Amateur DIY Geeking: Connecting Laptop to TV

Come on. I can’t be the only one thinking, “Oh, I wish I could connect my silly little ‘puter to my TV.” Well, if that be the case, then it kinda sucks for me and is a bit sad to be quite honest. I’m pretty sure that there are those of you out there, like me, with a tech level of an amoeba, who wishes they could watch those cool Hulu.com videos or YouTube.com videos on their television. This would’ve been cool too if I had been dorming and wanted to watch my perfectly legal films and TV episodes from my couch rather than on a small chair in front of a computer screen. Yes, couch-potatoes of the world UNITE!

Computers are not your friends. They are dangerous creatures not to be taken lightly. Once they bite, you may want to consider putting them down. This woman chose the wrong way out.

Better yet, some of us still have those hand-me-down Quasar, Omnivision, or whatever the hell they’re called, television sets locked away in the old guest room. You know, the one you got after placing 4th at the central district science fair. Yeah, the one that you have to now use because when you left for London, over a year ago, you had no idea that the cool new panasonic plasma television you purchased, partly with scholarship money, before you left, had been usurped and incorporated into a so-called “recreation room”.

All bitterness aside, you can, and will, be able to watch your downloaded and streaming online videos, on your television, without much hassle. There are many different ways to do this and others which may be easier (like a VGA to S-Video/RCA Adapter), but to be honest, I don’t like all the letters. Here are the things you are going to need (scenario 1):

• S-Video(Yellow Closest to Green) + Audio(Green) To 3 RCA Cables (Red/White/Yellow)
• Your Laptop
• Your Television

S-Video(Yellow Closest to Green) + Audio(Green) To 3 RCA Cables (Red/White/Yellow)

In an alternate scenario (scenario 2) where you don’t have the S-Video connection on your television (yeah, like mine) and is relying on a DVD player/TV setup. A lot of us have these things lying around the place (at least I do, hmm…) and may be easier to use rather buying a whole new set-up:

• S-Video Cable (Preferably Gold Plated)
• 3.5MM Stereo Male to Two RCA Male Cable
• Your Laptop
• Your Television (Accompanied By DVD Player)

S-Video Cable (Preferably Gold Plated)

3.5MM Stereo Male to Two RCA Male Cable

SCENARIO 1:

1. Connect S-Video male and audio to laptop and 3 Color RCA to television (be sure to note which line [e.g. Line 1, Line 2, etc.])
2. Tune television to proper auxillary line, there won’t be anything there yet.
3. On your computer desktop: right click –>properties –>settings tab. Right click on 2 and select ATTACH. Make sure that “extend my windows desktop onto this monitor” is checked. Don’t forget to select APPLY.
4. You may be confused because of the sizing. Simply drag (in the settings tab) the icon of 2 into 1 and they will size up evenly. Also, you may notice on your television only the desktop wallpaper. It is only an extension of your current desktop but if you drag your mouse past the edge of the computer screen, you will see it on your TV.

You may now move your cursor over onto the television screen. Now in order to watch videos or movies on your television, simply click/hold and drag the task bar over onto the television side (make sure the task bar isn’t locked).

You can also drag your icons over onto the television side if they aren’t auto-arranged. When you play videos or movies off of Hulu or YouTube, make sure that the windows are on the television side and not your computer desktop. That way if you decide to view full screen, it would be your entire television screen (hey, as if you’re watching a DVD movie) and not full screened on the computer itself.

SCENARIO 2:

1. Connect S-Video male from computer to DVD/VCR. Then connect the 3.5MM Stereo male to the audio output of your laptop and the two colored RCA ends to the audio input of your DVD/VCR player.
2. Basically you can follow the steps as in scenario 1 to get the same results.

There may be a little in there left out for you to tweak and figuring out on your own. Mind you this is directed at an XP run machine… veerrryy old machine. Also, much of these supplies are very very cheap, apart from the computer and television of course. So go ahead, pleasure yourself while watching the antics of a woodlawn squirrel doing all sorts of unspeakable and ungodly things with yard tools all while in the comfort of your own living room.

I didn’t really know how to end this article well but I’ll leave with a couple thoughts. One, a lot of you are planning on using this ungodly advanced alien technology to super-size your computer porn collection, don’t lie, and B, what makes a squirrel so damn hilarious? They are freaking scary ass things if you ask me. Rats with bushy tails. Brrr…