How do I connect my PC to my LCD TV?

J

jwilkinson100

Guest
Hi people,

I'd really appreciate some advice on a tech problem I have. I've had a little look around the forums and google, but would like to be sure before I buy the cables and a new video card).

I have just bought a Samsung LCD HDTV LE32R7 and would like to connect it to my pc which is about 7 meters away.

The TV has...

A PC (PC IN) connection, which looks like the 15 pin connection similar to my monitor (VGA I think). Next to this is an AUDIO (PC IN) connection which is the same as the sound out on the back of my PC.

It also has a HDMI/DVI connection, but in the manual says: Do not attempt to connect the HDMI/DVI connector to a PC or laptop graphics card. (this will result in a blank screen).

Now I was going to buy a new graphics card with a DVI out and connect to the TV that way, but now I've read this I'm not so sure.

Should I just get an audio cable to connect my sound out (PC) to the audio in on the TV, and a long monitor cable (if you will) to connect to the PC IN?

Any help is much appreciated. Ideally I'll be upgrading my graphics card to make connecting to my TV easier, so any recommendations would be great. Looking to spend about £150 on a card, and use the TV as second monitor. Oh, and idea was to play games and such on it, using a wireless keyboard and mouse.

Thanks in advance

James Wilkinson
[email protected]
 
The DVI-I ports on the graphics card should support both digital & analogue output so you can connect to either the VGA PC-IN or HDMI ports on the TV.
Graphics cards normally come with a DVI->VGA adapter that you can plug a VGA monitor cable into.

The advantage of using the PC-IN on the Samsung is it will let you use a resolution of 1360x768, at least I think it does, so the PC output (almost) matches the resolution of the pixels on the TV, so called 1:1 mapping. You normally get 3 pixel wide blank columns on the left & right of the screen but these aren't very noticable. With 1:1 mapping the screen should be as sharp as a normal PC monitor so is good for text.

I think it is possible to get a display using DVI->HDMI & a different resolution. This has the advantage of an all digital connection but you lose out in not being able to use the native resolution of the TV so text won't be sharp. The set will probably apply some overscan to the picture as well which means you either lose the outside edge of the picture (& part of the task bar) or you might be able to compensate for it in the graphics driver setup.

Basically it's a lot simpler to use the VGA input on the TV. Also connect up from your sound card to the TV as you said.

What type of graphics slot does your PC have. If it's PCI-E you could go for something like an Nvidia 7900GS or maybe 7900GT with that budget.
 
Hi,

Thank you so much for your speedy reply, you have been most helpful. In response, I'm 99% sure I'll have a PCI-E slot where my current card is, but will check this when I get home after work.

I've been researching cards all morning, and have found a Gainward GeForce 7900GT Bliss Golden Sample GPU Clockspeed 550 MHz 256MB PCIE Dual DVI VO which takes my fancy at just under £160...

I'm aiming to connect my monitor and LCD TV both via VGA links as you mentioned.

On dabs.com I have been looking for cables to link the sound.

StarTech.com - Audio cable - mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm (F) - mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm (M) - 1.8 m

StarTech.com - Audio cable - mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm (M) - mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm (M) - 1.8 m


The longest I can find is the one above. Would it work if I linked say, 2 or 3 cables together - to bridge the gap between my PC and the TV? Would there be any benefit in ending the cable from PC to TV with...

DabsValue Stereo Jack to 2 x RCA (splits into one red and one white connection, which I'm sure I can plug into my TV)

Or maybe I could just plug it into the (AUDIO IN (PC IN)) and not worry about splitting it.

Thanks again! :thumbsup:
 
Not sure what's the best option for sound. 7m is quite a long run. I've had a quick look on maplin.co.uk & the longest I saw was a 5m cable with the 3.5mm connectors at each end.

I use a stereo jack to 2xRCA cable with my PC but it connects to an amp rather than the TV. These cables are available in 10m lengths but I don't know if that will work on your TV. It may have the red & white inputs but they would need to be associated with the PC-In connection to work. You could buy a 2xRCA to stereo jack to fit between one of those cables & the TV.

Joining more than one cable would probably work as well but sond quality could suffer. There are connectors on the Maplin's site that you could use to join the cables - type 3.5mm into the search box.
 
Hi,

Thanks again for taking the time to help. I think I'm going to go with a 5m cable from the site you suggested. If I was to just use the cable when I needed it, I would not need to hide it (which would increase the distance).

I'll let you know know how I get on :)

Thanks again

James Wilkinson
[email protected]
 
i also have the same problem.

using my tv as a screen for my media centre.

i have a 10m + 5m vga cable and a 10m + 5m usb cable which works fine....

But i have no sound? i have pluged the jack into the speaker port on my pc and pluged the red and white ends into the tv but i dont get any sound on the pc?

anyone got any ideas?

thanks!
 
i also have the same problem.

using my tv as a screen for my media centre.

i have a 10m + 5m vga cable and a 10m + 5m usb cable which works fine....

But i have no sound? i have pluged the jack into the speaker port on my pc and pluged the red and white ends into the tv but i dont get any sound on the pc?

anyone got any ideas?

thanks!
Woah, blast from the past :p

Are you sure you're using the VGA-associated inputs on the TV and not another audio input (for example audio for the component input) ?
Have some music or dvd playing back through the PC and cycle through all of the inputs on the TV and see if you get the sound at any time.

Or it could be the configuration of the sound card in your PC - some sound cards and drivers only enable ports if you tell them to. I can't advise any more other than check the sound settings in windows. Can you plug the two red and white phonos into another device such as a normal stereo amp for testing? (Keep the volume setting on the PC relatively low and start with the volume on the amp very low, gradually increasing but not going too far).
 
I suppose you would get a pretty good card for £150 probably with HDMI included. I thought about going down this road but found that my existing card does the job fine. I have a not so state of the art GeForce 6200 connected from PC to amp via 10m component on the 9 pin din and a 10m optical cable. It may be getting a little long in the tooth but I've never had any problems. Updating the graphics drivers seems to be prolonging it's use.
 
hi there.


I have tried all red and white sockets with my red and white leads from sound card and still get no sound?

I have also tried plugging my ipod into the other end and get no sound through red / white on tv?

any ideas?

thanks
 
3.5 mm minijack will do it,i have mine set up using vga splitter and 3.5 minijack,works a charm.
You need to get a minijack cable and plug it in the mic socket of yr pc.
 

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