what lead?

chrism · 16 Jan 2011 at 18:51

just bought a new lcd tv and want to hook it up to my pc to watch films and stuff , what type of lead do i need to buy? needs to be about 3 or 4 meters long cheers

Reality Bites · 16 Jan 2011 at 19:09

depends what outputs you have from your TV and which you have on your PC. I'm assuming 3.5mm on the pc and two phonos on the TV?

these are pennies from small electrial/audio type shops which I couldn't list due to being a competitor.

lucid · 16 Jan 2011 at 21:27

some of the common choices are:

VGA to VGA (picture) + 3.5mm jack to stereo phono (sound)

DVI-I to VGA (picture) + 3.5mm jack to stereo phono (sound)

DVI-I to HDMI (picture) + 3.5mm jack to stereo phono (sound)

bastardised DVI-I with audio support* to HDMI

HDMI to HDMI (picture & sound)

* only with specific graphics cards, most often in desktop PC rather than laptop.

This isn't an exhaustive list. There are other options for picture and for sound. It all depends on what you've got on the PC and what you have on the TV. Most TV manuals have a section covering PC hookup. That would be a good place to start... as they say RTFM

hdpcgamer · 24 Jan 2011 at 09:33

chrism said:
just bought a new lcd tv and want to hook it up to my pc to watch films and stuff , what type of lead do i need to buy? needs to be about 3 or 4 meters long cheers

Your new LCD TV will most likely have HDMI inputs which can carry both video and sound so you'll most likely need to buy a 3/4m HDMI cable and connect that from one of your video cards HDMI output or the one from your motherboard if it has one and then directly to your LCD TV.

You'll probably also need to set the resolution on your PC to match the native resolution of your LCD TV so that the picture becomes nice and sharp.

cmndr_andi · 24 Jan 2011 at 09:40

+1 HDMI is the way to go

It will offer you the best quality picture and sound possible - plus it is relatively easy to connect and set up with a PC.

If your PC only has DVI outputs, then use an adapter like this or a cable like this (if 3m is long enough).

If you do buy a HDMI cable (standard male-male is what you need) then make sure you don't spend more than £15. There are LOADS of very expensive HDMI cables that promise the earth and cost a lot of money - for lengths of under 5m these cables offer image and sound quality that is identical to cheapest cables you can buy for a few quid. This cable is a good option (and you get free delivery).

hdpcgamer · 24 Jan 2011 at 09:47

cmndr_andi said:
+1 HDMI is the way to go

It will offer you the best quality picture and sound possible - plus it is relatively easy to connect and set up with a PC.

If your PC only has DVI outputs, then use an adapter like this or a cable like this (if 3m is long enough).

If you do buy a HDMI cable (standard male-male is what you need) then make sure you don't spend more than £15. There are LOADS of very expensive HDMI cables that promise the earth and cost a lot of money - for lengths of under 5m these cables offer image and sound quality that is identical to cheapest cables you can buy for a few quid. This cable is a good option (and you get free delivery).

+1 You don't need spend more than £15 on the HDMI cable.

Heres an interesting read on cheap HDMI cables vs expensive one:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-vs-hdmi