One of the ways to enhance your DVD watching experience is to hook your computer laptop up to your television to watch a DVD on large screens. Sounds easy enough. But there are some things you need to look for before this can be achieved.
The first thing to figure out is what kind of connector your computer and television supports. In order to determine this you will need to look on the side or back of your computer to see if you have S-video, composite or VGA ports
These ports will determine which kinds of cables you will need to purchase. These cables are what will connect the video signal from your computer to your television unit. While you will be watching the DVD on your television screen you will still need to listen to the audio on your laptop. So make sure you turn the volume up on the laptop when you ready to view.
All video cables have male prongs and all input units are referred to as female input. To determine which cable you will need to purchase look at the port on the side or back of your computer.
Does the input have five female inputs? If the answer is yes, then you will need an S-video cable. This cable is generally black. It has five male prongs. Most plasma, LCD, and projection television units support S-video cable.
If your computer has a round yellow port you will need to use a composite cable to connect from your computer to the television unit. This cable has small round yellow jack. Most television units support this type of cable.
If when looking at your computer you see a blue connector unit with 15 female ports then you have the ability to hook up a VGA cable from your computer to your television unit. Most flat panel televisions have VGA cable capacity.
Should I buy conversion cables to go from composite to S-video?
While there are cables that help you convert S-video to composite, if you are looking to keep the picture quality of the DVD, we do not recommend this option. When you convert video signals from the original source you often will lose picture quality, which defeats the purpose of watching your DVD on the big screen. If however, you simply want to watch your DVD on a bigger screen to appeal to a larger audience, then of course you can use the conversion cables.
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