TV & Home Theater

[Aaron-GS Community Connector]

Hey everyone,

One of the most frequently asked home theater questions we see here on the forums is “How do I connect my computer to my HDTV?”  Well, depending upon the model(s) you own you may have a number of options.



For starters, the most common option to connect a computer to an HDTV is to use a VGA cable.  Often referred to as RGB, D-sub 15 or even generic “PC” inputs on many TVs, these connections are present on a healthy majority of desktop and laptop computers.  Some laptops will even feature miniature versions of these ports that can be easily converted to a full-size VGA connection through the use of a special adapter.

The second option, connecting the two using component cables, is primarily used by consumers that own an older HDTV.  Most often found in the home theater section of a store, these cables are not only relatively inexpensive, but can also generally be identified by their red, blue, and green color coding as explained by Rodney-GSHQ in this other thread.  There is, however, one slight problem: most video cards do not feature component outputs.

The next available option is to use a Digital Video Interface (DVI) cable.  These connections are quite common on newer desktop computers, and are often considered to be the digital successor to VGA.  That’s right – everything up to this point has been analog only.

Last, but not least, you may have the option of connecting your computer to your HDTV using an HDMI cable.  HDMI outputs are typically only found on newer (and higher-end) computers, but are considered by many to be capable of providing the highest-quality digital signals available.

Regardless of which method you choose, remember that you will need a separate cable to run audio from your computer to your TV!  Additionally, it’s strongly recommended that you double-check your TV and computer’s owner’s manuals for step-by-step instructions as there are a number of precautions that you should take before attempting to connect the two.

Still not sure how to proceed?  Give us a call at 1-800-GEEK-SQUAD (1-800-433-5778) and we’d be glad to help you out!

[Entropy]

Not covered but probably important for a lot of users, since HDMI was deployed to TVs long before it was deployed to most desktops/laptops:

HDMI and DVI are electrically compatible, so you can feed an HDMI TV from a DVI PC using an HDMI-to-DVI adapter or cable.  (You will have to use a separate cable for sound.)

[TheLexMachine]

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Entropy wrote:

Not covered but probably important for a lot of users, since HDMI was deployed to TVs long before it was deployed to most desktops/laptops:

HDMI and DVI are electrically compatible, so you can feed an HDMI TV from a DVI PC using an HDMI-to-DVI adapter or cable.  (You will have to use a separate cable for sound.)

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Unfortunately, it's not that simple Entropy. Older TVs don't support PC signals over DVI or HDMI regardless of whether or not they use either connector because a TV signal is different from a PC signal and there are different kinds of DVI ports that go along with them. While they will often display such a signal, they are incapable of displaying it properly because they weren't designed or intended to do so. Newer LCD HDTVs do support PC signals over HDMI but they are few and far between. Samsung and Sony are the only brands I know that definitively support it at this point. VGA is the only input that is a sure bet right now though it usually requires a customized resolution scheme taken from the signal table in the TV manual. A few of the newest sets support 1920 x 1080 over VGA though older ones only support 1366 x 768 or if you are using a really old set, a 4:3 signal that gets letterboxed. In a year or so, HDMI's full connectivity will be supported in almost all HDTVs but VGA is the best way to go for now for most folks.

[Entropy]

Um, that's not true.  HDTVs have been fully compatible with DVI signals from a PC since the inception of HDMI.  If your PC doesn't successfully feed an HDMI TV from a DVI port, it has severely broken video card drivers that don't understand DDC, it's time to update them.  I can confirm that NVidia cards dating back to the GeForce FX series (existed before HDMI) are fully compatible with HDMI HDTVs, and I think even the MX440 in my old laptop would work too - have never tried it however.

I drove a cheapo Westinghouse 47" set with an FX5900 for nearly a year.  The PC now has an Nvidia 7800GS.  Also drives a 46" Sharp AQUOS fine.  (The Westy died and the AQUOS replaced it over a year ago.)

