Playing computer games, watching downloaded movies or anything
else done on a computer is great. Wouldn't it be better if you
could use your new 42" HDTV as a display instead of your little
computer monitor? It’s difficult to resist that urge, but connecting
a computer to a TV isn't always as easy as you might hope. In fact,
"How can I connect my computer to my television" is one of the most
common questions we receive on our technical support lines. Sometimes,
it can be as simple as a single cable, but more often than not,
connecting these two devices requires a converter box. In this article,
we'll look at all the options for connecting a PC to a television.
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| Figure 1: VGA Connector |
Figure 2: DVI Connector |
Generally speaking, your computer is going to have one of two outputs:
either a standard SVGA output (figure 1), traditionally used to connect
to a computer monitor, or, on newer machines, a DVI output (figure 2).
Your television, on the other hand, could have one of several video options,
each of which we will look at in this article.
Computers with a VGA output
Assuming your computer has a VGA output, then the easiest connection
is if your TV also has a PC VGA input. This would be the standard
VGA video output from a computer to the same connection on a TV.
Most newer televisions have this connection. If your TV does have this input,
then a simple Super VGA cable (male to male) will do the trick, and will give you the best possible video quality.
If your television does not have a VGA input, your next best bet
is if the television has a component video input. If so, a converter
box is available: part number 40H1-50200 will convert your
VGA signal into component video (note that this part only works in one direction).
Component video gives you the same high quality picture as VGA, so it's the next
best choice after VGA for converting a computer signal (The other two video options
we list below, composite video and s-video, will not deliver as clean a picture,
and should only be used when neither VGA nor component video are available.).
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VGA to Component Converter
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Converting VGA to component video often causes confusion for customers,
who wonder why a converter box is needed. This confusion is because there
is also a cable out there that looks as though it would do the same job as
the VGA to component video conversion box. VGA
to component video cables,
such as the one shown to the right, are often mistakenly purchased in an
attempt to connect a computer's VGA source to a component video display.
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VGA to component cable |
The reason why this cable will not work to convert a computer's VGA
signal into component video is because the VGA signal and component
video signal are very different video signal types. It takes more
than a simple cable to convert between the two. This cable is actually
designed for use with certain projectors that have a 15-pin VGA connection
that is specially designed to be capable of accepting the component video
signal (often referred to as a Y/Pb/Pr signal). This design is so that
the projector doesn't have to have separate jacks for both component
video and VGA, thus saving space (and money). This same dual-purpose
connector is also found on certain HDTV set-top boxes.
If you have an older television set that has neither a VGA nor a
component video input, then it will most likely have a composite video
(yellow RCA jack) and / or an S-video connection. To convert your VGA into
composite video or S-video, our
part number 41CV-50230
will do the trick. This box gives you the option of converting your computer's
VGA signal into either composite or S-video. If you needed to convert composite or
S-video back to VGA however, you would want to use part number 41VC-00210.
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VGA to S-Video / Composite Video Converter
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Computers with a DVI output
As we mentioned earlier, newer computers are equipped with a
DVI (digital video) output (for more information about DVI, check
out our "DVI Demystified" technical article).
Any new HDTV will also have a DVI or HDMI input on it as its digital connection.
If this is the case for you, connecting your PC to the television is simply a
matter of choosing either a DVI
cable (if your TV has a DVI input port on it) or a
HDMI to DVI cable (if your TV has an HDMI port on it).
So what do you do if your television is not equipped with DVI or HDMI ports?
Well, as it turns out, most computer video cards with DVI on them can be readily
adapted to a VGA connection using a simple DVI to
VGA adaptor to convert the DVI port into a VGA port. From there, you can simply
follow the instructions above for connecting a VGA output to your TV.
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DVI Digital Video Cable |
DVI to HDMI Video Cable |
HDMI and DispayPort
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Newer PCs, especially those of the HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer)
variety are equipped from the start to be connected to HD televisions.
These machines will include either a HDMI or DisplayPort digital HD video
output along with the usual DVI interface. If your computer has an HDMI output,
you can connect it to your TV with an HDMI cable. If you have an Apple computer
(November 2008 and newer) or a newer Dell, you can use our Mini DisplayPort to HDMI a
dapter cable plus an HDMI cable to connect your HDTV to your computer. Unfortunately,
although DisplayPort cables are designed to carry 8 channel audio in addition to video,
support for this feature is spotty at best at this time. Apple currently does not support
audio through DisplayPort and requires a separate audio connector between your computer
and display.
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HDMI Cable |
Displayport Adapter |
What about Audio?
Except when using HDMI and in some circumstances DisplayPort, audio will have to be run separately. Fortunately, unlike the video hookup,
connecting up audio between a computer and a TV is pretty straightforward.
Computer sound cards have a 3.5mm (sometimes also referred to as a 1/8 inch)
connection. This is the same connection you would find on headphones or computer speakers.
That signal is easily converted to a 2 RCA (Red and White) stereo connection,
which can be plugged into the back of your TV, or the back of your receiver if you have one.
CableWholesale offers two versions of this cable, depending on your needs;
our standard quality
and premium quality
3.5mm to two RCA cables are shown in the pictures on the right.
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3.5mm to 2RCA Stereo Audio Cable |
Premium Grade 3.5mm to 2RCA Cable |
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