Assuming you have a older TV then you probably will have at least a SCART connector or even an S-VIDEO or possibly 3 x Phono connectors too. Any one of these three methods will suffice to connect to a PC assuming the PC has either Svideo or Phono (RCA) on its graphics card . If you only have the usual ariel UHF connector then you will not be able to use the TV with your pc

This Image shows 2 x SCART connectors and 3 x phonos (Yellow,Red/White) in this case a yellow RCA cable is connected.

Image shows 3 x Phonos (marked) and an unmarked S-VIDEO bottom left hand side

Between these two images you can see the three possible types of connection but be aware although these are shown on the rear of the TV they can be 'hiding'  in a front or side recess or flap on the TV

Hopefully you've now established which connector(s) you have available on the TV , now lets look at your graphics card on the PC. This is little more complicated. You are looking for either an SVideo type or a Phono (RCA) connection  . You should find a VGA connector which is not suitable or even DVI or HDMI which again are not suitable. The image below shows the SVideo type connector with 7 pins instead of the usual 4 (click here for more info on 7pin connectors).

Graphics card with (from left to right) VGA / SVideo / DVI

Its possible to have a Phono Connector (RCA) same as that in the first image instead of the SVideo connector. Its also possible that you have the S-Video connector and then an adapter which converts the SVideo to RCA instead. Either can be used so it does'nt really matter which you have as long you've got one of them!

So now you should know which connectors you have on both graphics card and the TV so use this next table to buy the correct cable

So far we have only dealt with video transmission from the PC, if you want sound as well then you we need a second cable which will connect from your PC to the TV. If you already have speakers connected to the PC and you want to continue using these as well as sending sound to the TV then you need to buy a double adapter too.

The bad news

If you only have the usual ariel UHF connector on the TV then you will not be able to use the TV with your PC/Notebook.

If your Graphics card or laptop does'nt have a TV out connector then you wont be connecting it to a TV . If a PC then you could possibly change the graphics card for one that does have TV out on it (you can't do this on a laptop)

All a bit complicated??? Confused????, email kevind@computerbase.co.uk
and we will attempt to answer your question.

Note from kevind : I receive many emails requesting how to connect to a TV, the most common problem is that the user does not have a TV out connection on the PC, you must identify whether or not you have an S-Video or RCA connection on the back of your computer. Usually this will be located somewhere near where your monitor cable connects to the back of the PC, although it is possible to have a DVD decoder card which will exist in one of the rear expansion slots on the PC. If there is no S-Video or RCA then you will need to change the video card (for one that does have TV-out)

Have you already connected your PC to TV and get a black & white picture?

There is a solution to this problem!

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