I bet you would like to watch your favorite movies and online television on your big screen in the living room, sitting on the comfortable couch instead of watching from the home office. Now you can enjoy this experience, all you have to do is connect your PC to your HDMI TV. All the online advantages like cheap or even free broadcast are easy to access from the HDMI TV after the connection instructions explained below.
First you have to turn off your computer and look at the rear of the unit positioned behind it. Identify the cable which connects the monitor to the PC and plug it into the video card output. The video card output is either a 15-pin VGA port or a 29-pin DVI port while for more recent devices it`s a regular HDMI port.
The next step is to decide upon the type of connection for video output. The easiest way is for computers with a HDMI port because you only have to connect the PC to the TV through a HDMI cord of the right length. Things can get a little more complicated if your computer does not feature a HDMI port.
In this case, the best solution is to buy a new video card, either DVI or HDMI and install it following the package instructions. If you want to use a VGA output for the HDMI display you will need a special device for converting between these two formats. The VGA option is not a viable one, because the price for the converter is about the same as for the entry-level video card more suitable for the HDMI TV, so you`d better purchase a DVI or HDMI port and a cable to convert the PC`s output in the suitable HDMI input for the TV.
What follows is connecting your TV to your computer using a HDMI cable. Make sure you have installed the correct adapter/convertor for your PC in case that was required. The HDMI has both video and audio signals. If your computer does not have a HDMI output, you also need cables to connect the sound card output to the HDMI video feature.
Start your computer, open the Start Menu, select Control Panel, double-click Display and click Settings tab. Find out from the HDMI TV`s manual what screen resolutions it supports and the refresh rates. Choose the resolution in the Settings tab and set the refresh rate by clicking the Advanced button.
You are also required to configure the way the TV is used by Windows, but only in case you use the HDMI TV as the second monitor. The video card`s instructions will help you make this configuration, but generally video cards have the Clone or Mirror mode which allows both screens to display the same image. In addition, by choosing the Extended Desktop option will make each screen operate in an independent way.
The last step is to restart your computer in order to apply the changes and then enjoy watching movies on your HDMI TV. A useful tip is buying a cordless mouse and keyboard so that you can control the PC directly from the couch.
