The Loose Change

How to connect laptop to your TV

I decided to hook up my laptop to my big screen LCD HD TV.  Now I have an HP Duo 2 Core laptop and an HDMI jack so connecting my laptop to my TV was actually easy.  Just not cheap.  The HDMI cable is about $45 for a 6 foot cable.  And Sony Bravia 46″ LCD HDTV has 3 inputs for HDMI.  And all three are being used now.  One for my HD DVR (digital video recorder/HD cable box), one for my PS3/Bluray DVD player and now one for my laptop.

So in order to hook up your laptop, you need to see what kind of ports you have.  IF you have HDMI for your computer and for your HDTV, then it’s a one cable deal..  Just plug in to the laptop and TV and you are good to go.

Otherwise, you’ll probably need to hook it up via an external monitor cable to the RGB connectors on the TV OR the external monitor DVI cable to the TV, if possible.  Read your TV manual to see what kind of connections you have as well as look at the side of your laptop to see what kind of ports there are.  Generally there is an external monitor port and you can plug that with the provided cable into most modern TV’s.

For me, it was simple, HDMI all the way.  Then on the TV I just have to switch to the right HDMI connection.  This is done through the input button on my remote control.  The sound comes through the speakers of the laptop or through the TV.  Depends on how you want to do it.  I can’t watch TV and use the HDMI connection at the same time.  I can listen to the TV, but not watch it.  I tried PIP (picture in picture) but no luck, doesn’t work with 2 HDMI’s.

THe major challenge with hooking up your laptop to the TV is that my recliner is about 10 - 12 feet away and sometimes the text is hard to read.  I also had to reformat the graphics display on the laptop.  I turned off the laptop display and told it to use the external monitor only.  And then I made the fonts large or xlarge.  I also changed the resolution to a lower resolution which made the screen coverage larger as well.  Now, this way, I can read most of the text.  I am running 1280 x 720 on the big screen/laptop.

But I didn’t stop there.  I also bought a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse.  A Microsoft laser 6000 keyboard to be exact.  That way there are no cables.  This was easy, but not cheap either.  Probably another $80 or so.  However, it works perfectly.  There was a little antenna to plugin to a USB port on the computer to receive the signal from the wireless keyboard and the mouse.  Has a range of 10 - 15 feet and it works flawlessly so far.

Ok, so getting the picture?  I now an kicking back in my recliner, surfing the web from my wireless keyboard and mouse.  Just one more problem though.  No room for the keyboard and the mouse.  I thought a TV stand or one of those laptop stands, but I went first class on this last improvement.  I bought an Airdesk.  It was about $200 for the desk.  Arrived in 2 days.  It’s basically 2 metal poles put together, one vertically into a heavy metal base and the other connecting horizontally with an acrylic shelf attached to it.  The shelves can pivot and rotate to accommodate pretty much any setting you want.  I also have 2 other shelves I stuck on the air desk.  The result?  The airdesk works very well for my recliner/HDTV setup.  You can easily customize each shelf height, distance and everything.

Now I have a place next to my recliner for my mouse, my remotes, my yerba mate (a drink from South America), cordless phone and my keyboard.  Thanks to the sturdy airdesk shelves which conveniently rotate away from my when I need to get up.  And it looks pretty cool too.  A modern touch to my living room.  The airdesk and my lazy boy recliner completes the ultimate setup for the laptop / TV connection.

Occasionally it’s hard to read the text.  But there is a magnification button on my wireless keyboard.  And a lot of sites allow for it.  It makes zooming in on text and images easy and more readable.

So that’s my pimped out setup for having a laptop connected to a TV.  I still use my other PC, because it’s still faster than my laptop and I have dual monitors and do a lot of graphics design and video processing.  But for surfing the web, checking email (using ZImbra) and reading different feeds it works great!  I even wrote this blog post on it…

Add comment August 3rd, 2008

Upgraded Electronics

Ok, so I broke down and upgraded my 32″ 1080i TV to a brand new Sony 46″ Bravia 1080p 120 hz Full HDTV.  The result?  AWESOME! So much better I can’t even tell you.  I also hooked up my PS3/Blu-Ray Player and now watch DVD movies in FULL 1080p.  Anyone telling you there isn’t a difference is either blind or needs glasses.  Seriously.
And having done so here are some things I have learned about HD since then:

Not all HD is created equal.  Most cable and satellite HDTV programs are broadcast in 720p (also known as 1080i).  And on cable systems, some HD channels aren’t even 720p, they are compressed because they can’t fit all that data through the cable.  So you aren’t even getting the full HD effect.  Sad, but true.  HD takes up alot of bandwidth.

Blu-Ray has become the most popular HD format for DVD’s.  More and more companies are now making DVD’s for blu ray, made by Sony.  So if you are thinking about getting an HD DVD, then get a Play Station 3 and you’ll automatically have a great blu-ray DVD HD player.  Not to mention you should buy Call of Duty 4 and play it in 1080p mode (FULL Hi Def) on at least a 46″ TV.  Simply Amazing.  I think my accuracy went up when I did.

Not all games for the PS3 are in 1080p.  For example, one of the top games, Oblivion 4, is not in 1080p.  It’s 720p.  Which means it has 30% less detail than it could.  Hopefully the next game in that series will be FULL HD.  So, it’s important to check the back of the box to see what the graphic detail is.  Lately I am addicted to full HD, and fortunately and amazingly COD4 is Full HD (1080p).  Be prepared to be sucked into hours / months of game play should you buy Call of Duty 4.  You have been warned.

Finally I also upgraded to a quad core PC with 4 gb and rocking graphics card.  This new system smokes.  Should have upgraded a long time ago for sure.

Add comment May 13th, 2008

One of the best shows on TV - Sunrise Earth

If you’ve updated your reception to hi-def, then chances are you have seen or heard about a show called “Sunrise Earth” on Discovery HD.  If you don’t have hi-defintion channels (different than regular cable), then this might be a good reason to upgrade.  It’s a very simple show.  Just a high definition camera, great natural live sound and nature.  THat’s it.  And not like Africa on the plains with suspenseful music and a high profile actor narrating the consummate struggle with life and death.  Nope, Sunrise Earth is more toned down.

Today’s episode was about some horses grazing in a green field with majestic mountains in the background while the sun was rising on a ranch in Wyoming.   That was it.  For an hour.  And worth every penny.  No narritive, no commercials, just some horses.  Tranquil TV.

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it’s easy to forget to pay attention to the natural flow of this planet.  Not our screwed up, technologically saavy, productive society, mind you, but something even deeper.  Our natural world.  Nature - as healing as it gets.  And sadly, glimpses like these are slowly, but surely disappearing.  I drove down a rode I hadn’t been down in a while here in town.  Normally lined with woods on either side.  In just a year or two, all the trees were gone and there was nothing but houses.

Thank God and the former presidents (not W, btw) for creating and preserving natural parks, forrests and the like.  It’s entirely possible that someday at the rate of current construction, these video recordings might be all that we have left of what life was like on our planet before all the human development.

It’s ironic to rave of a TV show inside the comforts of our homes about nature, but I think it’s a good thing, independant of time and space to get a chance to experience moments (even if just virtual and temporary, without the smell, touch and ‘energy’) of the experience.  An experience I might not have had otherwise.  It’s like a breather and a reminder that we choose this life and these experiences and our stress levels.  And watching in hi-def seems to help amplify the experience.

The other day, I was walking through the state park and this spontaneous thought popped in…

I don’t know what makes the trees grow,
I don’t know what makes the wind blow
All I know is that I like it.

Add comment September 7th, 2007