[RESOLVED] Major headache trying to connect laptop to TV

I have a Compaq Presario CQ50 laptop running Windows Vista. I want to connect it to my TV to watch my downloaded tv shows on the tv. My laptop has a VGA out port, my tv has RCA in and S-video in. So I bought a VGA to S-video adapter and hooked up everything. I went into the display properties on my laptop to make sure that it recognized a second monitor, and it did. But I couldn't get any picture on the tv on any of the video screens. A few times a it briefly showed my laptop screen on the tv, but it was distorted, no color and flickering. That only appeared for a second before going back to the blue video screen.

I researched the internet and found out I may need a VGA converter so I bought one from eBay. It came with the converter, a VGA cable and an S-video cable. The converter connected to the laptop via USB for power. The VGA cable connected the converter to the laptop, then the S-video cable connected the converter to the TV. Right away I saw my laptop screen on the tv, but it was still distorted, no color, and flickering. I have tried every different resolution and setting that is offered in the display setting and by my graphics card, and nothing seems to work.

The previous model of my laptop brand had a simple S-video out connection, so all you needed was one S-video cable and everything was fine, no adjustments or anything. But my laptop now has a VGA out port that is causing me so many headaches.

I've read anything I can find about connecting to a tv and all the instructions are the same, and I have done all the steps, still with no luck. Maybe someone out there has the same connections as I do and knows how to set it up properly, as I am out of ideas. Please help! :confused:

Check you tv manual, mine tells me what I have to set the tv for so I can use it as a monitor.

Usually when you go from vga to svideo or any other type of non vga connection you need to match up the input with the output not only with a converter but a scaler as well. You may be able to get away without using a scaler by more experimenting with the resolution on the laptop which should be sending the signal to what it percieves as a second monitor.

Start at what is usually default 1024 x 768 resolution on the secondary monitor and if that doesn't work start lowest and work up.

You may have to manually make the laptop see the tv as a secondary monitor.. either by right clicking the desktop and then "displays" or some laptops have their own proprietary method of doing this.

EDIT- after re-reading your post I see you already made sure the laptop saw the tv as a secondary monitor. The only other thing I can suggest would be to experiment on whether it makes a difference cloning the display or extending it. Rarely does but it's worth a try.

We do a lot of this sort of thing at work and we use a video scaler between the devices. They aren't cheap though. I've never been able to get vga to svideo working in any easier way. The computers/laptops we use have vga out too but that, on it's own, only works with another monitor or a tv/projector with vga in (and in many cases true component inputs.. which is 5 separate BNC inputs for colors, contrast and vert/horiz.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_scaler

If the device you bought has a scaler built in (some do) then I can't say why it won't work. Maybe try it with another computer if you can just to see what happens. Maybe it's broken?

(Sorry that my thread is posted in two forums, I wanted to delete one of them but I couldn't figure out how.)

Thank you for your suggestions. I didn't have the tv's instruction manual so I looked it up on the internet. Unfortunately there was nothing in it about setting the tv to be a monitor or setting it to RGB.

As well, I did try all the different resolutions possible and there were slight differences on what I could see on the tv, but it was still distorted without color, and flickering.

I decided to email Sanyo, my tv's manufacturer, to see if they had any answers for me. Turns out I should have done that in the beginning and I would have saved myself a headache and some money. This was their response: "This television is not designed for laptop use." I suppose the tv is just too old. I just figured that with some sort of cable configuration that I could make it work.

My boyfriend has been pushing for a new HDTV, so it looks like I may finally give in to getting one, haha. :o He says that the new high def tv's actually have a VGA-in port on them, so I would be able to hook-up my laptop with no problem.

So for now, I guess my problem is solved. Thanks for your suggestions!