Korean Job Discussion Forums

[MANDRL]

Can I hook up my laptop to my television and be able to watch what is streaming on my computer on my television? If so, what do I need to buy and where from in Korea?

[citronella49]

hi Mandrl,

that question depends a lot on the type of laptop and TV you have. Most newer laptops have a TV-out port somewhere on the casing (usually next to the monitor out). It is circular and would probably have a little icon of a TV near it.




If your laptop came with one of these ports, it also should have come with a TV-out dongle (a little wire that plugs into that port). It usually looks like the picture below:


if you have that, all you will need is an rca composite-style video cable. It's a black wire with (usually) yellow connecters at both ends. You may have one laying around, they are used to connect VCRs and video game consoles. Just plug one end into your laptop and the other end into the video-in port on your tv. getting a picture shouldnt be too difficult either...restarting your laptop is usually enough, or you may need to enable tv-out...in that case check your laptop manual or contact the manufacturer for directions.

keep in mind that most older TVs dont display at a very high resolution, so the image quality will be poor compared to a laptop monitor. Newer HDTV's (think flat screen) will be capable of higher resolutions, but even then you will still be playing audio out of your laptop speakers.

if you have the money I would suggest getting an LCD monitor in the 20" range and using that as your external display, there will be a noticeable quality improvement over a standard TV.

hope that helps.

[formulaic]

my laptop has no tv out connector so I connected it via a $3 vga cable like you would use to connect a printer to your laptop. Qualities not quite so good but it's best if you want to watch something with other people on the TV. Whether your TV has a vga port I don't know: I have an LCD TV.

[MANDRL]

Thanks for the responses. We only have the TV that came with our apartment, a sad little thing, so I am not sure what course of action I am going to take. We are only here for four more months so I don't think we will be purchasing a new TV or LCD monitor, so maybe I can use your advice to try and hook up what we have now. Thanks again!

[jackson7]

I bought a cord that connects to my computer's video out and headphone jack, and then splits into RCAs to connect to my TV or VCR/DVD. Best 8,000 won I ever spent. I download movies and TV programs and watch them on the big screen. I bought mine at hi-mart.