It is clear that watching a movie or photographs on a modern television panel is much more pleasant than peering at a relatively small laptop screen, on which, unlike a TV panel, the image quality is clearly lower. But in order to connect the laptop to the TV, first you need to determine its type, and then make the correct settings, because even with their seemingly complete automation, some unforeseen problems may arise. Their possible correction methods will be considered separately.
Options for connecting a laptop to a television panel
As for the connection itself, today you can use different methods - from the classic connection via the tulip connectors to the trendy connection using Wi-Fi-based wireless technologies, which, however, are not available for use on all television panels.
The most common types are the following:
- RCA
- S-video
- SCART,
- VGA
- DVI
- HDMI
- Wi-fi
How to connect a laptop to a TV? The first three options are considered to be outdated, and VGA and DVI allow you to broadcast only the image. For this type of connection, an additional cord for sound transmission is separately required.
True, through connection via DVI it is possible to achieve an improvement in screen resolution even up to 2560 x 1600 using Dual Link DVI-I, but finding an inexpensive TV panel with such parameters will be quite problematic. Thus, there are only two optimal and simplest options: connecting the laptop to the TV via HDMI or a wireless connection based on Wi-Fi, which requires the presence of an appropriate receiver on the TV panel. If there is no such module, nothing will work. But you can purchase an additional external Wi-Fi module (it costs quite cheaply).
HDMI connection of laptop to TV
Since this type of connection is the most acceptable, we will consider it. Moreover, on any modern laptop or TV, such connectors are present without fail. It is enough to simply connect the corresponding connectors on both devices with a standard cable and you can begin to configure the parameters. Note that just like that, the image on the TV screen in automatic mode will not be broadcast, and for broadcasting, you must first pay attention to some important parameters.
Preset Monitors
When connecting a laptop to a TV, the first thing to do is to use the signal source on the TV panel, and then adjust the screen by calling the corresponding section through the PCM menu in the free zone of the “Desktop”.
In these parameters, you must set the appropriate resolution for the second connected monitor (TV). As a rule, it is automatically determined as optimal, and is set at 1920 x 1080 (Full HD standard). In the field below you can specify how the laptop screen will be connected to the TV (duplication, second screen, screen extension, etc.). Please note that with this connection, some elements of the operating system interface can only be seen on the TV (this is normal), but this does not apply more to HDMI, but to DVI connections with a significant increase in the screen resolution on the TV, which is not available for installation on a laptop .
Projection
For the quick connection of a laptop to a TV, the tenth version of Windows is the most adapted.
It is enough to use the appropriate tile in the notification panel, and then select the desired mode. Also, in most laptops, Fn-based key combinations are provided for this (the second function key will be marked with an icon with the image of two screens). After that, you can start watching videos or photos using the appropriate applications installed on the laptop.
Select audio playback device
However, it often happens that when you connect the laptop to the TV, sound through the TV does not play. The point here is that automatically the system, the default sound device, may not switch to the one that is required for the TV panel.
In this case, it is necessary to enter the settings of the relevant parameters (the playback tools section) and select the device in which the panel name is present or the HDMI High Definition Audio standard is specified.
Connecting a laptop to a TV via Wi-Fi
Wireless connection of the laptop to the TV panel is considered the most advanced, though, as already mentioned, can not be used without the corresponding module in the TV. If he is, then everything is simple.
In the panel settings, you need to select the desired applet like Miracast, Screen Mirroring, Intel WiDi, DLNA, SmartShare, AllShare, MediaServer, etc. Synchronization with the laptop will be performed automatically.
What to do if there is no image when connected?
Now let's look at typical situations when the created connection does not fully work. Although infrequent, but you can meet cases where all the settings seem to be set correctly, but there is no image on the TV. To fix the problem, you can try to turn off projection, and then activate it again, after checking the settings of the second monitor in the screen resolution section.
Using Win + P keyboard shortcuts can sometimes help, which corresponds to activating the screen extension mode. It is likely that the image will appear. If all else fails, as one of the options, try even just restarting the laptop, and then connect with the projection again, setting the desired mode out of four possible.
Sound playback problems
But what if there is no sound when connecting the laptop to the TV, despite the fact that the above settings were made correctly? In this case, you will need to activate the sound device in the “Device Manager” by selecting the inclusion item from the PCM menu. Just in case, you can check the relevance of the installed driver, and if necessary, update it by downloading the update from the official website of the equipment manufacturer or using automated programs like Driver Booster for this (Internet access is required).
Another situation related to the fact that when you connect the laptop to the TV via HDMI there is no sound or image, in some models of television panels with two HDMI connectors, the parallel connection of several devices may be blocked (for example, when an additional TV is connected set-top box or DVD player). As already understood, such devices must be turned off and the session of broadcasting the signal from the laptop repeated.
In some models of television panels, one can also find prescriptions that when used in conjunction with a TV and player (this is often the case with Samsung products), when control is carried out not by two different remote controls, but by using the Anynet + (HDMI-CEC) function ) when you connect another valid HDMI device, you may experience problems with receiving and playing back the signal (both video and audio).
Finally, sometimes it is possible to meet situations with a direct connection via HDMI, when the signal source is not automatically detected on the panel itself.
Some models have a special settings menu in which you must manually set the use of the corresponding input.
It goes without saying that you must not discount cable integrity. At the same time, as already clear, the appearance of this problem is absolutely excluded with a wireless connection. When using Wi-Fi, in addition to the presence of the receiver itself, it is necessary to make sure that the signal power is sufficient for synchronizing devices, that is, place the TV, laptop and router close to each other.
Brief Summary
That’s briefly and all that concerns the main issues related to connecting computer equipment to televisions. Please note that, despite the fact that all the actions were described in the context of synchronizing TV panels with laptops, similar actions can be applied to stationary computer terminals, and the operations performed are practically no different from the above. In the case of connecting using wireless technology, a Wi-Fi module (external) must also be installed on a stationary PC. But, as already clear, connecting the laptop to the TV, even taking into account the appearance of possible problems, is the most optimal and simple. The only limitation is that achieving a resolution higher than Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels per inch) will not work, since this is not even provided for by the standard HDMI connection itself.
All of the above methods apply to relatively new models of television panels. If you want to connect a computer device to outdated TVs so as not to engage in unnecessary actions, you can immediately use the most common “tulips” (RCA). Of course, it will not work to achieve high quality, but you can still watch a video or photo on a larger screen than on a laptop.