# Television



## Carlingph (Sep 14, 2012)

Hi,
Does any one know if it is possible to connect your lap top to a TV and run the unmentionable device V** and watch I player etc on the tv screen.


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## fcjb1970 (Apr 30, 2010)

Yes but...

It depends on the type of connections your computer has as to how you would do it. Most newer computers (video cards) have an HDMI output. Any High Def TV will have a HDMI in. If this is the case with yours than you simply need a HDMI cord to connect the two.

There is one small (maybe not so small) issue. When you connect from a computer video is video and nothing else. That means no sound. It is not like a TV decoder which has both video and audio going through the HDMI cable. So you need to also connect the audio. Again, depends on your system. A newer desktop audio card might have an optical output and your High Def TV will almost certainly have an Optical input. Going from a laptop won't be as easy because laptops usually do not have much in terms of audio output other than a headphone jack

Hope that helps


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## saraswat (Apr 28, 2012)

Carlingph said:


> Hi,
> Does any one know if it is possible to connect your lap top to a TV and run the unmentionable device V** and watch I player etc on the tv screen.


My laptop (about a year and half old) connects to my TV via an HDMI cable. Both video and sounds output to the TV, maybe in older laptop's it doesn't output sound, I haven't encountered that problem. 
Oh and yeah, I use the _'software that shall not be named'_ on the laptop and watch stuff on the TV all the time.. just make sure you have an HDMI out on your laptop..


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## Confiture (Jan 9, 2011)

I connect my older laptop to the tv using a VGA cable (same as a projector) then use the 3.5mm audio jack for sound.

















This is in the absence of an HDMI of course.


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## vantage (May 10, 2012)

i connect MacBook Pro with an HDMI cable and a Thunderbolt-to-HDMI converter thingy.
Piece of p*ss.

The higher end MacBooks have an HDMI port already.


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## Mr Rossi (May 16, 2009)




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## nikkisizer (Aug 20, 2011)

Hi Carlingph,

I'm not really any good at this cable stuff but I use an S-Video cable and it works fine!


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## m1key (Jun 29, 2011)

Mr Rossi said:


> Wired For Sound - Cliff Richard - YouTube


Evil man. Just evil...


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## Ogri750 (Feb 14, 2008)

The only unmentionable word beginning with V is Volde..... - sorry "You Know Who"

You can say VPN, just don't discuss how to bypass the restrictions placed by the UAE


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## w_man (Apr 16, 2010)

There are wireless options as well eg: I have a AppleTV and I can mirror what's on my macbook pro to the ATV (video and sound) or I use an app called AirParrot to stream what's on my PC laptop to the ATV (video and sound).

If you don't have ATV or don't want to purchase one, you can use other media center devices eg: PS3 or XBox. I just don't like wires so prefer this route. OR, you could always buy a cheap little netbook and leave it by the TV all the time.


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## m1key (Jun 29, 2011)

w_man said:


> There are wireless options as well eg: I have a AppleTV and I can mirror what's on my macbook pro to the ATV (video and sound) or I use an app called AirParrot to stream what's on my PC laptop to the ATV (video and sound).
> 
> If you don't have ATV or don't want to purchase one, you can use other media center devices eg: PS3 or XBox. I just don't like wires so prefer this route. OR, you could always *buy a cheap little netbook and leave it by the TV all the time.*


If choosing this route then you'd be better looking at a nettop. Smaller, similar price and you can get them with dedicated graphics if you prefer. Some are available with remote controls. The nettop I have is the size of a book with the separate DVD RW attached.


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## woot79 (Apr 30, 2012)

Ogri750 said:


> The only unmentionable word beginning with V is Volde..... - sorry "You Know Who"
> 
> You can say VPN, just don't discuss how to bypass the restrictions placed by the UAE


Can you PM me? I'm not sure what a VPN is and I want to connect my laptop to my tv when I get there.


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## saraswat (Apr 28, 2012)

woot79 said:


> Can you PM me? I'm not sure what a VPN is and I want to connect my laptop to my tv when I get there.


Check your PM..


