Types of TV to Computer Cables

It is really a shame when you have to watch a movie on your small laptop screen, with a full scale HDTV (High-Definition Television) looming in front of you! If you can only figure out how to hook up the TV to your computer, you can harness the power of both. A HDTV can provide you with great picture quality when watching your favorite movies. You could play your favorite video games on the TV big screen if only you connect your TV to a computer through appropriate cables.

Types of Cables

These cables differ according to the input and output ports of your TV and computer. Here they are:

• S-Video: This is the most common and least expensive type of TV to computer connection cable as most TVs have an S-Video port. It comes in a 7 pin and a 4 pin format. Check whether your desktop computer or laptop has a 4 pin or 7 pin connection and buy an S-video cable accordingly.
• VGA: If you have an HDTV, then you will have to use a VGA cable. The quality of picture provided by a VGA cable is better than a S-video cable output.
• DVI: If your computer has a DVI (Digital Visual Interface) connection and you have a HDTV, you can use the DVI cable to connect a computer to your TV. It provides superior digital TV quality of picture, better than VGA or S-Video. This is a costly option and the cables may cost you around $50 to $80.
• HDMI: An HDMI cable can provide the best quality of picture. Since laptop computers or desktops don't have an HDMI connection, you can use a DVI to HDMI cable for your HDTV.

How to Connect a TV to Your Computer

This is a three step process. Here is how you can go about it.

Inspect Your TV Input Ports
First thing to do is inspect the connection panel of your television at the back or at the base for the kind of input ports it has for audio and video input. Most TVs have a coaxial cable input port, RCA composite input port along with a connector for S-video input. If you have an HDTV or any other such modern television model, it may have a DVI, VGA, Component Video or HDMI input.

Inspect Your Computer's Output Ports
Next, check out your computer's output ports. It will have a VGA port, an S-video port and more modern computers might have an HDTV compatible port.

Select Appropriate Cables
According to your TV's input ports and the computer's output ports, you can select the appropriate cables from the above list. Make the connection and you are ready to watch computer movies on television. An S-video cable connection will work for most. An HDTV or DVI connection will work if you have an HDTV. Since the TV uses an NTSC video format, it is limited in terms of resolution, unless you have an HDTV. In case, you do not have an HDTV, the resolution may not match your computer monitor's resolution, but it will be good enough for you to watch movies or play games.

However, I won't recommend watching movies, using any of the connections mentioned above, unless you have an HDTV!