# Ins and Outs of Connecting Your Computer to TV?



## How Do I (Feb 11, 2008)

We finally upgraded from our tiny 19 inch TV to a LCD flat screen. The TV connects via wireless to the internet and has apps for Facebook, Twitter, ebay, etc. I'm just trying to figure out what all I can do here. I already have the wireless working for the TV. I can already view photos, videos from the computer on the TV via wireless. I have this set up from the router WPA Personal. Is that secure enough for logging into internet accounts (ebay, facebook, etc.)? Also, I think I screwed up and created another network in the process and DW is out of the loop as far as the TV is concerned (can't view her photos or videos on the TV). Is there an easy way to add her to that network?

The back of my computer monitor has a port labeled DVI (?) Can I connect this to the TV somehow (many different ports on there) as a second monitor or something or maybe at least use my keyboard for typing for the internet apps on the TV or do I have to use my remote for typing or do they make a wireless keyboard for that? The remote seems pretty slow going for typing. lol

Say I want to view Homesteading Today forum on my television. Anyone guide me on how to do that. I obviously need some kind of cords, right?

Oh, and the instructions said like, HD ready. But our telephone company charges extra for an HD stream. Do you have to purchase the HD stream for HD viewing on your TV? This is all so confusing. I just wanted to plug in the TV, watch my favorite shows and eat bon bons. Then stumbled across all of this.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

How Do I said:


> Oh, and the instructions said like, HD ready. But our telephone company charges extra for an HD stream. Do you have to purchase the HD stream for HD viewing on your TV? This is all so confusing. I just wanted to plug in the TV, watch my favorite shows and eat bon bons. Then stumbled across all of this.


If you can get Over The Air Channels by using a outside antenna, and there are stations close enough for you to receive them then YES you can Get HD Programming FREE.
But if you have Cable, or Satellite services, they Yes They will charge extra for HD programming.
it isn;t that much extra but there IS a extra charge somewhere in the area of 10 bucks a month to view HD channels over cable and satellite services.
Saying the Satellite services Now like Dish is offering HD free for life for NEW Subscribers and I believe Direct does it also, for NEW subscribers. But there are some conditions.
But NO Charge if you can receive at least some channels "over the air". And a lot of them are HD. Not all but the Networks will be and some others as well.
Netflix looks like there is no charge extra to Stream HD movies
But Cable will because you have to have the HD package to get HD movies pay per view.


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## gilberte (Sep 25, 2004)

Not sure about the lcd, we have an led tv and the manual says to be careful of too much static screen material. The issue being burn in. for tv content we use the Amazon Prime service and haven't run out of things to watch yet.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

If you computer has a DVI out you connect to the tv's DVI... Also many TV now have VGA connectors on the back... Only issue you will find is TV often make crappy monitors. The resolution for computer is often smaller than the TV resolution and the aspect ratio is often wrong. Usable but not always better.


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## WhyNot (Jun 21, 2011)

How Do I said:


> I have this set up from the router WPA Personal. Is that secure enough for logging into internet accounts (ebay, facebook, etc.)?


The security of your wifi has nothing to do with the security of a device connected to the net. The wifi is the signal, once you are online, security breaches, etc concern antivirus software and etc, not the signal. WPA with key and password will help secure your signal from someone else outside your home (like physically sitting in your driveway with a laptop) getting onto your network to access your devices or your internet. But it does not protect your devices once online from clicking on virus infested pages or downloading crud.





How Do I said:


> Also, I think I screwed up and created another network in the process and DW is out of the loop as far as the TV is concerned (can't view her photos or videos on the TV). Is there an easy way to add her to that network?


Without knowing exactly what you have and how you set it all up in the first place, the only thing I can say here is...compare her network settings to a computer that can already do what you want hers to be able to do and then duplicate it. If need be, and she is on a separate network from everyone, delete it and make her a new connection to the one everyone else or device is using. It should all be in your network settings. Easiest way I can tell you to get there without knowing what you have is, get to the desktop, press F1 and type in network settings into the search box.



How Do I said:


> The back of my computer monitor has a port labeled DVI (?)


If a MONITOR (or tv) has a port labeled DVI that means you can hook it to the DVI port of a COMPUTER to use it as a monitor via a DVI cable. If you do not have a DVI port on the back of your computer, and instead have a VGA port (usually blue plastic in color with a bunch of holes it it), you can either get a DVI to VGA cable (I wouldn't), or you can get a small DVI to VGA adapter (that's what I would do). When purchasing cables and adapters, make sure to make note of what female and male ends you need because they make all sorts. So...if the port on the device has pins in it (not likely but it can) then the cord needs to be female (receptive...the end with holes in it) and if the port on the device has holes in it (more likely in your case) then you need male a male end (has pins in it).

