Connecting a PC to a flat screen tv

gears

I've just upgraded the RAM in an old PC (Dell Dimension 4600) and I was planing to use it for basic web browsing and watching videos on the tv, but I connected it last night and no joy.
There seems to be 2 places to connect a monitor and I've tried both but it wont work, now I have been connecting my laptop to the tv via the same cable so I know it should work but it doesn't. So does any one know what I can do or check to get this working, I've attached a pic of the back of the pc incase it helps. Thanks

softdancomputer

what kind of connection for PC the TV have?

Morlar

Are you trying a DVI to HDMI setup ? Like this :


Also what is the video card in the PC ?

cookie1977

There's three places on your pc to connect a monitor. Either via VGA or DVI. I use a VGA to dvi cable as my tvhas a dvi port. (make sure if you've a dvi port you get the right format). I have a philips tv which take a DVI B i think, and wont work with other dvi formats.

gears

I was trying to connect the TV through a standard monitor connection on the TV via the monitor connection (the blue one) beside what looks like an S-Video socket.
I cant remember what kind of video card it has and I'm not at home to check now but could you tell me what options I have to connect it and I could try other cabels I have at home. Is it possible I need some new hardware, video card etc?

cookie1977

Show us a pic of the back of your tv where the ports are

InquiringMind

TV's don't do half as many resoultions as monitors, make sure the resoultion is set to one the tv can handle before plugging it in. If like me, you connecting to your tv via a standard vga monitor cable there should be no problem once the resolution is correct

gears

I'm not at home so I can't take a pic now but I had a google and I've found a list of the connections and a photo of the back of my model which looks right.

1 x USB ( 4 pin USB Type A ) - side 1 x HDMI ( 19 pin HDMI Type A ) - side 1 x composite video/audio input ( RCA phono x 3 ) - side 2 x component video input ( RCA phono x 3 ) - rear 2 x audio line-in ( RCA phono x 2 ) - rear 3 x HDMI ( 19 pin HDMI Type A ) - rear 1 x digital audio output (optical) ( TOSLINK ) - rear 1 x digital audio output (coaxial) ( RCA phono ) - rear 1 x RGB input ( 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15) ) - rear 1 x audio line-in ( mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm ) - rear 1 x serial ( 9 pin D-Sub ) - rear 1 x remote control ( mini-phone 3.5 mm ) - rear

http://www.yugatech.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/lg-scarlet-tv.jpg

Also this is a link to the manufacturers site.

http://lg-scarlet.com/

softdancomputer

I see two ways:
1. VGA (blue 15 pins) from Graphic card PC (bottom) to blue VGA TV (15 pin HD D-Sub).No audio, separate audio cable required.
2. DVI from PC (white connector graphic card) to HDMI TV via adaptor. If the graphic card is relative new, you may have audio/video on same cable.
Pay attention of graphic card settings and also on TV guide - some TV's do not accept PC HDMI on all ports.

cookie1977

softdancomputer wrote: »

I see two ways:
1. VGA (blue 15 pins) from Graphic card PC (bottom) to blue VGA TV (15 pin HD D-Sub).No audio, separate audio cable required.
2. DVI from PC (white connector graphic card) to HDMI TV via adaptor. If the graphic card is relative new, you may have audio/video on same cable.
Pay attention of graphic card settings and also on TV guide - some TV's do not accept PC HDMI on all ports.

3) S-video out

gears

1. VGA (blue 15 pins) from Graphic card PC (bottom) to blue VGA TV (15 pin HD D-Sub).No audio, separate audio cable required.

I tried this way and no joy, it's how I connect the laptop so I thought this would work ok.

2. DVI from PC (white connector graphic card) to HDMI TV via adaptor. If the graphic card is relative new, you may have audio/video on same cable.
Pay attention of graphic card settings and also on TV guide - some TV's do not accept PC HDMI on all ports.

For this way would I need the adaptor pictured in an earleir post plus a HDMI cable?

3) S-video out

This one is it an S-Video to HDMI or.....

cookie1977

gears wrote: »

1. VGA (blue 15 pins) from Graphic card PC (bottom) to blue VGA TV (15 pin HD D-Sub).No audio, separate audio cable required.

I tried this way and no joy, it's how I connect the laptop so I thought this would work ok.

