PC to TV Connections: A Guide

[Hi Ho]

I have been working on this guide for a few days. There aren’t any stickies in this forum. Not that I want a million of them but I think there are enough questions regularly on this subject to warrant a guide. Any and all feedback on this guide is welcome. Please point out any mis-information and/or errors.
________________________________________________________________________

Types of Connections

Video Connections

There are several types of video connections that you can use depending on the inputs on your TV and the outputs on your PC. The following connections carry only video. CLICK HERE for pictures of all the video connections covered in this guide.

1. Composite Video – The most basic type. Video quality is decent but not the best. All video signals, color and brightness are mixed together. Most TV’s have this type of connection. If your’s does not it is most likely quite old and unless your PC has an RF output you would need an RF Modulator.

2. S-Video – The next step up. Video quality is quite good. Color and brightness is sent in two separate signals. This connection is found on many TVs but is less common than composite inputs. Quite a few PC video cards have only S-Video TV outputs. If your TV does not have an S-Video input and your PC has only and S-Video output you will need a converter like THIS.

3. VGA – This is comparable to S-Video and is much less common on TVs. It is mostly found on big screen TV’s. All PC’s have this connection. It is used to connect a CRT monitor.

4. Component – This is yet another step up. The video signal is split up even further and sent over three separate cables. This type of connection is capable of carrying high definition video signals and is most commonly found on HDTVs. Many DVD players also have this connection. It is not really common on PC’s but some video cards, including some ATI AIW and stand-alone tuners, have component video connections.

5. DVI - This is comparable to a component connection except it is digital which ups the quality slightly. It is found only on HDTVs, mostly big screen, it isn’t as common as component connections.



SCART – This is a connection that I am not familiar with. I set it apart because unlike the others in this category it also carries audio signals. It is much more common in Europe than it is in the U.S. SCART is a standardized connection much like RF. It is used to connect audio/video equipment using a single cable. I am not sure how common it is on PC’s because I have never even seen it in person.

Audio Connections

You will probably want sound along with your video. Here is a breakdown of the different audio connections you may encounter. CLICK HERE for pictures of all the audio connections covered in this guide.

1. RCA Connection – This is the most common audio input on TVs and many receivers. Signals are sent over two cables (stereo). Signals are analog and quality depends on the quality of the cable and the equipment.

2. Mini-Plug – This is the most common output on PC sound cards. It is basically the same format as RCA except it is combined into one connector and cable. If any TV or receiver has this input it would be a rare exception. You will most likely need a cable like THIS which splits the mini-plug into two RCA plugs.

3. Coax Digital – This connection sends signals over a single 75OHM coaxial cable with RCA connectors. It is hard to beat a digital connection. It is the best way to go if you have a sound card with a digital output and a receiver with a coax input. One possible problem is that it can only go about 15 feet before it needs a repeater. In that case it would be cheaper to look at a different type of connection. Repeaters aren’t cheap.

4. Optical (TosLink) – This connection sends signals over fiber-optic cable using light pulses. It’s certainly the “hippest” way to connect and audio quality is top notch. Audio quality is virtually identical between optical and coax connections. Optical signals can be sent over very long distances and while the cables aren’t at bargain bin prices it is usually cheaper for long distances than coax and repeaters. A possible drawback is that if you bend an optical cable too sharply it will never work again. If you’re careful though you won’t have to worry much.

Down to Business

Now that we have covered all (or at least most) of the connections you may encounter it’s time to clarify things and narrow it down to your specific needs.

Simple Connection to TV

The first thing to do is determine the common connections between your PC and TV. It should be rather straight-forward from there. When connecting to a TV only I can almost guarantee that you will need a Y-Cable. If your TV does not have any of the more advanced connections it’s either time for a new TV or, as mentioned above, you will need an RF Modulator. You can connect to a VCR in the same way. Either by RCA or through an RF modulator.

Connecting With a Reciever
Throwing a receiver into the mix really doesn’t make it any harder. It can offer more options and better sound quality. A digital connection is obviously the best way to go if both your receiver and sound card support it. Whether you go coax or optical depends on what your equipment has available. There is no difference in audio quality between the two. Many sound cards that have a digital output, also known as S/PDIF (Sony/Phillips Digital Interface), use a mini-plug output. In that case you will need an adapter such as THIS and a regular 75 OHM coax cable.

Other Options - Wireless
Is your TV far away from your PC? Don’t want to bother running long cables through the house? Wireless is probably the best option. All you need is something like THIS. It isn’t the cheapest way to go but it is the simplest if you want to connect things in different rooms or over long distances (wireless range permitting).

Software/TV Settings

Now that you have your TV connected you are probably wondering how on earth you’re supposed to get your TV to display anything. The first thing to do is make sure you have selected the correct video input on your TV. It is usually a button on the remote labeled “Input”, “Video Mode” or something similar. If you cannot figure it out consult your TV’s user manual. (If you don’t have your TV’s users manual you may find it at the manufactuers website).