When you hook up a television to a computer that way, then you are using it just like you would use your regular computer monitor. So if you want to surf the net and go on you tube you could watch that on your tv use your keyboard/mouse, etc. Or to go on any website, etc. A wireless keyboard and mouse for the computer you hook to it might be pretty handy at this point.



How Do I said:


> Oh, and the instructions said like, HD ready. But our telephone company charges extra for an HD stream. Do you have to purchase the HD stream for HD viewing on your TV?


Yes and no. If there are channels which your provider requires you to pay extra to watch and they are in HD, then yes, you have to pay for them but your tv is capable of detecting the HD. But if there are channels you already pay for or ones you can catch that are free then you just go about your day. 

Personally, I wouldn't pay extra for high def channels...but you may want to consider that I also refuse to pay for television service through a satellite or cable company. You are able to watch any HD movie that you rent or purchase from a store or via an online service. 

I rent a lot of movies from Amazon.com...download them to a laptop and can watch them on my television...I usually hit their .99 cent rentals.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Something like this should work.

Buy.com - 2M 6Ft VGA To 3 RCA Cable Adapter Tv HDTV for Pc Laptop


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## Tinga (Jul 24, 2011)

Sounds like what we have going on. Our TV is connected via wireless to our network via our BluRay player. We watch Hulu, Netflix, Youtube and other stuff on it. We don't have cable to Netflix is pretty much it for us lol


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## How Do I (Feb 11, 2008)

OK. I have one DVI port on the back of my monitor - the other is the cable that runs from the computer to monitor (blue?). I have several ports on the TV - three HDMI - RGB (PC) - two USB ports - 'component a/v' (which looks like old cable type ports) and then ethernet port. I don't see anything labeled DVI on the TV.

So to use the TV for something like viewing Flight Simulator (PC simulator) on the TV, what type of cable would I need? Or can I do that? And yeah, with the WPA I want to make sure logging in through the TV (wireless) there is little chance even back here in the boonies that nobody can access that info as remote chance as that might be.

I don't think I'll worry about the HD anytime soon. Picture is good enough for me considering what I used to watch TV shows with. Oh and since I noticed the USB ports this evening. What are those for? The instruction booklet for the TV didn't even mention those, that I recall.

And Tinga mentioned Netflix. We were looking into that also. But we still have 512 connection and when watching something like youtube videos on the TV you might as well pause and let it buffer because it just starts and stops and who wants to watch that? If you get Netflix or something like that should you opt for a faster connection through your ISP? I believe our ISP offers 1.5M connection for another $10 a month. Or do you streaming video users just let it buffer while you're doing something else?

ETA - I found out the purpose of the USB ports. For playing photos and music directly from USB thumb drive.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

Ok you have a DVI out put on the back of the computer.
Then this is what I did when i had that on mine.
I got This,, and connected it to a HDMI cable and that then went into one of the HDMI inputs on the TV works great and that way you will have the highest quality in picture too.










Amazon.com: New Gold Plated HDMI Female to DVI-D Male Video Adaptor: Electronics


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## WhyNot (Jun 21, 2011)

How Do I said:


> I have several ports on the TV - three HDMI - RGB (PC) - two USB ports - 'component a/v' (which looks like old cable type ports) and then ethernet port. I don't see anything labeled DVI on the TV.


To connect your television to your computer, it sounds like you need a HDMI to VGA cable...or...a HDMI cable and a HDMI to VGA adaptor...whichever way you want to go.

I'm not sure why you keep mentioning the computer monitor, but, just in case...I'll say this....you are going to gain nothing by hooking up your monitor to your television.



How Do I said:


> So to use the TV for something like viewing Flight Simulator (PC simulator) on the TV, what type of cable would I need? Or can I do that?


You don't want to do that. You *COULD*...but you will probably be REALLY disappointed. As someone else has already said, your television does not have the same display capabilities as a computer monitor does. You can do it with either a HDMI (television side) to VGA cable (computer side), or if you have a DVI port on your computer you can get a HDMI to DVI cable.



How Do I said:


> If you get Netflix or something like that should you opt for a faster connection through your ISP?


You will find that over time you go insane living in video buffer world. The best thing for you to do is find out the MINIMUMS from whatever live streaming video place you want to deal with is and see if you can afford to DOUBLE it.

You CAN opt for the minimum. HOWEVER... remember that the ISP isn't going to guarantee and it's more than highly likely that you will not always hit the speed your ISP is selling you. Example...I have 12Mbps. I've clocked it at that but my actual average is around 9Mbps.



How Do I said:


> ETA - I found out the purpose of the USB ports. For playing photos and music directly from USB thumb drive.


If your television doesn't have a media card reader in it...you can also get a usb media card reader...looks like a usb flash drive but one end is usb and the other end is a slot to put an SD card into.

I changed to one of those in computer repair because I was tired of always having to find larger thumb drives. This way I can just buy larger sd cards and can use them for storing programs, moving files and also use them in my cameras if I need to.


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