laptop to PC connection

[Robbie8666]

Mrs Robbie has decreed that money is tight so we are going to be going out less but so that we can still have pleasant evenings in wants me to be able to connect my laptop (toshiba satellite 4 years old) to the Samsung TV (she already has got a mega sony sourrond sound system connected to TV )
 
now I know I work in IT but just not sure what would be best way to acheive this any ideas
 
from experts or enthusiastic amateurs or from any one that already has done this kinda thing?
 

[goldfazer]

Got an HDMI connector on TV and lappy?

[Robbie8666]

not on laptop    but have on TV
 

[Raymy]

You'll need a video card on the laptop with a TV out. Settings or properties will have an option for it if it has one. If it does then it might be HDMI but if its 4 years old, chances are it might be s-video out. Mailing have leads, or online.

[Raymy]

mailing = maplins

[Chillum]

Your laptop should have a VGA out, which if you have a spare monitor cable you should be able to hook up to the PC input of your TV.

For sound you'll need a 3.5mm male - male connection lead to get the sound from the laptop to the line-in of your sound system.

This is the simplest method assuming you have the cables and ports on each device.

[breadlord]

Bradshaw's recommendation: Get a Pivos Xios media centre;
http://www.pivosgroup.com/xios.html


It's a tiny box, about the size of two packs of cards and plugs into your HDMI socket. You run XBMC on it and stream the media from CIFS shares on computers around the house. I've got one here and I'm blown away by it. It runs the same software as my home theatre PC at home, but it's TINY. It's got B/G/N wifi inside it, too.


Not sure if they send to the UK, but I don't mind picking one up here and sending it on when I get back next week.

[Arfa]

Your laptop will likely have some sort of monitor out, be it VGA or DVI-D.


If its VGA, see if you're telly also has VGA in. VGA - VGA cables are dead cheap, but don't go too cheap if you want more than around 3m ish, especially at 1080p (1920x1080).


If you're laptop has DVI-D, then try a DVI-D to HDMI cable. Plus side here, is it's digital all the way, so probably better quality. Note, DVI can carry analogue (DVI-I) or digital (DVI-D), hence why you get VGA-DVI and DVI-HDMI cables, but telly's can only accept a digital signal over hdmi.


Note: both these options are Video only, sound will need to go across separately. TV's with VGA usually have a 3.5mm jack socket next to it. However for HDMI in, they expect sound mixed with HDMI. As you have a separate sound system, this is not a problem, just send sound straight to it, skipping telly. The speakers in LCD screens these days are tiny crappy tinny things anyway.


If you laptop is pretty new, you may even have HDMI out on it (possibly a mini-HDMI socket), which should also output sound.


Note: some telly's, particularly older 720p ones will only accept a 720p picture on HDMI and then scale it up to the screens native res (usually 1366x768), which often makes small text and web browsing a horrible experience. My old Sony Bravia was like this, but on its VGA input, it would let me feed it a 1360x768 res image and display it without scaling, which made it crystal clear and as good as monitor. You might need todo some messing around with your video card settings to get 1360x768 out as its not always standard, sometimes just gives you 1024x768, so you get black borders down sides.

[Grahamm]

mailing = maplins

You know you can edit your posts now...?

[manuel32]

well if that has not confused you then your onto a winner

[Lazarus]

doesnt the raspberry pi provide streaming capabilities?

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=raspberry+pi&sugexp=chrome,mod=5&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#hl=en&safe=off&sclient=psy-ab&q=raspberry+pi+what+is&oq=raspberry+pi+what+is&gs_l=serp.3..0l2j0i22l2.1142.2063.0.2391.8.6.0.2.2.0.270.1079.0j5j1.6.0...0.0...1c.1.7SWx1vktIEA&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=a1e412e8e5d43a4d&biw=1134&bih=815

[alan sherman]

Depends what you want to achieve.  If you have windows 7, and the TV is a recent samsung connected to your network router, then you could use DLNA to play media files to the TV.  Sadly there is no way of doign this with a browser for iplayer, 4OD etc.  However if your TV is recent you should have iplayer and netflix apps on there anyway.

Every laptop has a VGA (monitor) connection but as stated above you'd need to run sound through too.

Or if your TV has a media layer and USB buy a large external drive and dump porn onto that to watch on the TV.

Or take her to the cinema

[Raymy]

mailing = maplins

You know you can edit your posts now...?

where's the edit button?

[Robbie8666]

Can I just say thank you for all your advice in here,
connected VGA lead laptop to TV
got a 3.5mm make to male jack lead
hey presto laptop now uses tv as ascreen & through tv speakers
 
cant connect into sony amp as thats to old and not got right connections but can now blast you tube out on tv when kids are out!!
 
cheers all

[BBROWN1664]

you tube out on tv when kids are out

dont you mean YouPorn?

[Lazarus]

theres porn on the internet????? whatever next 

[Robbie8666]

you tube out on tv when kids are out

dont you mean YouPorn?

[
 
we prefer Xhamster!

[DanielT]

got a 3.5mm make to male jack lead

cant connect into sony amp as thats to old and not got right connections

Must have phonos?! Get a 3.5mm male jack to left & right phono lead

[Chillum]

Don't forget you can always add remote control to this little system..(this is what I use when I stay at Premier Inn's)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Windows-Control-Infrared-Receiver-Ultimate/dp/B003ZV3J72/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349172342&sr=8-1

Just plug this in to your laptop's USB port and you have remote control

(PS the site you're looking for isn't YOUtube, it's RED)

[DILLIGAFF]

Amazon are selling a wireless dongle for £19.76 delivered. Search .....

Hama Wireless LAN 300Mbps USB 2.0 WiFi Stick


I managed to transfer pics and toons but ran out of expertise when it came to streaming TV     

[breadlord]

doesnt the raspberry pi provide streaming capabilities?

No, not as standard. you have to pay extra to get the binary blob that has the MPEG2 codecs in it.

[Chillum]

Amazon are selling a wireless dongle for £19.76 delivered. Search .....

Hama Wireless LAN 300Mbps USB 2.0 WiFi Stick


I managed to transfer pics and toons but ran out of expertise when it came to streaming TV     

Assuming you are running Windows, the easiest thing to do is run Windows Media Center and share your folders where the pictures/movies and music are. You're Smart TV or media extender (the thing that actually sends the signal to the TV) should be able to pick this up if it's connected to the same network.
 
I should start charging for this shit 
 
edit: I just realised that I know next to nothing about your setup Dilligaff, feel free to PM me what you're up to and I can try and help. I'm good with networks and have tried most ways of getting stuff round a network in the easiest fashion. I currently run a 1Gbps LAN, 300Mbps wi-fi with additional access points and a 4TB NAS array serving up over 200 films and about 3 albums    around the house to various devices, including Samsung Smart TV, WD Media extenders, laptops and a Sonos sound kit.

[FuZzBoM]

The big down side to all of this is that your laptop is connected to a tv.. kinda annoying in ways.
You can buy HTPC's for not much money and can even make one out of an old pc's like i did. but im a geek and mine has now evolved into a quadcore 8tb beast lol.
The other thing i have been eyeing up for a while is a Roku 2 http://www.roku.com/roku-products