[TheLexMachine]

I know for a FACT that HDMI and DVI are intercompatible. I was talking about the sets themselves. NOT the specs. Many HDTVs have EDID tables that are not compliant with PC signal specs or in some cases, they give off EDID information that isn't understood by various electronic devices that rely on such information. This is a well-known fact and has been a particular problem with older sets. Yes, you can tweak the signal from your PC using PowerStrip, the Nvidia/ATI driver hacks, or whatever applies to your particular setup, but those don't always work. As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't work until it works out of the box and there are only a few sets that will work with PC signals over anything other than VGA by design. I know this from my own testing done at Best Buy on nearly two dozen of the 1080P LCDs with my own HDMI/VGA equipped notebooks using the latest (non-Beta) drivers from Nvidia, ATI/AMD, and Intel. I tested both HDMI and VGA from the notebooks for nearly three hours. VGA was the clear winner for out of the box connectivity on most of the sets and HDMI lost big time because the signal was either not displayed at all or displayed improperly with no clear way to resolve the issue. The Sony Bravia LCDs were the only ones that passed both the HDMI and VGA connectivity tests that I did. You simply got lucky with the two LCDs you have used because they were likely intended for multi-media use. The Westinghouse certainly was at any rate since they have always catered to that market.

[Entropy]

Quite a few friends of mine use similar setups with other TVs.

Most people I know have had far more problems with VGA connectivity than DVI/HDMI connectivity in terms of improper modelines.

The only problem I've ever had regarding wacky EDID info was that if you actually want to display text and have an OS that calculates font DPI from the display size reported by EDID, you need to override the display size since the true DPI of a 47" TV is quite awful.    Not like that matters since they're not meant to be viewed from the same distance as PC monitors.

[Pacman]

With all the inten,ret ready and wireless options out and available why can't we have like a pc CHANNEL ON THE TV or at least a wireless way over network to send from wireless laptop to tv?

[Entropy]

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Pacman wrote:

With all the inten,ret ready and wireless options out and available why can't we have like a pc CHANNEL ON THE TV or at least a wireless way over network to send from wireless laptop to tv?

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Simple.  The fastest wireless networks have a signaling rate of 300 Mbits/sec, real-world throughput typically is 150 Mbits/sec or less.

Typical Ethernet is now gigabit - 1000 megabits/sec minus overhead and it isn't designed for realtime applications.

Single-link DVI is capable of about 3960 megabits/sec

To transfer video over a wireless network connection, the PC output would have to be compressed with a lossy compression algorithm.  This reduces quality, and realtime MPEG2 or MPEG4 compresssion at high definition resolutions/framerates requires expensive hardware - $50-100+.  A $10 DVI or HDMI cable is a LOT cheaper.

[digibob]

After being around PC's for thirty years I have seen alot of advances and have yet to find a TV that will accept a wireless signal from anywhere

.It doesn't exist yet, but will in the future.

I have also noticed that if you put 10 techs in a room and ask one simple question, you will ten different answers.

First of all the only difference between HDMI and DVI besides the shape of the plug is DVI does not carry audio and is used more for Digital monitor connections than anything.

If you want to play a video from your laptop to your HDTV and you don't have an HDMI HDCP (High Definition Content Protection) compliant output on your laptop.then you must have a PC input on the TV that you purchase

And yes you can do wireless video to the TV as I do.

I have a PC with an  asus PQ5em Motherboard  that is HDCP compliant with 7.1 surround,with both HDMI and DVI outputs and no add on audio or  video cards ( most are a waste of money)

It is connected to a Panasonic 46in Plasma through one of the HDMI inputs. The PC in connected to my home wireless network via a USB wireless dongle.

I watch Hulu in hires and netflix as well as others and get a great full screen picture.(not HD)

I have not found any HD content online to try out  yet, but all of the content that  I have seen online looks great.

Hope this helps

[Entropy]

Very small addition to what you said:

There is one other difference between HDMI and DVI - HDCP support is guaranteed for HDMI sources (You can't be HDMI-compliant without HDCP support), but not guaranteed for DVI sources (HDCP is an optional "add-on" for DVI implementations).