S Cable - Connecting laptop to tv monitor

[coopersveronica]

Hi,

I purchased an S Cable and tried to connect this cable from my laptop to the tv, however, I am not sure what kind of settings that I would need to do in order to transfer the DVD picture from my laptop to the tv. All I did so far was connecting the S cable from the laptop to the tv; played the DVD using my laptop but the picture kept coming up on my laptop screen (via realplayer, windows media etc.) instead of the tv. Is there any type of configuration that I would need to do? I thought it was just a simple cable connection?

My laptop model is HP Compaq nc6000
My tv is Sony big screen projection with an S cable outlet.

Please enlighten me!

Thanks in advance.

Veronica

[VHockey86]

The specific settings you have to change depends on the video card.
Generally though, just poke around in Display Properties (control panel) --> Settings --> advanced

Some laptops also have a button on the keyboard with the functoin (fn) key to switch the output to the external monitor so you dont have to change settings in windows

[coopersveronica]

thanks for your reply.

I tried holding down the [fn] key and pressed [f4] but it still did not switch the output to the external monitor. My computer monitor went blank but it did not transfer the the output to my TV monitor. I also checked my TV setting and for some reason the S Video display on my TV was grayed out.

Could it be the S Cable? Is there a specific brand I will need to get? I purchased the one made by philips.

Any other suggestions you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Veronica

[jimbop]

Did u follow Vhockey86's suggestion? If you look in the advanced display properties, dependant on your video card, you should find the display tab. From here you can turn on the tv display (ati cards). You may first have to click on the second blue square (representing ur external tv monitor) in display properties --> settings first. Make sure exerything is plugged in first and turned on. On some new tvs the svideo must be selected over the scart imput for the 3rd port.

Don't worry about the cable - as long as it plugs in at both ends and in good condition it should be fine.

Using the external tv display is different with each card, so play around like Vhockey86 suggested till u find what works best.

Good luck
PS welcome to Techimo!

[StealthyV]

the s-video in jack on your tv also might correspond with a different channel for display to work correctly than the normal video-in your dvd player/vcr works on.

I have an RCA tv which has a dvd player, vcr, and a jack for s-video. the dvd player connects via channel 92, the vcr connects via channel 91, and the s-video jack connects to the tv via channel 90.

it could be that you have all the settings correct, but that you're on the wrong channel. read in your tv's manual for the correct settings/configuration for hooking up s-video.


also, when your laptop display turns off, it's transferring the output through an output medium, which may be the vga-out or s-video-out. check your computer's manual for help on those settings.


~Branson

[beano21]

you sound like you know what you are talking about so i was wondering if you could help me.

I have a laptop with an s-cable TV out and a tv without one - all the tv has to offer is white/red RCA holes in the back and also in the front of the tv and no other holes.

I have got audio up and running from my laptop to the tv but not visual - please help me understand what cords and where i should put them to get a visual.

I just want to watch dvds on the tv screen rather than the computer...

[jimbop]

Hey beano21

Try the following website http://www.svideo.com. What ur looking for is a svideo to 3RAC cable. The site also has some good articles that may help you. It will also give u an idea of costs. Search around for the best deals/quality for u.
Cheers
jimbop

[beano21]

Hi there i got my laptop hooked up by why oh why would the colour on the screen be black and white when i play dvds and photos etc - can anyone help me with settings - or would it be that the tv is too old for lotsa colour...

beano

[jimbop]

did u go to the site? look again at http://www.svideo.com/laptoptvout1.html - ur question is addressed on the page ( pc to tv FAQs - Dell laptop question)
If u got a picture on ur tv, i assume u are using s-video to 3RAC?
BTW if ur tv is black and white, supprisingly enough so will ur pc picture!

[beano21]

hi there, i have a picture now that i have plugged in the cords, but my tv is not black and white but the picture coming thru is black and white. I am confused

[currykarpal]

I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop and the cable that came with it has 3 ends that connect to the tv. However, none of them fit the S-Video slot. They are ordinary video and sound plugs. When I try to connect my laptop to my tv I hear the sound come from my tv's speakers but there is no video. Is this because my cable is not inserted in the S-Video slot? Can someone please help me?

[jimbop]

Currykerpal u sound as if u need a cable called svideo-to-3rac. I assume u dont have this cable as one end would be a svideo end and plug into the back of ur laptop. If ur tv has a svideo port, use a svideo-to-svideo cable for better picture quality. The cable u have sounds like a 3RAC-to-3RAC( 3 coloured plugs on each end)? I would be surprised if this second cable came with ur laptop, as most laptops cannot use such a cable.
Again look at the sites ive posted previously. There is a step by step guide there somewhere if i remember correctly. Check ur cable and good luck.

[muarrif]

Most new TVs have Svideo input builtin

I am normally able to connect my computer and display on TV

Normally on LapTops you need to press Alt+F7 to toggel between outputs

[mingyu01]

Most new TVs have Svideo input builtin

I am normally able to connect my computer and display on TV

Normally on LapTops you need to press Alt+F7 to toggel between outputs

Its usually Fn key next to left ctrl key not Alt key

[muarrif]

OOOOPS

Thank you for the correction

Yes your are quite right

[currykarpal]

Currykerpal u sound as if u need a cable called svideo-to-3rac. I assume u dont have this cable as one end would be a svideo end and plug into the back of ur laptop. If ur tv has a svideo port, use a svideo-to-svideo cable for better picture quality. The cable u have sounds like a 3RAC-to-3RAC( 3 coloured plugs on each end)? I would be surprised if this second cable came with ur laptop, as most laptops cannot use such a cable.
Again look at the sites ive posted previously. There is a step by step guide there somewhere if i remember correctly. Check ur cable and good luck.

The cable that I have has 1 plug on one side and 3 plugs on the other side. The 1 plugged side goes into my laptop and the other side into my tv. My laptop doesn't have an S-Video output. What am I supposed to do? Is S-Video to RCA the cable that I'm looking for?

When I use the cable that I have right now, I get sound on the TV but instead of video I see waves on the screen. What could be the problem?

[jimbop]

What type of laptop do you have? What's the specs (esp graghics card) and ur Operating System? Do u have any idea what the cable u have is called (mentioned in ur comp manual?), as if ur sure ur laptop doesn't have a svideo output, then things get abit trickier!!
What colours r at both ends of the cable (red & white for sound, yellow for video generally)

[currykarpal]

Here is what I have..

Laptop: Toshiba Satellite 5200
Card: NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5600
Cable: 1st end.. black plugs, 2nd end.. red, white, yellow plugs

I talked to Toshiba support centre and people from FutureShop store.. I have the right cable. They believe the problem could be caused by settings or software/hardware problem. They tell me it could take them a month to diagnose the problem. So I'm trying to see if I can fix the problem myself (as long as it's not a hardware problem) Can anyone help me with the software or the settings?

[jimbop]

try this website http://www.nvidia.com/object/feature_nview.html see if this helps u at all. Also make sure ur drivers r updated. What OS r u using? XP, 2000, ME?

[currykarpal]

I downloaded the latest forceware and tried everything on my configuration settings. I am still seeing waves on my screen. I don't know what to to...