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How to connect your computer to your HDTV or Standard Def Television and your stereo/home theater

(use your TV as a monitor, for movies, games or presentations)

Connect your Computer (PC/Mac) to your HDTV

VGA to HDTV Component Video Connections: There are two types of VGA to Component Video converters to choose from.
Transcoders just re-encode from RGB to Y-Pr-Pb. What this means is, the resolution that goes in, comes back out, just "re-encoded" to Component Video. So you get: 480p -> 480p, 720p -> 720p, 1080i -> 1080i, etc.
The biggest problem usually is HDTV's are not happy with most computer monitor signals.. Make sure your Video Card can output a good HDTV signal (720p [1280x720@60Hz], 1080i [1920x1080@29.9/30Hz] , or maybe 1080p [1920x1080@60Hz]) otherwise you are going to have to use a program like "Powerstrip" for PC's or DisplayConfigX for Macs. If not sure, please ask.

Converters/Scalers accept various resolutions in and can output selectable video output formats.
So you can have inputs and outputs like these: 800x600->1080i, 1280x1024->720p, etc. Check specs for exactly what you need, or please ask.
Products and more Info: VGA to Component Video Converters, Transcoders and Scalers
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Converters

DVI and HDMI Digital Video Connections:

When going from DVI or HDMI from a computer to an HDTV it is again necessary to make sure that you give the HDTV a signal it likes. You need to know how to set your video output to specific resolutions and refresh rates in order to do this correctly. Sending some weird PC/Mac resolution like 1680x1050@60Hz will usually result in no picture. If you can output a standard HDTV signal, (720p [1280x720@60Hz], 1080i [1920x1080@29.9/30Hz] , or maybe 1080p [1920x1080@60Hz]) then the connection should work. If you have trouble, let us know.
If you have a video output like the Intel Graphics accelerator then you probably don't have a suitable output, which will mean you need a Video Scaler/Processor. _____________________________________________
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Connect your Computer (PC/Mac) to your Standard Def TV

There are two different signals to be considered when connecting your computer to your TV. There is the video signal and the audio signal. The video signal is a bit tricky if you don't have a video card with a video output. To get video output you will need to use a VGA to video converter box.
Like this:

VGA to Video Converter: Click here for more Info
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More PC-TV video and Audio connection solutions
Your best bet for video quality is to use either the "Component" Video output or the "S-Video" rather than the "composite" video cable, since these types offer increased video fidelity.
See here for Component video cables.
See here for S-video cables.

Want to go Wireless? We have a Wireless version for $149.00
Wireless PC to TV converter, GWB-4000

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Don't Forget Audio!

Connecting the Stereo Audio Signal

The audio signal will be taken from your audio "line out" connector on the back of your computer, or if there is none, then the speaker output will usually work just as well. Most of these audio outputs use a connector called a "3.5mm stereo mini phone plug" which is "standard" although some more proffesionally oriented sound cards have "RCA" jacks. If you don't know what yours has, it is almost definately a mini phone plug. So, to connect the computers output to the TV, stereo system or surround sound reciever input, you use a 3.5mm mini phone plug to Rca jack adapter, together with a RCA jack stereo cable which goes to the audio input of your VCR.
Here are the parts you need:
3.5mm stereo mini phone plug to dual RCA jack stereo cable
mini plug to stereo rca cable

Mini plug to dual RCA Cable: Click here for more Info
mini 3.5mm stereo plug to dual RCA plug cable, 3 to 25 feet long
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or, if you are a real stickler for audio quality, or want even longer length cables,
we make custom cables with fantastic sound quality: