Leads Required for Plasma hook up

[Borolad]

Hi,

I have an x80r pro laptop and would like to connect it to my 42 inch plasma for viewing photos, watching videos etc, what I need to know is which cables I require. I am pretty sure I need a DVI to VGA cable and as I dont have an HDMI cable the sound would have to come through the S/PDIF connector, trouble is I dont have a clue which this connector is, I just know you have to enable digital out in the realtech audio menu.

Any help would be great,

Borolad.

[Andrew Moore]

Right matey, To make things nice and easy I would opt for a cable that goes from laptop to tv. Eg if you have VGA on your laptop, buy a VGA cable and then use a dvi adaptor on the TV. (easiet way compared to finding specialist cables.)

As for sound, use a 3.5mm headphone jack to composite conectors (red and white)

It would help If I knew the exact model of TV, would make it easier to find what you need that way.

Andy

[Borolad]

Hi again,

Sorry mate as I wasnt very clear on the first post, the TV is a Panasonic, it has a female VGA socket, component and HDMI etc, I am quite happy with the VGA/DVI connections its just the sound, rather than go direct to the TV I was going to go to my cinema amp. The amp has a spare optical connecter and all the usual red/white audio connections its just I have never used S/PDIF before and dont know which connector on the laptop to use never mind which lead to buy, if I had to guess it is the black 3.5 mm jack on the front of the case???

Borolad.

[Andrew Moore]

Cheers for that, From the info you have given me regarding amp etc I would just connect the tv up via the vga as you were going to. Id then buy one of these http://cablesnetc.com/acatalog/2rca-ste.jpg

Connect this then to your Green socket (head phones) and then into the back of the amp. Essentially what you have done here is identicle to what I have, My pc is running through my amp and mission speakers in an identicle way and it works a treat!

Andy

PS there is one problem with this. It is true surround sound as all you have is left and right. This is the same as running a red white and yellow rca through a scart block with a dvd player and gettin surround sound (in theory but not essentially in practice). The sound on mine in surround is fantastic even though its dubbed as "virtual".

[Borolad]

Andy,

Cheers for the info mate, sounds like that is the easiest option, just wondered about the S/PDIF being better sound quality. One last thing, do you know if the DVI to VGA connection will limit the max resolution I will be able to send to the TV.

Borolad

[Beefnoodlez]

Why dont you use a dvi/hdmi adaptor and a standard hdmi cable? This will give you the best resolution and video quality available on your plasma, as the res on vga is usually limited to far lower than full hd..

[Helior]

Why dont you use a dvi/hdmi adaptor and a standard hdmi cable? This will give you the best resolution and video quality available on your plasma, as the res on vga is usually limited to far lower than full hd..

VGA is more than capable of carrying full HD, however some TV's do not accept full HD from VGA so you need to check your model.

Where do mobile graphics stand on audio over HDMI, i'm guessing the don't have the same external connector as desktop cards, is it just totally unsupported?