Browse the Web on your TV

If you're like me, you use the internet for entertainment basically every day. Depending on the size of your desktop or laptop screens you may be sick of crowding yourself and friends around that screen. Often people ask me, why they can't just use their big TV as their computer screen. Well the answer is that you can, but it can be somewhat difficult to know how to set up if you haven't done it before. So let's lay it out for you.

The first thing you need to think about is your TV. Is your TV a standard TV or is it an HDTV? If your TV is a standard TV the benefit of using it as a monitor is going to be limited. The problem is that standard TVs are much lower resolution than HDTVs so the image will not be as clear and text on webpages will be blurry. That type of TV will still work wonderfully for viewing videos from sites like YouTube or Hulu. Just know that the text will be hard to read.

If your TV is an HDTV than it is going to have high resolution like your computer monitor and you'll be able to view text clearly and take full advantage of your TV as a computer monitor. Computer monitor resolution is still passing up HDTV resolution in some cases, but they're pretty comparable. If you really like the idea of having a very large screen for your internet based entertainment, an HDTV is a great investment.

The tricky part about doing this is making the video connection from the computer to the TV. The first thing you want to do is check what types of inputs your TV has and what types of outputs your computer has. This is going to determine how you will be able to connect the two. HDTVs are generally easier to connect to the computer than standard definition TVs.

The easiest solution is if your computer and TV both have VGA ports you can just use a VGA cable. One that's becoming more common is also to have HDMI built into your computer. HDMI is very common on HDTVs so you can just use an HDMI cable to go from the computer to the TV. In any case where you have the same port on the computer as the TV you can simply use that type of cable to connect the two.

It gets a little more complicated when you don't have matching ports, but there are things you can do to make it work. The two most common situations that come up with mismatched ports is having VGA on the computer and HDMI on the TV or having VGA on the computer and the yellow composite RCA on the TV.

VGA to HDMI

In the case of VGA to HDMI we're going to need a signal converter. This is primarily due to the fact that VGA is an analog signal while HDMI is a digital signal. A VGA to HDMI signal converter will take the VGA signal from your computer and convert it into the proper format to go into the HDMI port on your TV.

VGA to RCA

This solution is usually only used when using a standard definition TV and will result in the blurry text. Just like with the case above we're going to need a signal converter in order to go from VGA to the RCA connection. The yellow RCA connection on a TV uses what is known as a composite video signal. The reason for the converter in this case isn't a need to go from analog to digital, but rather just from one signal format to another and also to adjust for proper resolution. A VGA to RCA adapter will take the VGA signal from your computer and convert it into the composite RCA signal your TV needs.

Let's detail the connectors you may encounter on your computer so you can identify the proper connection solution for your equipment.



VGA

VGA is still the most commonly found connector on laptops and is generally found on HDTVs as well. VGA uses a 15 pin connector that is referred to by many different names including: DE-15, HD-15, D-sub 15, RGB connector, VGA connector, and more. VGA is an analog signal that supports high resolution images up to 2560x2048, depending on the equipment. This allows for very detailed, high definition, images from your computer.

This connection works very well to go to your TV. If your TV also has this same connector, just simply run a VGA to VGA cable from the computer to the TV. If your TV doesn't have a VGA input you'll need to use a converter to go from VGA to whatever connector you will use.



DVI

DVI is a newer connection than VGA, but it has grown to be very common and very popular on computers. The DVI connector is almost never found on TVs themselves (although there are exceptions). DVI is an interesting connector in that it is capable of supporting both digital and analog signals, depending on the system. Some computers will only output digital signals from it, and others will only support analog, while others still, are capable of supporting both, usually only one at a time, however.

If your computer has DVI you may have a few options. If your computer supports analog output you can put a DVI to VGA plug adapter on the port which will change it to a VGA port. Then you could use a VGA to VGA cable like you would have with a VGA port on the computer.

