I have a 50” Panasonic TV with an HDMI connection in the back I want to use my tv as a monitor for my laptop (a dell latitude). I know I need a special cable for this, but is that all I need. Can I just plug the cable into the back of my tv and my laptop and it all works. I doubt it would be that easy. Has anyone else done this? Besides the cable, what else do I need?
Unless you’ve got an HDMI connection on your laptop, you’d probably need an adapter of some sort for the HDMI cable, like maybe a VGA to HDMI (which aren’t cheap, BTW). Usually TVs like that have a different connector for computers, though. That would make more sense for you to use.
The manual for your TV would be a good place to look for suggestions on hooking up a computer to it.
Does your computer already have an HDMI out connector?
Your TV may have a DVI connector for computers. If your laptop has a DVI output you’re all set.
Otherwise you’ll need some kind of adapter.
Hm.
If the 50" Panasonic you have is this one, looks like you are out of luck, unless you want to try an adapter (no guarantees on that working though). Drag.
Why do you say that? It has 2 HDMI inputs.
If your laptop has a VGA output only, you’re pretty much out of luck.
If your laptop has a DVI output, you’re fine, because DVI and HDMI are essentially the same thing, just with different connectors. You can buy a cable with a DVI plug on one end and an HDMI plug on the other - or a DVI-HDMI adapter.
VGA outputs look like serial and parallel ports - a trapezoidal connector with three rows of pins (fifteen in all) sticking out. DVI outputs are rectangular, with a 3x8 grid of square sockets and a 2x2 grid of square sockets.
It has no DVI input.
I believe that HDMI is a superset of DVI that has a smaller connector and includes more signals. DVI carries computer video only (you can get versions that include analogue computer video, digital computer video, or both). HDMI also includes audio and control information.
So if you’re hooking your laptop up to a TV set via DVI, you’ll need a separate connector for the audio. Presumably you can get a cable that has a DVI and audio connectors at one end for the computer, and plugs into the HDMI input on the TV on the other end.
The other thing about HDMI connections is that they are supposed to support encryption of HD content. The signal source encrypts the HD content before releasing it to the world; the cable carries the encrypted content, and then the TV decrypts it.
Apparently there are all sorts of control sugnals and handshaking and key exchange involved–and also apparently, HDMI source devices will refuse to release their encrypted HD content to devices that cannot decrypt it, and won’t decrypt it themselves, so even if the destination devices can otherwise handle HD, they may be out of luck.
The big movie studios encrypt their HD content, of course. I’m not sure where cable boxes fit into this… or independent home production of non-encrypted content.
I could be very wrong on this, though. I have a panel with a DVI input driven by a DVI output on my computer, and no HDMI or non-computer HD content anywhere, so I’ve never sdealy with this personally.
Oh, and you can get a VGA to DVI adaptor… I had one on my old monitor. I think it just adapted the analogue DVI from my video card to (analogue) VGA, though.
I recently set up something similar, but with a desktop. If your laptop doesn’t have a DVI output, you’re out of luck. Adapters don’t work for VGA outputs, at least none that I tried did. If it does, you’ll need a HDMI cable, which runs about $100.
But we haven’t even established what outputs his computer has. He may in fact have an HDMI output on his computer.
Exactly. It it all works fine. So again, I wouldn’t classify that as “out of luck”
HDMI does support copy protection - but it is not required. You can drive an HDMI display with a DVI adapter without every worrying about it.
That’s a DVI to VGA adapter - it lets you hook up a DVI output to a VGA input. They’re pretty cheap.
But if the OP has a VGA output, he will need a VGA to DVI adapter - which does exist, but costs around $300.
http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=3557
See above regarding the adapter.
As for the HDMI cable, what? There’s no need to pay so much for HDMI cables. You should be able to buy them for around $15 online, unless you want a really long one or something.
The problem might arise if Aceospades wants to play encrypted content, such as an HD-DVD or BD movie, and doesn’t have a full HDMI path from computer to TV. Just using the setup as a computer would not trigger the problem.
I wonder what happens on a computer if someone installs an HD-DVD or BD disc drive and updates the software movie-disc player, but has only DVI to the screen. Does the drive refuse to play the movie?
DVI-D (the digital version), I presume…
I knew I got something backwards. Friggin’ alphabet soup…
My Toshiba 42HM66 says specifically not to use it as a computer monitor. It doesn’t say what will happen if you do, but it was kinda expensive, so I haven’t tried. Make sure your Panny says it’s okay to hook up a computer.
Any idea why my Tosh doesn’t want a computer? It’s a DLP, if that makes a difference.
DLP can suffer from burn-in, which is a problem with computers because of the start menu and other static UI elements.
That’s the only thing I can think of - other than that, a video signal is a video signal - it shouldn’t matter whether it comes from your cable box or your computer.
i think i’m out of luck. i looked on google images to see what a DVI connector looked like, and there’s nothing like that on the back of my laptop. i do have a vga connection though, but it seems that if it costs $300 for a vga to HDMI connection, that’s out of my price range.
Do you have a DVI connector on your laptop?
I say it because the specs on the TV I linked to specifically say that it is not PC compatible (though of course I don’t know if that is the TV that Aceospades has).
Theoretically, Aceospades could try a VGA/HDMI adapter, but as already mentioned, they aren’t cheap, and it would suck to go to all that trouble and find out that it doesn’t work. I’d also want to check the manual that came with the TV too - you wouldn’t want to damage such expensive equipment by trying it either.
And in other news - yes, generic HDMI cables work just fine and cost much less.
What model TV do you actually have? romansperson linked to a Panny that doesn’t have VGA, but there definitely are some (like this one) that do have a VGA input. You should check your manual & TV before giving up.
Actually, one of DLP’s strongest selling points (at least in my mind) is its lack of burn in http://www.dlp.com/home_entertainment/default.asp.
I have a Samsung 5085 DLP TV and I connect my PC to the DVI input and it works like a charm. Then again my TV has VGA built in AND when I connect my PC via DVI it has a “Wide PC” display option meaning it is meant to have computer signals. Not sure why the Toshiba would be different, but it is better to be safe than sorry.