How To Show Your Laptop On Your TV

While there is more than one way to connect a computer to a TV, we’re going to cover one of the easiest ways to do it with a laptop.

The first question most people would ask why you want to display your screen on a TV, and there are numerous reasons for this. Quite often I do this to show my family a movie trailer from a web site, or a video on YouTube, or if we have a business matter to go over, it is a quick way for everyone to be able to see the same materials without crowding around a small screen.

The simplest way to accomplish this is most laptops feature a SVHS (short for Super VHS) output like the one pictured here to the left. You will just need an SVHS cable for the picture, and most TVs today have one, if not multiple of these inputs.

As each computer and television are different, you’ll need to consult your owner’s manuals on how to change the input on your television, but most laptops will have some sort of sub key on your “F” keys (the function keys across the top of the keyboard) with a symbol for a television, or something that says something to the effect of “CRT/LCD”. Once you have located this selector, it will give you the option of changing your screen to the TV only, to the TV and laptop screen or back to the laptop only.

One caveat, as you can see from the picture at the top, the display is rarely perfect when it moves to the TV. While this isn’t a problem in general use, just don’t expect it to be perfect.

There is one more thing you’re going to need if you want to play audio along with the video, and that’s some sort of audio-to-RCA cable, such as the Belkin produced cable we have pictured to the left.  While this cable is actually meant for devices like an iPod, hence it also having an output for video, it works perfectly for connecting your laptop to your TV via your headphone output.  Once you plug this into the computer, you then plug the red and white cable to the corresponding inputs nearest the SVHS input, and you will have audio as well as video playing from your computer to your TV.

As I said, every model of computer and TV varies in all the finer details, but at least you now have a basic knowledge of what to look for, and how to get from one to the other.