Setting the software can be a little more difficult to figure out. Even then, it’s not hard. The exact procedure depends on the video card you have. I will cover the two major players in the video card industry. ATI and Nvidia. Before attempting to follow these directions make sure you have the newest drivers installed for your video card. Below are links to directions on the Nvidia and ATI websites.

Nvidia

ATI

Tips
Instead of buying expensive "digital" coax cables you can simply use standard RG-6 cable along with adapters like THIS. You will get the same results for a much lower price. You can use that setup for anything that uses RCA connectors.

[RJ]

SCART – This is a connection that I am not familiar with. I set it apart because unlike the others in this category it also carries audio signals. It is much more common in Europe than it is in the U.S. SCART is a standardized connection much like RF. It is used to connect audio/video equipment using a single cable. I am not sure how common it is on PC’s because I have never even seen it in person.

PC's do not have SCART. The SCART connection is a combination of all the others. It has 21 pins, which contains the composite, S-Video, RGB, and Stereo Sound (both input and output) combined.

Every (with very few exceptions) TV, VCR, DVD Recorder, any kind of set top box (like satellite tuner, DVB (digital tv) tuner), has at least one SCART connection. So you connect a VCR to the TV via SCART. I'm not sure, but I think the best connection will be used automatically. Most VCRs, for example, only use the composite in and out pins of SCART, and the other video pins are not connected. But if you connect a VCR capable of S-VHS to it, the S-Video part will be used (if the TV is capable of).

For connection to the PC, you need an adapter. The adapter I have, has SCART on one side, and Stereo Audio (RCA), S-Video, and composite (RCA) on the other side. It also has a switch on it to select between input and output, as there are different pins for each.

http://www.vandenhul.com/other/scart_s-vhsL.jpg
http://www.panda.nl/images/SCART56.jpg
http://www.tv-out.de/jpg/Scart-FBAS-SVHS-Adapter.jpg

So, once you plugged that adapter in, you now have 2 RCA jacks for Stereo Sound, an S-Video jack, and an RCA composite jack, and can continue as you described above

RJ

[Hi Ho]

Thank you for describing that mystery connector. I was shooting in the dark after looking it up quickly on Google. Now why don't they have something like that over here in the U.S.? It would make it much less complicated. If anyone else has something they would like to add, go for it.

[ric449]

You guys don't have SCART? Its used for pretty much everything over here.

[roomwithamoose]

You can't forget about HDMI. HDMI is such a new connection that I haven't even heard of it being put to use with a PC, but I doubt it'll be long till we see one, especially with the advent of HD graphics cards. HDMI looks like a super USB connector. HDMI supports both uncompressed digital video and uncompressed digital audio in one cable, making it very convineint. We'll be seeing these very soon, since all the newer HDTV sets have them as inputs.

HDMI replace the DVI on televisions for a number of reasons. The main reason is the HDCP technology built natively into the connection, which prevents copying. The Moving Picture Associaition is fully supporting this, since they can decide whether you make one copy, multiple copies, or no copies of digital media. HDMI is also replacing FireWire in all HDTV sets.

One of the main features that sets HDMI apart is it's large bandwith: 5 gigbits per second. That's almost twice as large as DVI, the closest in bandwith. This makes HDMI very expandable, and increases the ease of multicasting in the future.

Since the entertainment industry is so closely intertwined with the computer industry, it's only a matter of time till we see HDMI going from your video card to your monitor, then to your surround sound reciever.

[Hi Ho]

Thanks for that addition. I read an article in Popular Mechanics right after posting this guide. I had never heard of it before and was about to add it myself but you beat me to it.

[roomwithamoose]

Originally Posted by Hi Ho Thanks for that addition. I read an article in Popular Mechanics right after posting this guide. I had never heard of it before and was about to add it myself but you beat me to it.

Lol! Yeah, it's kinda like our own SCART for the States. I can't wait to see the stuff they can make this new connection do.

One thing I did forget to mention about HDMI is that it is a two way communication connection. So components will be able to talk to each other like through an ethernet connection. This will make configuring very easy. When you have eveything plugged in and you power up for the first time, your computer will talk to you TV and DVD player and get native resolutions and refresh rates setup without you ever touching a thing.

[Vigo]

Addition to Audio (and a slight change in number 4):

5. S/PDIF: Coaxial (RCA/Composite) - S/PDIF stands for Sony/Philips Digital Interface. This interface which is commonly refered to as "S/PDIF" is the same format used by TOSLINK or, EIAJ connectors. TOSLINK (EIAJ) cables use the same format, but have different connectors. Where as TOSLINK uses fiber optics (light transmitted by and LED or light emitting diode), the RCA S/PDIF cable/interface uses a typical rca jack which looks just like your traditional video/stereo/mono composite rca jacks. But because S/PDIF is "digital" don't confuse it with the standard audio rca jacks as although the cable fits, the format doesn't. I myself tried it to no avail which makes me wonder why they bother with the rca/composite version of S/PDIF. Well... the reason thats argued is a lot of audio buffs believe the optical doesn't retain the data (quality) through transmission as well as the rca digital interface... but both interfaces theoretically transmit data with 0 performance degredation.

