# What do I need to "watch" my computer on TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 20, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-watch-my-computer-on-tv/331966 "2005-11-20T19:16:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-watch-my-computer-on-tv/331966/1 "2005-11-20T19:16:19Z")
**I’m not really looking to use my television as a monitor full-time**. I know the resolution is not good enough on TV. I have a few reasons I want to use my computer on TV: \*\*- I have some other region DVDs that play on computer, but not on TV - I have some .avi(XVID/DIVX) files I want to watch on my TV - As a teacher, I want an easy way to hook my laptop up to the TV.\*\* Remember, **I have a laptop** , but it does have ports on the side(USB and that really long one I put a firewire port and wireless network adapter into). I thought I could get some kind of TV-out card that utilizes RCA cables(the red, yellow, and white ones) and would be very easy to use. I assume I would literally put it into my laptop(through the long port) and be essentially able to use my computer like a regular DVD player. Is that right? Can I just buy the TV-out card without getting an entirely new video card? I have a laptop and don’t want some fancy graphics card for video games. I just want the TV-out part to view my computer occasionally through my tv(with sound). \*\* What do I need and what is a reasonable price?\*\* Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-watch-my-computer-on-tv/331966/2 "2005-11-20T19:18:25Z")
Oh, my computer is about two years old, runs Windows XP and has a 2.2 ghz Celeron computer with 256 mg memory. I don’t know if it matters, but I thought I’d state it. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-watch-my-computer-on-tv/331966/3 "2005-11-20T19:21:27Z")
[SCAN CONVERTER?](http://cgi.ebay.com/Super-VGA-to-TV-Video-Scan-Converter-w-Remote-1024x768_W0QQitemZ8723231565QQcategoryZ40161QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) ---
**Author:** ![priapus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@priapus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/priapus)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-watch-my-computer-on-tv/331966/4 "2005-11-20T19:26:00Z")
I bought a topshiba last year and it said it couldn’t be connected to a tv for some reason ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-watch-my-computer-on-tv/331966/5 "2005-11-20T19:27:38Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > [SCAN CONVERTER?](http://cgi.ebay.com/Super-VGA-to-TV-Video-Scan-Converter-w-Remote-1024x768_W0QQitemZ8723231565QQcategoryZ40161QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) But I’m also looking for it to use the sound from my computer. Would a scan converter do that? ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-watch-my-computer-on-tv/331966/6 "2005-11-20T19:31:37Z")
If you have external speakers, the cheapest way to do this is hope that your computer has an s-video port. My laptop that I got a couple of years ago came with one standard. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-watch-my-computer-on-tv/331966/7 "2005-11-20T20:44:26Z")
Thanks, chaoticbear, what I meant is that I do not want the sound coming from my computer, but from the television. I know this seems complicated, but I want it to be easy. I want to plug RCA ports into my computer so I can use the ports to plug it into my computer just like a DVD player. Anything for that? ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-watch-my-computer-on-tv/331966/8 "2005-11-20T22:22:04Z")
The sound part is easy. Just get a Y adapter that plugs into your headphone jack. The adapter has a male headphone jack on one end and two female stereo audio jacks on the other. Just like your A/V jacks you were talking about. Then you run audio cables from there to the Audio IN of your tv. Just the other day I saw a device that plugged into the back of a laptop where the spare monitor would plug into. This device had video out and S-video out. I think it was only like 50 bucks. Go to the computer shop and find one of those little gadgets and then get a Y adapter for 3 bucks… oh BTW, if your Y adapter says “iPod” on it, then it will cost 15 bucks. The generic ones are just the same damn thing and on a couple dollars. Good luck to you. Just to brag, I recently hooked a projector up to my computer, so now all my videos are the size of my WALL. I love the ultra mega big screen!!! My computer has an S-Video out standard, so I didn’t need that little gadget I mentioned. But I happened to see it while I was shopping for wires. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-watch-my-computer-on-tv/331966/9 "2005-11-20T22:25:10Z")
I should have looked at that Scan Converter link. Yeah, that’s the thing I saw. Only the one in the link is a little more expensive. That will knock out your Video. Then, to get the sound, just buy a Y adapter for your headphone jack like I said. Then you’ll have all three RCA jacks - one video and two audio. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@Stan\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Doubt)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-need-to-watch-my-computer-on-tv/331966/10 "2005-11-20T22:27:37Z")
Does the laptop have S-video out? An S-video port looks a lot like a PS2 mouse jack. Here’s a picture: [http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/ISEO-rgbtcspd/learningcenter/home/connections\_glossary.html?term=s-video\_jack](http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/ISEO-rgbtcspd/learningcenter/home/connections_glossary.html?term=s-video_jack) If it does, you can get an inexpensive [S-video to RCA adapter](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002KR7G8/102-1076751-0312913?v=glance&n=172282&v=glance&vi=accessories) . Then run an RCA cable to the TV. For sound, use your headphone jack with a[3.5" stereo mini phone plug to RCA adapter cable](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000068O33/sr=1-1/qid=1132525426/ref=sr_1_1/102-1076751-0312913?%5Fencoding=UTF8)