Hooking up my PC to my TV.

chrislo

chrislo

New Member
So my gaming machine is 3 years old and probably within a year I will come across a game it can't play and will get myself a new Dell. Anyway I spent a boat load of cash on it and it has a TV Tuner card so I want to see about hooking it up to my TV and use it to record TV (Has a big hard drive and my multi-room DVR already has a load of recorded stuff on it, plus I can archive stuff on the PC for future watching). I would like to get a wireless keyboard and mouse so when I want to lay in bed I can still use the internet and all.

So here is my question, how do I do it? This computer has a DVI connector port but my flat screen HDTV only has HDMI (I have other connectors I could use but I want the best picture quality possible). I heard HDMI and DVI are backwards compatible, can I just go to Radio Shack and find a converter? What would it be called?

Then the second problem, sound. One of my HDMI ports also has a shared Composite (White and Red Cable) for sound. The problem with this is my computer doesn't have this so I suppose I will need a converter for this. Again can I get this in Radio Shack and what would this converter be called? Is the sound port a regular 3.5mm jack like a head phone jack or is it something different?

Finally how do I calibrate my PC to display the image properly? The display I am using right now is a regular 4:3 but my TV is a widescreen 16:9. Will the computer automatically adjust itself?

Any other information I need to know would be welcomed.

Thanks for the help.
 
Last edited:
chrislo said:
So my gaming machine is 3 years old and probably within a year I will come across a game it can't play and will get myself a new Dell. Anyway I spent a boat load of cash on it and it has a TV Tuner card so I want to see about hooking it up to my TV and use it to record TV (Has a big hard drive and my multi-room DVR already has a load of recorded stuff on it, plus I can archive stuff on the PC for future watching). I would like to get a wireless keyboard and mouse so when I want to lay in bed I can still use the internet and all.

So here is my question, how do I do it? This computer has a DVI connector port but my flat screen HDTV only has HDMI (I have other connectors I could use but I want the best picture quality possible). I heard HDMI and DVI are backwards compatible, can I just go to Radio Shack and find a converter? What would it be called?

Then the second problem, sound. One of my HDMI ports also has a shared Composite (White and Red Cable) for sound. The problem with this is my computer doesn't have this so I suppose I will need a converter for this. Again can I get this in Radio Shack and what would this converter be called? Is the sound port a regular 3.5mm jack like a head phone jack or is it something different?

Finally how do I calibrate my PC to display the image properly? The display I am using right now is a regular 4:3 but my TV is a widescreen 16:9. Will the computer automatically adjust itself?

Any other information I need to know would be welcomed.

Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

I would highly recommend not buying this stuff from Radio Shack. They will overcharge you big time. You would simply need something like this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812189129

And something like this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882641129

Your PC should adjust the TV to widescreen on its own.
 
m0nk3ys1ms said:
I would highly recommend not buying this stuff from Radio Shack. They will overcharge you big time. You would simply need something like this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812189129

And something like this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882641129

Your PC should adjust the TV to widescreen on its own.
Click to expand...


Thank you, I checked the prices and you are right Radio Shack does over charge. I have been eying many items on Newegg for years but because I have been in school (college now) I never had free access to a credit card to buy the stuff. Thankfully I will soon have a job and that will change.

Anyway while I am on the subject do you know what they call the kind of cable where you can connect your headphones to an RCA jack? Craziest thing my flatscreen doesn't come with a headphone jack. Thanks.
 
chrislo said:
Thank you, I checked the prices and you are right Radio Shack does over charge. I have been eying many items on Newegg for years but because I have been in school (college now) I never had free access to a credit card to buy the stuff. Thankfully I will soon have a job and that will change.

Anyway while I am on the subject do you know what they call the kind of cable where you can connect your headphones to an RCA jack? Craziest thing my flatscreen doesn't come with a headphone jack. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Yea, Newegg's great. Great prices, great service, fast shipping.

It would be a 3.5 mm female to RCA male, but I don't believe they make them (Newegg doesn't have any that I've seen).
 
I had to rig up my pc to display on my tv. Reason being that my grandfather is really into classic cars and restoring them and whatever, and he likes to get parts from ebay. He has NO clue how to use a computer or probably even how to turn it on and there is no way he can see what is on the screen without leaning over me and almost touching his nose to the screen so he can read the words. So I rigged it to display on my tv so now he can just sit in the chair, look at the tv and tell me what he wants to click on or look at.
 
m0nk3ys1ms said:
Yea, Newegg's great. Great prices, great service, fast shipping.

It would be a 3.5 mm female to RCA male, but I don't believe they make them (Newegg doesn't have any that I've seen).
Click to expand...

Yea your right, back when I wanted to build a PC I was considering buying parts from them. Then when that dream got crushed I forgot about them for awhile. Anyway I checked it out and they don't sell that accessory, but thanks for the information anyway.
 
CamBlack said:
I had to rig up my pc to display on my tv. Reason being that my grandfather is really into classic cars and restoring them and whatever, and he likes to get parts from ebay. He has NO clue how to use a computer or probably even how to turn it on and there is no way he can see what is on the screen without leaning over me and almost touching his nose to the screen so he can read the words. So I rigged it to display on my tv so now he can just sit in the chair, look at the tv and tell me what he wants to click on or look at.
Click to expand...


That was nice of you, did you hook your PC up in a similar manor to the way I want to do it?
 
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