Number 4 should probably reflect that TOSLINK is S/PDIF format but with an optical connection, as opposed to the other variant (rca/composite). You might want to also include that there's also a mini-toslink connection now which is smaller and thus not compatible with "regular" toslink interfaces (and vise versa).

I just researched the s/pdif/toslink/everything else that was closely similar, "crap" recently because I too was bewildered beyond belief at all this nonsense.

This guide is a good baby step... but audio and video have become so chaotic, that full understanding is a big leap into the deep end. I'd wish anyone good luck if I wasn't already busy drowning.

[Vigo]

And for all you who have "SCART" connections. Keep them! My heads already spinning with what we have.

[ric449]

RJ, I have a question. I want to connect my computer to my TV, and my TV only has SCART as a way of connecting anything to it. If I buy this kit:

http://www.tvcables.co.uk/cgi-bin/tvcables/PCTOTV2.html

Would I just connect one cable to S-VIDEO on the computer, one to the PC's sound output, then plug the split audio and S-VIDEO to the scart adapter then just plug the SCART into the TV and all should be well? Is there any quality degradation using SCART over the american ways?

[RJ]

Hi,

yes, that is exactly what you need. You won't have a quality degradation over the american ways, because SCART includes the connections. It's just many connections together, so that if you connect a DVD player to the TV, for example, you only have 1 cable to mess with. Makes it easier. But it's still the same composite and s-video signals as if the connectors were directly on the device, like in the states.

So, you set the adapter to "input" and connect it to the TV. You connect the adapter via S-Video to your TV-out, and the Y sound cable plugs into the two stereo jacks of the adapter, and the line-out of your sound card.
The adapter I have looks exactly the same, and it has always worked well for me.

If the S-Video part of the SCART of your TV is not connected, you need to output a composite signal in order to get a colored picture.

RJ

[ric449]

Thanks RJ, very helpful.

[goodstuff]

Is component video better quality than a VGA connection to an HDTV monitor from a computer?

[rustywood]

dont know if this will help but you can get a dvi to hdmi adaptor,so if ya got a vc with dvi and a tv with a hdmi connector --bingo yer in!

[tresnikov]

I have s-vhs out in my computer and scart in my TV, and one s-vhs cable and a scart input/output plug with s-vhs, video, and two audio. My TV only shows Black and White when i try to connect my computer to it, but an other TV shows it with colors. Anyone have a solution?

[inam]

Hey thanks for the post man that was extremely helpful...ive actually been trying to make it work for a while and i definetly know how to do it now!

[RJ]

I have s-vhs out in my computer and scart in my TV, and one s-vhs cable and a scart input/output plug with s-vhs, video, and two audio. My TV only shows Black and White when i try to connect my computer to it, but an other TV shows it with colors. Anyone have a solution?

Sounds that your TV's SCART is not completely wired (in fact, most TVs only have composite and RGB wired in their SCART connections, only some TVs also offer S-Video). Then you can't use S-Video on this TV. The S-Video luminance uses the same wire as the composite, hence you see the picture, but black and white due to the lack of the chrominance (color) signal (which is separate with S-Video, so if it's not wired, you can't use it).

The only solution is to use a composite signal with your TV. . .or a VGA/RGB adapter, then you can feed the TV with RGB signals.

RJ

[Dmitry]

I have s-vhs out in my computer and scart in my TV, and one s-vhs cable and a scart input/output plug with s-vhs, video, and two audio. My TV only shows Black and White when i try to connect my computer to it, but an other TV shows it with colors. Anyone have a solution?

I have a similar kind of problem but a little different. Until today I was playing movies on my PC and watching them on my TV with no problems at all via s-video cable. Yesterday my ATI Radeon 9800 Pro burnt ang I bought NVIDIA DeForce 6600 GT. Since then I only get black and white picture on my TV using the same cable. When I start my PC, the Windows XP logo shows up on my TV screen in nice and bright colours, but as soon as I get the desktop picture on my PC screen, my TV screen turns black and white. I have being playing with the settings all night long and still haven't found any solution. Can anybody help me here?

[computerboff2001]

Originally Posted by Dmitry I have a similar kind of problem but a little different. Until today I was playing movies on my PC and watching them on my TV with no problems at all via s-video cable. Yesterday my ATI Radeon 9800 Pro burnt ang I bought NVIDIA DeForce 6600 GT. Since then I only get black and white picture on my TV using the same cable. When I start my PC, the Windows XP logo shows up on my TV screen in nice and bright colours, but as soon as I get the desktop picture on my PC screen, my TV screen turns black and white. I have being playing with the settings all night long and still haven't found any solution. Can anybody help me here?

I had a similar kind of problem with my Tv-Out connection, i found that changing a setting from NTSC to PAL fixed this, this was because the UK tv system uses PAL, and the US system uses NTSC. so depending on where you are check that setting.
I found this setting in the driver config page, but i also had to change the tv-out option in my bios.

hope this helps!