Another option, if your DVI port supports digital output, is to use a DVI to HDMI adapter. This will allow you to use an HDMI cable to go from the computer to the HDMI port on the TV. This will put the full digital video signal onto your TV, but DVI ports (except in rare exceptions) do not output an audio signal. This means that you will have to connect the audio signal separately.



HDMI

HDMI is the most commonly used HDTV connector used today, but it is also becoming more and more common on computers. HDMI is a smaller single plug connector that carries both digital video and audio. Unlike DVI, HDMI does not support analog video signals. If you have HDMI on your computer and you have an HDTV you should be all set. All you need is an HDMI cable to connect the computer to the TV (assuming your TV has HDMI of course).

HDMI supports many formats of HD signals and various audio formats. If your computer has this connection it is generally going to be the very best option to use to connect to your TV.

HDMI

HDMI ports on the TV are just like the ones on the computer described above. HDMI is the connection of choice to use on your TV for all your video equipment.

VGA

VGA on the TV is also just like the connection described above for the computer. VGA is a great connector to use if your computer only has a VGA output on it.



Component

Component is an analog signal that is HD capable. Component uses a set of 3 RCA plugs for the video signal. These 3 separate cables each carry one part of the video signal; red, green, and blue. For this it is often referred to as RGB (not to be confused with VGA which is also sometimes called RGB).

If your TV doesn't have HDMI or VGA, component would be the next best option. Component will still support up to 1080p, but you will definitely need a converter to get the computer signal into the component format. If your computer has VGA (Or DVI supporting analog output) you could use a VGA to component converter.

Unfortunately, due to restrictions on HDMI signals you cannot convert an HDMI signal from your computer into component for the TV.



Composite

Composite is an analog standard definition signal. Composite uses a single RCA connection for the video signal. It is usually accompanied with a pair of RCA connectors for the audio signal.

You will only want to use composite if your TV is not an HDTV. This type of signal will not be nearly as clear of a picture as what you'll get with the HD converters as we discussed previously. If your computer has a VGA port you'll want to use a VGA to RCA adapter to convert the signal from the HD VGA signal down to an SD composite signal. If your computer only has HDMI output you'll want to use an HDMI to Composite signal converter.

Set TV

Once you've made the physical connection between your computer and your TV there are just a few more things you need to do to get the image on your TV. First, and probably the simplest is to set your TV to the correct input. Have your TV on and change the selected input source to the one that you are connected to. If there are multiple connections of the same type on your TV, make sure that you have the correct one selected.

Enable Computer Output

Second, we need to make sure your computer's video output is properly configured. If you have the video connection made at the time you turn the computer on it will usually detect the display and enable it automatically. If your TV is not showing a screen from the computer we'll need to enable and configure that output.

The first thing to do is enable it. If you have a laptop there is generally a shortcut key combination to enable it. On most laptops it is something like "FN+F5" or "FN+F8". Alternatively, if you have Windows 7 you can simply press the windows key and the letter P at the same time ("Windows+p"). Keep holding down the windows key and press the P button a few times until you get the mode you want.

Set Resolution

Once that's done, you may need to still set the proper resolution. If your TV is properly showing the computer image, you really shouldn't need to do this part. Since each version of Windows is slightly different I won't tell you exactly what to click, but you'll need to find your way into the display settings menu. There you will be able to set the resolutions. If your secondary output is set to be a clone, or mirror, of the primary display you'll just see one screen, and this can be more complicated as the screens will want different resolutions. If you did it as an extended display you should see two separate displays that can have different resolutions set.

In this menu you'll need to set a resolution compatible with your TV or the converter system you're using. If you're using a direct connection and your TV supports 1080p that is what you'll want to set it to. This resolution will be listed as 1920x1080. If your TV only supports 720p, or you're using a converter that only supports that, you need to set it to 1280x720.

Once that's accomplished everything should be set to view the signal from your computer on your TV.

If you have questions about a particular adapter or where to get the parts you need check out Sewell Direct, they specialize in this sort of stuff.