# Hooking laptop up to TV for movie watching **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 7, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hooking-laptop-up-to-tv-for-movie-watching/542325 "2010-06-07T19:23:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hooking-laptop-up-to-tv-for-movie-watching/542325/1 "2010-06-07T19:23:40Z")
I have [this laptop](http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Acer+-+Aspire+Laptop+with+AMD+Athlon%26%23153%3B+Single-Core+Processor/9555769.p?id=1218127632130&skuId=9555769&st=acer%20laptop&contract_desc=null) and would like to hook it up to our receiver so as to watch movies (especially streaming netflix ones) on our TV. If I buy [this cable](http://www.amazon.com/6ft-Componet-Cable-Monitor-Laptop/dp/B003DSC96E/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1275938107&sr=1-3), will it work? The receiver has the red/blue/green input thingies. Sound is fine with this [kind of cable](http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Audio-Cable-Splitter-1-Mini/dp/B00004Z5CP/ref=pd_sim_e_1), which we already had. Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hooking-laptop-up-to-tv-for-movie-watching/542325/2 "2010-06-07T20:05:20Z")
No. For the majority of laptops without a special video card that handles it, this kind of cable won’t work. I can’t remember the technical explanation – maybe differences in the color space? – but you need something that can properly process the output signal for TV consumption, not just a cable. Something[like one of these converter boxes](http://www.amazon.com/s/?field-keywords=PC%20to%20TV%20converter&rh=p_76:1&url=search-alias=aps). ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hooking-laptop-up-to-tv-for-movie-watching/542325/3 "2010-06-07T20:18:00Z")
This may not help, but we just discovered that we can watch streaming netflix vids immediately through our Wii. All this time we were waiting for movies to arrive in the mail and we could have simply hooked up our Wii earlier…the only caveat is that you need a special disk from netflix to enable your TV. It’s really easy. Otherwise, on your laptop scenerio, I got nothin, but Reply seemed to nail it. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hooking-laptop-up-to-tv-for-movie-watching/542325/4 "2010-06-07T20:26:35Z")
Asking the obvious: No VGA port on your TV? ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hooking-laptop-up-to-tv-for-movie-watching/542325/5 "2010-06-07T20:32:36Z")
Actually, (looking) we do have a VGA port on the TV, but for some reason I was thinking both audio and video should be routed through the receiver. But, of course, that isn’t really necessary. Duh. We don’t have a Wii or any of the netflix-ready devices listed on the netflix website, **Phlosphr** , but thanks.