2. DVI from PC (white connector graphic card) to HDMI TV via adaptor. If the graphic card is relative new, you may have audio/video on same cable.
Pay attention of graphic card settings and also on TV guide - some TV's do not accept PC HDMI on all ports.

For this way would I need the adaptor pictured in an earleir post plus a HDMI cable?

3) S-video out

This one is it an S-Video to HDMI or.....

If you posted a pic of the back of your tv it would be easier to suggest something. Or what is the make and model of the tv?

gears

gears wrote: »

I'm not at home so I can't take a pic now but I had a google and I've found a list of the connections and a photo of the back of my model which looks right.

1 x USB ( 4 pin USB Type A ) - side 1 x HDMI ( 19 pin HDMI Type A ) - side 1 x composite video/audio input ( RCA phono x 3 ) - side 2 x component video input ( RCA phono x 3 ) - rear 2 x audio line-in ( RCA phono x 2 ) - rear 3 x HDMI ( 19 pin HDMI Type A ) - rear 1 x digital audio output (optical) ( TOSLINK ) - rear 1 x digital audio output (coaxial) ( RCA phono ) - rear 1 x RGB input ( 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15) ) - rear 1 x audio line-in ( mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm ) - rear 1 x serial ( 9 pin D-Sub ) - rear 1 x remote control ( mini-phone 3.5 mm ) - rear

http://www.yugatech.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/lg-scarlet-tv.jpg

Also this is a link to the manufacturers site.

http://lg-scarlet.com/

cookie1977 wrote: »

If you posted a pic of the back of your tv it would be easier to suggest something. Or what is the make and model of the tv?

It's the 42" Scarlet on the link

R P McMurphy

Did you enable the tv to become your second monitor?

gears

R P McMurphy wrote: »

Did you enable the tv to become your second monitor?

I'm not really unsing it as a second monitor I was just going to locate the PC next to it and connect the TV as if it was the only monitor as it's got a connection labeled monitor and as it's worked fine for nearly 2 years with the lap top I'm very confused why it's not working.

cookie1977

gears wrote: »

I'm not really unsing it as a second monitor I was just going to locate the PC next to it and connect the TV as if it was the only monitor as it's got a connection labeled monitor and as it's worked fine for nearly 2 years with the lap top I'm very confused why it's not working.

If you've got them plugged in and you pc is set up correctly to use the monitor then look for something like "source" on your tv and try find "PC" or "computer"

gears

cookie1977 wrote: »

If you've got them plugged in and you pc is set up correctly to use the monitor then look for something like "source" on your tv and try find "PC" or "computer"

Sorry i forgot to mention this, but there's an input button on the TV remote and you can scroll through all connections and it simply says something like "invalid source" or something like that at the connection attached to the PC.

red menace

Check what resolution thePC is set to display would be a good place to start
Check in the Bios to see make sure the video card is not disabled
If you are using VGA try removing the graphics card altogether and then connecting via VGA

gears

red menace wrote: »

Check what resolution thePC is set to display would be a good place to start
Check in the Bios to see make sure the video card is not disabled
If you are using VGA try removing the graphics card altogether and then connecting via VGA

On the resolution, what should I set it to?

I don't think the video card is disabled as it works fine with the existing monitor when it's connected via the same socket.

I'm not sure I want to attempt this, slotting in some new RAM is ok but removing the video card, I'd probably be ok but...

red menace

Ok if it's displaying fine with the monitor then it's not the graphics card


I believe but am open to correction on this TVs usually like a low res over the VGa because it's analogue
I know when I used to connect my MBP to the TV it would automatically change the res to 640 x 480 so this might be a good place to start

gears

red menace wrote: »

Ok if it's displaying fine with the monitor then it's not the graphics card


I believe but am open to correction on this TVs usually like a low res over the VGa because it's analogue
I know when I used to connect my MBP to the TV it would automatically change the res to 640 x 480 so this might be a good place to start

I'm begining to think it is something simple like a setting so I'll have a play with it tonight. Thanks for all the replys.

gears

It was just the settings that were stopping it working properly so I changed them and now it works fine. The only thing is that sometimes and especially when looking at a video that is quite dark there seems to be a lot of what I'd call blocking as in you can see lots of dark squares.... Could this be the graphics card not being able to keep up with the changing picture or is it just the video file isn't of a high enough quality?

ricman

try 720x 576 dvd resoltion,or 1024x768 ,set pc refresh rate to 60mhz, in display propertys ,advanced settings.See tv manual pc input settings.