Want to play movies from laptop on my tv?

2rkehij30qtza5

Can anyone please help me?

I downloaded (legally I might add) movies onto my laptop. I would like to play them on my tv screen though but i am clueless as to how to do this!

I have a Samsung 'HD ready 1080p' TV. I'm presuming I can buy some kind of cable? And how would I tune up the tv to play the movie off my laptop? Would I just play the movie on my laptop as normal and the tv would pick it up once hooked up?

Sorry...am very clueless here! Thanks

coylemj

If your laptop isn't too old, it should have a HDMI port, same as the ports on the TV. It's the port on the left in this picture....



buy a cheap two metre HDMI cable (Tesco sell them) and connect the laptop to the TV. Do not buy pay crazy prices for those gold-plated cables, HDMI carries ones and zeros so no amount of shielding will improve the signal.

You may have to tell the laptop to send an external signal (mine does it automatically), this typically involves some key combination like Fn+F7, look at your keyboard and you should see an image of two rectangles indicating the laptop and an external screen.

You may also have to manually switch the TV over to the HDMI port though if there's nothing else sending a signal to the TV (switch off the UPC/Sky box) it should switch to the laptop signal automatically.

If you can't find a HDMI port on the laptop then you'll need to see if the TV has a VGA port, it looks like this, there's one on the laptop as well...

CreepingDeath

Typically, laptops have a HDMI port at the back of them.
So you just need a HDMI cable from your laptop straight into a spare HDMI socket on your TV.

Then on your TV / TV remote control, there should be a button for "Source" which lets you switch between the various sockets the TV has.

U_Fig

For windows use the windows key + p to open up the connect to projector window then select projector only (the one on the right) after the cable is plugged..

If you use HDMI you will get sound also, this is easiest and best quality


if you use VGA you will need a seperate audio cable which will be a
3.5mm headphone jack to RCA aka ( phono) (red and white connector) then connect the jack to the headphone port on the laptop and the RCA to the AUX port on the TV and it should work with the "PC" mode or whatever connecting via the VGA is called on the tv..

2rkehij30qtza5

Thank you SO MUCH everyone for the excellent and detailed answers. Really appreciate it!!

uncle_sam_ie

I just use the Apple TV and stream it from iTunes.

Gurgle

uncle_sam_ie wrote: »

I just use the Apple TV and stream it from iTunes.

That's their new mission statement.

Apple: A €100 solution to a €5 problem

uncle_sam_ie

Gurgle wrote: »

That's their new mission statement.

Apple: A €100 solution to a €5 problem

It was a gift but, it sure beats running a long cable from the PC out into the living room. I ripped all my DVD's to a 2TB drive and now my DVD's and player sit up in the attic next the VCR.

U_Fig

uncle_sam_ie wrote: »

Gurgle wrote: »

That's their new mission statement.

Apple: A €100 solution to a €5 problem

It was a gift but, it sure beats running a long cable from the PC out into the living room. I ripped all my DVD's to a 2TB drive and now my DVD's and player sit up in the attic next the VCR.

Smart tv..transcode and stream from my laptop to built in media server on my tv or to the raspberri pi by the tv or to the HTPC I just built for under the TV..nice to have options

uncle_sam_ie

U_Fig wrote: »

Smart tv..transcode and stream from my laptop to built in media server on my tv or to the raspberri pi by the tv or to the HTPC I just built for under the TV..nice to have options

Cool set up:cool: Iv'e been thinking about building a HTCP with the Prodigy case.

U_Fig

uncle_sam_ie wrote: »

U_Fig wrote: »

Smart tv..transcode and stream from my laptop to built in media server on my tv or to the raspberri pi by the tv or to the HTPC I just built for under the TV..nice to have options

Cool set up:cool: Iv'e been thinking about building a HTCP with the Prodigy case.

Ya would be cool alright I didn't have the space for it do had to go smaller.. Would have loved to have used it.. Looks awesome

areyawell

Dont forget you may need to increase the resolution on laptop when connected to tv to 1920×1080

Skerries

if you have a ps3 or 360 you can use that

2rkehij30qtza5

Thanks everyone for all the very informative and useful replies! I went down the HDMI cable route and it has worked perfectly! Wish I had done it sooner rather than trying to watch movies on my tiny laptop screen!! Thanks again!

ScumLord

areyawell wrote: »

Dont forget you may need to increase the resolution on laptop when connected to tv to 1920×1080

Not if you extend the desktop rather than duplicate it. Then the PC treats them like two separate monitors.

tatli_lokma

Hey folks
we don't have a HD tv as yet (plan to get one in the new year). We do have a sky+ HD box however.

Can we watch movies from our laptop by connecting it to the sky box?

Or is the sky box surplus to requirements for this and its better to just connect to the tv directly with the red yellow and white cables?

Even better could you watch netflix by connecting the laptop to either the tv or the sky box? Or is this wishful thinking?

yoyo

Little Ted wrote: »

Hey folks
we don't have a HD tv as yet (plan to get one in the new year). We do have a sky+ HD box however.

Can we watch movies from our laptop by connecting it to the sky box?

Or is the sky box surplus to requirements for this and its better to just connect to the tv directly with the red yellow and white cables?

Even better could you watch netflix by connecting the laptop to either the tv or the sky box? Or is this wishful thinking?

What inputs does the TV have, does it have VGA? The Sky box won't suit at all, unless it supports USB device playback which I highly doubt it will

Nick

tatli_lokma

yoyo wrote: »

What inputs does the TV have, does it have VGA? The Sky box won't suit at all, unless it supports USB device playback which I highly doubt it will

Nick

yeah TV has VGA input. Sky box has a USB port, but AFAIK these don't actually do anything!

yoyo

Little Ted wrote: »

yeah TV has VGA input. Sky box has a USB port, but AFAIK these don't actually do anything!

You can go VGA out from laptop into the TV so . VGA will do HD/Full HD resolutions also. You will need a seperate cable for sound out, or just use the inbuilt laptop speakers

Nick