How can I hook up my T61 to my LCD tv?

Hello,
I am wanting to connect my T61 to my Vizio because I find myself watching alot of tv/ movies on my notebook. What cords/cables/etc. do I need in order to do this. Thanks alot.

 

Which TV do you have? The T61 has a VGA out, but if you want DVI you'll need the dock.

 

I have a vizio vx32l

I think these are all of the connection ports
* Two HDMI with HDCP
* One analog stereo audio for HDMI inputs
* Two component YPbPr plus stereo audio
* Two composite video
* One S-Video
* One 15-pin VGA
* One service port (for qualified engineers)
* One analog audio out (RCA)
* One 5.1 SPDIF digital optical audio

If not, heres a link that does list them all
http://review.zdnet.com/product/flat-panel-tvs/vizio-vx32l/32165930

Quality is not very important as many of the shows i watch are streaming, so the qualitys not great to begin with.

Thanks again

 

* One 15-pin VGA

This will be the best/easiest for you to use. You will want to set your resolution to 1280x720 or 1366x768 (do you know the native resolution of your LCD? [edit- it Appears to be 1366x768, so try that if possible]). You can use other resolutions (e.g. 1024x768), but you will then need to force aspect ratio correction in your video playback software (otherwise everything will look wide/fat).

This will only carry video. For audio you will either need an 1/8" stereo mini-cable, or a 1/8" stereo to RCA (whatever pairs with your VGA input). Or if you have a stereo hooked up to your TV, you will want to run audio to that.

 

That's it. You'll need a VGA cable.

 

Wow, haha. a lot of things I didnt understand there, but ill see if I get the jist of it. So Basically, the resolution my tv is set on will work ok where its set now.
As for the audio, I usually use my logitech z-2300s. Can I use these for my audio needs? (they connect through the headphone jack)

 

Excelent explanation Jon,

I've learned a lot from your posts.

 

Also, do I need a male to male, or male to female?
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p..._id=1020106&p_id=82&seq=1&format=1#largeimage

 

You almost certainly need a Male to Male VGA.

Your logitech z-2300s should also work fine. A headphone jack is an 1/8" stereo mini-jack (contrast with the 1/4" you see on studio headphones, or 3/16" you see on cordless phones).

As far as resolution, you want something that is 16 parts wide, and 9 parts tall. This is the Aspect Ratio of your Television. Ideally, use 1366x768 as this is your TV's native resolution. If that doesn't work, 1280x720, 960x540, and a few other resolutions should work fine.

Conversely, if you use a resolution that is 4 parts wide and 3 parts tall (e.g. 1024x768 or 800x600), and your TV fills the entire screen (it probably will); everything will be horizontally stretched. This will cause you to get fat people instead of appropriate proportions. If you do use a 4x3 resolution, you must force Aspect Ratio correction in software (this is possible in VLC, Media Player Classic, and others) to make things look right.

 

wow, thanks alot man, that was very clear. I guess ill place an order for that cable, and if i run into anymore problems, you may be hearing from me again.

 

I hook my T61 everyday to my 32" LCD Samsung via a VGA cable and the 1/8" audio plug. Everything works perfectly at 1366x768 pixels, ideally you should set the output signal to this resolution specially if you're watching widescreen movies, for standard videos, such as youtube, you could set the tv to 1024x768 since at 1366x768 you will get two black bars at the sides of the video (image centered on the LCD).

I find the quality very good, considering a while ago I hooked my T30/T42p to another CRT set via a S-Video cable that technically it didn't carried a specific resolution (1024x768) all text was blurry and widescreen movies looked with huge black bars at the top and at the bottom precisely because I was not running a 16:9 aspect ratio.

Have fun!

 

okay guys, so the cord arrived today, and I plugged it in, switched the tv to RGB, but the only image that appears on my tv is my desktop backround...any ideas why the toolbar, icons, or anything isn't there?

 

You have it set to extend desktop.

If you want to use your TV as primary you should disable your notebook LCD, set monitor 2 as primary, or use mirror screens.

Presentation director should be able to do this for you (although if you want a non-PC resolution [e.g. 1280x720] you must manually edit the profile in the registry with the appropriate HEX string). I have a 720P profile that disables my laptop display, sets my primary monitor to my TV, changes the background, and turns on presentation setting (no screen-saver).

 

Wow, I feel like an idiot, but for the life of me, I can not get my desktop to show up on my tv. The only thing it will display is the desktop backround. If there is anyone out there who would be willing to give me step by step directions, I would really appreciate it, Ive been trying to figure this out for over an hour now...

 

It would help to know what operating system you are running (XP/Vista) as the steps vary.

 

I run vista

 

bumpity bump

 

Here are the steps for Vista:

1. Hook up your TV to the VGA port
2. Right click on Destkop
3. Select Personalize
4. Select Display Settings
5. You should see two Monitors
6. Make sure both are clicked with "Extend the desktop onto this monitor"
7. Click "Identify Monitors" to verify which monitor is the TV
8. Set the TV (probably 2) to "This is my Main Monitor"
9. Set the TV to your desired resolution (probably 1280x720 or 1366x768)
10. Optional - uncheck "Extend the desktop onto this monitor" for the laptop display

This should take care of everything.

 

Wow, thanks alot...im not sure what I was doing before, but now its works...kind of. the screen is shifter really far to the right on my tv. Like there is a black bar on the right left side of the screen, and its cut off on the right side. How do I correct this? Thank you. FYI, Im using 1280x720...It wont go all the way to 1366x768

 

Try some other resolutions, e.g. 1024x768. You TV may not properly support 1280x720 on the VGA input.

Note - if you use a non 16x9 resolution (e.g. 1024x768) you will need to correct your aspect ratio in video playback software. Otherwise things will look skewed as you are using non-square pixels.

 

Check your TV's manual to see if it has any manual screen adjustment settings. I can manually adjust the screen's position with my Samsung TV like you did in the old days with CRT monitors. The manual should also list compatible resolutions that you can use with VGA input, although I'm surprised that your laptop's video card doesn't auto-detect compatible resolutions. Mine only shows me the display resolutions that are compatible with the TV and hides those that aren't.