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## suzimack (Nov 29, 2011)

w_man said:


> There are wireless options as well eg: I have a AppleTV and I can mirror what's on my macbook pro to the ATV (video and sound) or I use an app called AirParrot to stream what's on my PC laptop to the ATV (video and sound).
> 
> If you don't have ATV or don't want to purchase one, you can use other media center devices eg: PS3 or XBox. I just don't like wires so prefer this route. OR, you could always buy a cheap little netbook and leave it by the TV all the time.


Do you find the Apple TV easy to set up and use? I'm considering buying one, instead if the HDMI plus adaptor route, since it will prove sound too.

Did you get it hear? Can you recommend a good store?


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## abo_shreek11 (Sep 26, 2012)

If your laptop is one year and half old, then you either has a HDMI port, or VGA port on it. If your TV is 5 years old, then you probably have both of these ports. One worth to mention is that electricity is 220 Volt in UAE.


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## saraswat (Apr 28, 2012)

suzimack said:


> Do you find the Apple TV easy to set up and use? I'm considering buying one, instead if the HDMI plus adaptor route, since it will prove sound too.
> 
> Did you get it hear? Can you recommend a good store?


Not to hate on apple products etc.. as is the norm nowadays. But just want to clarify a point. Maybe something that is being missed by some people not getting sound via the HDMI cable connection is the fact that, once you connect the laptop to the TV via the cable, you have to set the audio settings in your computer to output audio via the HDMI port and not the laptop speakers. 
This can be done as follows:
1. Connect the laptop to the TV via the HDMI cable. 
2. Video should be showing up on the TV, but there is not audio.
3. Go to your laptop, right click on the sound/speaker icon on the bottom right. 
4. Once there look for playback devices, click that option, after that you should see an option for HDMI audio output or something. Click that and set it as default. That should enable output of audio to the TV. 
By definition, an HDMI connection outputs both video and audio between connected devices (one cable for both). Just have to tell the computer to use the HDMI for both. You could always try this before splurging on an Apple TV, the cable costs 20-30 odd at carrefour...


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## suzimack (Nov 29, 2011)

Problem I had was the Mini DisplayPort adaptor to connect to my laptop didn't work, so my MacBook couldn't even see the tv. I'm going to take the adaptor back, but I had thought (wrongly) that it was an apple adaptor (as all the items on display were apple branded) Is there an actual Apple registered dealer in Dubai Mall? (I'm still inclined to go for the cable free option, just cos its neater!!!)


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## saraswat (Apr 28, 2012)

the only authorized apple dealer i know of is their online store:
Official Apple Store - Buy the new iPhone 5, iPod touch, iPod nano, iPad, MacBook Pro, and More. - Apple Store (United Arab Emirates)

hopefully you should be able to find something there


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## w_man (Apr 16, 2010)

suzimack said:


> Do you find the Apple TV easy to set up and use? I'm considering buying one, instead if the HDMI plus adaptor route, since it will prove sound too.
> 
> Did you get it hear? Can you recommend a good store?


AppleTV is fairly easy to setup in general and if you have a Macbook then it's even easier to do the streaming from your laptop. I am not a big ATV fan, I only bought this one to jailbreak it and it was awesome before MegaUploads got shutdown. After that it was just a paper weight for me. 

I used to use my SlingCatcher to stream off of my Windows laptop but sadly my SlingCatcher broke down  So the alternate is to use ATV and AirParrot from my Windows laptop or Mirror/AirPlay option from the Macbook.

Otherwise, I hardly rent movies from the ATV - mind you, the content is better as I am using my Canadian CC for my Apple account. We do stream pictures onto the ATV sometimes when family is over but that's the extent of it.

We picked up ours from Canada but I have seen some Groupon/Cobone adds to buy it locally?! I just checked the UAE Apple Store and didn't find them selling ATV - odd. Look around the local stores and you might find it here.

GL.


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## suzimack (Nov 29, 2011)

I really want it so we can watch tv streamed off the laptop that we need to watch via VPN (so the Airplay mirror would work ok for us I guess!!) I also just check the apple online store, and find it strange that they don't sell Apple TV!!!


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## w_man (Apr 16, 2010)

Well it's on Cobone:
Cobone: Home deals in The Big Electronics Expo Apple TV

Not sure if you're comfortable buying one from Cobone but it's available.


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