Best connection for laptop to TV?

[Simon Pieman]

What television do you have and what laptop do you have? What do you use for audio with the television? i.e. through hi-fi/surround sound receiver/soundbar/just the television speakers?

[4D]

LG led with tv speakers. Toshiba satellite pro (about 2 years old). Tv has hdmi and usb etc.

[Samdy Gray]

Is your TV network capable? i.e. does it have an ethernet port?

[Simon Pieman]

LG led with tv speakers. Toshiba satellite pro (about 2 years old). Tv has hdmi and usb etc.

What are the model numbers etc.

[4D]

LG 421s. No Ethernet port.

[Simon Pieman]

The television can normally play saved photos/videos through the USB port - so you could save your downloads to a usb stick/external hard drive and play it through the television that way, rather than connect up a laptop.

And I'm making an assumption as to what you really want to do because the information is pretty lacking. I don't even think the model number of your television is correct, don't know about the sound situation and what model number of laptop you have.

[4D]

I would have thought a tv could easily be used as a monitor, sounds a bit of a minefield.

Si, I basically want to play video from my hard drive on TV, but your saying I need to save it to a flash drive and go down that route?

[Batch]

Si, I basically want to play video from my hard drive on TV, but your saying I need to save it to a flash drive and go down that route?

That's one option of many. If the TV has a USB, you have a spare USB stick and you want to play  some sort of file based media, why not. If it plays then great, that's the easiest option.

But if you really need to link the PC to the TV, then you can connect via standard D-Sub (VGA), provided your TV has the input, but you won't get sound from the TV. Cables are cheapish. The following are not recommendations, but show the kind of ting you need so that you can check the TV to see if it has a connector that looks like it:

http://www.businessdirect.bt.com/products/belkin-standard-vga-signal-cable-TTS.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc%20product%20search&utm_content=QE00&utm_campaign=Cables,%20Power%20and%20Adaptors%20-%20Cables%20-%20AV%20Cables&origin=pla

Or, even more complicated you could buy some sort of media player that connects to the TV and stream the video from the PC to the player (TV).

[jonny72]

And this ladies and gentleman is one of the many reasons I have a MacBook.

You don't get any of this bollocks with Apple.

[jayohaitchenn]

As long as every device you have is Apple.

I use a piece of software called PS3 media server that streams my video files through my PS3. The only downside is your PC has to be always on, not a problem for me as I never turn mine off.

http://www.ps3mediaserver.org/

[Batch]

And this ladies and gentleman is one of the many reasons I have a MacBook.

You don't get any of this bollocks with Apple.

So how exactly does having a macbook make it easier to use it on a TV?

[STFC_Manc]

If you want to stream to a non smart tv, I would suggest buying a Now TV box from https://shop.nowtv.com/ (only £10)

Once that is delivered download plex server to your PC (www.plexapp.com) and then install plex onto the now tv box ( )

It is easy to do and then you can stream on a non smart tv.  Unless you have a games console attached to the TV, you could just use that.

[jonny72]

So how exactly does having a macbook make it easier to use it on a TV?

With an Apple TV. Just need to press a button to stream any of my Apple devices to the TV, no setup required.

It costs £99. But it just works, good for picture slideshows and streaming (eg iPlayer) from your iPhone or iPad. Really portable as well as it's a small box, so you can use it for presentations and the like. Connects to TV with HDMI.

Does some other cool stuff as well.

[Batch]

With an Apple TV. Just need to press a button to stream any of my Apple devices to the TV, no setup required.

It costs £99. But it just works, good for picture slideshows and streaming (eg iPlayer) from your iPhone or iPad. Really portable as well as it's a small box, so you can use it for presentations and the like. Connects to TV with HDMI.

Does some other cool stuff as well.

Sounds pretty cool, but in this case I suspect you will be moving the problem to "how do I connect my apple TV box to my TV?" , and other various issues.
==
Personally I'll give side loading Plex onto Now TV a go.

[jonny72]

Sounds pretty cool, but in this case I suspect you will be moving the problem to "how do I connect my apple TV box to my TV?" , and other various issues.
==
Personally I'll give side loading Plex onto Now TV a go.

Apple TV has an HDMI connection to the TV. You just need to setup the network on the Apple TV and that is it.

All Apple devices can find Apple TV's on the same network and connect automatically.