from your lap top into the other screen device as well as the vga is only for video. I needed a cable with a stereo jack at one end plugged into the laptop “Audio out” and two RCA to go into the other device “Audio In”
mm