I’ve connected my laptop to my TV with an HDMI cable but it’s not working? If you’ve got cash to splash, there are better ways to show off. Don’t go for the bargain basement options if they look like they’ll break easily – that’s a false economy – but also don’t pay through the nose. Generally speaking, one HDMI cable is as good as the other. Shielding protects the copper wiring inside from interference generated by other electrical appliances in the room. Look for cables that are double-screened or double-shielded. An HDMI cable with a thick jacket will help stop any kinks and breaks in the cable which can negatively impact on picture quality. If you’re really concerned about quality, then look out for the thickness of the cable. Online debates about gold connections are worth the paper they’re printed on, and one HDMI cable is generally as good as the next – though dealers and some cinephiles will argue. Prices will go up if you want to splash out for premium HDMI cables (like this £30 three metre Nikkai HDMI lead from Maplin) but most that you’ll find on the shelves will suffice for what you want here. Prices of HDMI cables can work out at roughly a pound per metre. For those with some serious leg room, there are 10 and 20 metre HDMI cables doing the rounds too. You can pick up a one metre HDMI cable from Poundland or should you need a bit more reach you can get three and five metre-long cables.
The good news is that HDMI cables are cheap as chips these days. Some smart TVs are even clever enough to intelligently rename ports with things like ‘Sky HD’ or ‘PlayStation 4’, so you won’t have to keep a mental tally of everything. Make a note of which one you’re going to use to connect to your laptop as you’ll need to select HDMI 1, HDMI 2, etc, on your TV remote. Your TV set will probably have more than one HDMI connection and often now have at least three. They look like the one above and fit these cables: How can I connect my laptop to my TV?
If you’ve got an HD TV, it will have an HDMI port. Some devices don’t – like Apple’s MacBook Air – but you can buy separate HDMI adapters. HDMI ports can be found on a large number of laptops like the Asus Zenbook UX51v and Samsung’s Ativ Book 9. Sometimes they’re marked ‘HDMI’, making it even easier. They’re pretty easy to spot in amongst other connections. HDMI ports feature 19 pin holes and are trapezoid-shaped. HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is a way of sending high definition video and audio to a monitor or TV screen Products with HDMI ports are common in today’s market, with practically every HD-ready piece of kit coming with one. This is by far the easiest way to connect your laptop to your TV.
Either way, it depends on you having the same connections or software at both ends. There’s a few quick and easy ways to hook your laptop up to your TV for some big screen action, some of them requiring cables, some of them relying on wireless technology. Here’s our rundown of some of the more popular ways to do this. How can I connect my laptop and tablet to my TV?ĭepending on your make of laptop, tablet or phone there’s a number of ways you can get what you’re watching on your laptop or tablet on to your TV. Watching shows via Netflix, Amazon Prime Instant Video and the gang on your laptop, tablet or phone is fine if you’re tucked up in bed, but what if you want to watch it on your TV?Įven if your TV is of the smart-variety and has catch-up apps there may be times when you’ll want to hook your laptop up to the big screen, to do some work, test run a presentation or maybe access newer catch up services (like Now TV) that perhaps aren’t available on your smart TV. Whether it’s entire seasons of Breaking Bad or the latest YouTube viral, there’s enough eye caviar to go with the eye candy out there. Thanks to the internet we’re never stuck for things to watch.