How to connect laptop to TV?

katiesam

Hi all,

I've searched the forum and google and am a bit confused as to the best way to connect a laptop to our tv.

Our tv is a Sony KDL-40Z4500 and has a VGA socket and a spare HDMI socket (HDMI 3 at the side of the tv).

The 1st laptop has only a VGA socket.

The 2nd laptop has VGA, S-Video and DVI-D sockets.

At first, we thought a VGA to VGA cable would be easiest and would mean we could use either laptop but then I read that VGA is only analog. Would this mean the picture quality is poor? We want to watch you-tube videos on the larger TV screen rather than on the laptop.

If the picture quality from VGA would be poor, I thought perhaps a DVI-D to HDMI cable would be what we needed. Would this work connected to HDMI 3 or would we have to use HDMI 1 or 2 instead? (The tv instruction guide isn't very helpful when it comes to connecting a laptop!)

To confuse me even further, I then read about a DVI-D to HDMI adaptor, which would then let us use an ordinary HDMI cable.

I've also read we'll probably need a separate cable for the audio.

Can anyone give me some advice as to which would be the best way to connect?

Thanks in advance!

matttye

I think VGA will be fine.

I used to connect my Xbox 360 to my monitor using a VGA cable before I bought a HDMI cable and the quality was fine.

Owain_Moneysaver

VGA will be fine. TVs work at lower resolutions than PC monitors, which worked fine on VGA for years.

katiesam

Thanks for the help guys, I guess that's me looking for a VGA cable then

andrewjf

Don't get this one