s video cable?

Captain Slow IRL

Hi all,
I am trying to connect my laptop (ibm t20) to my hd lcd (samsung, not sure of model no.) and was looking at the s-video connectors on both of them. The connection on the tv seems to be a 4 pin connection, while the laptop has a 7-pin connection - is it possible to get a lead to accomodate their differences?!

Also, is an s-video cable my only option? - are there any other leads that would do the same job but connect into different ports on my laptop (like the blue monitor connector?!)
Thanks a lot.

8T8

Yes if the Samsung TV is a HDTV then it should have a VGA port (the blue one you refer to) input on it, this is the best way to connect the laptop to the TV as it treats the TV as a computer monitor. Most Samsung HDTV's these days have a dedicated "PC" button on the remote which switches to that input, but you can also cycle through to it via the source button. The maximum resolution of the TV will be 1360x768 so you cant go any higher than that (unless you have a 1080p set).

Any standard VGA cable with male connections on both ends will do the job like this one.

As for s-video well the laptop has the 7-pin kind this is a form of s-video that combines audio and/or composite video though the connector via a special cable that plugs into the port. Some 7-pin ports are wired in such a way that regular 4-pin s-video will work fine whereas others re-arrange the placement of the pins so without the adapter regular s-video wont work. It's not worth getting the s-video adapter with the VGA option available given the better picture quality and easy of use it offers.

Also Samsung HDTV's have a 3.5mm PC audio input so if you want to pipe the audio from the laptops line out to the TV's own speakers then you will need a cable like this.

Captain Slow IRL

Thanks - vga it is!

I have my laptop's audio wired through my stereo - but I need one of those leads to plug my ipod into my car stereo, so I'll have to pick one up anyway!

Thanks again 8t8

dajaffa

Quick (related Q):

I have a HP lappy + a samsung hdtv. I got a scart to s-video + audio adapter, all connects up fine but no sign of a signal. I've tried changing the source between the scarts + the PC button but no joy. Any super-coll person able to shed any light?

EDIT: Just copped there was a witch to change signal direction, but the picture is very fuzzy + chages to black and white, so if anyone knows how to sort that I'd be really greatful.

Captain Slow IRL

Got the cable - great job!
I was looking through other posts with people who had similiar problems as you jaffa - I can't help you but can strongly suggest you get a vga cable and a decent sound system to plug into!

8T8

dajaffa wrote:

Quick (related Q):

I have a HP lappy + a samsung hdtv. I got a scart to s-video + audio adapter, all connects up fine but no sign of a signal. I've tried changing the source between the scarts + the PC button but no joy. Any super-coll person able to shed any light?

EDIT: Just copped there was a witch to change signal direction, but the picture is very fuzzy + chages to black and white, so if anyone knows how to sort that I'd be really greatful.

VGA is really the way to go but in regards your problem I'm not sure it sounds like the cable isn't or adapter is not wired correctly to output colour s-video or something is wrong with the setting in the graphics cards output (fuzzy image is normal for s-video).

scliffy

Hi,
I have a hp DV1000 with a 7 pin svideo connection and i want to connect it to a 4 pin svideo connection on my Sharp tv.
I have a svideo connection thats 4 pin on both connections, and seem to fit into both connections perfectly.
Q is, do i have the right connection cable, and how do i transfer the picture form laptop to tv(i heard its a function key- but not sure)
Thanks

8T8

scliffy you need to go into your graphics cards control panel and enable multi-display support with the TV connected it should pick it up as a second display and offer various options like span or clone.

Intel's graphics chip control panel is pretty crappy but the multi-display option is in there, you should see the icon in the systray or in the Windows control panel to bring up the interface.