Laptop to TV

L'prof

Hi, I have a Medion MD96290 laptop and I want to connect it to my Philips LCD TV...I bought an S-video cable, which connects through the scart...I get picture but, it's black & white!!! I know it's probably something got to do with my settings but, I can't figure it out!

Thanks in advance,
Jay

walshki

I'm not the most technical minded person on boards but this problem rings a bell with me. When I connect something via my second scart connection on my Philips TV (CRT) I see it on the SVHS channel in black and white but on the scart 2 channel as colour. So my first suggestion is make sure you're viewing the right channel on the TV (press the AV button a few times) remembering that you're looking for the scart channel not the SVHS one.

Alternatively I'd have to say I'm surprised you don't have a PC input (or SVHS to a lesser degree) on the TV itself which would obviously be more straightforward.

Anyway, assuming you are viewing the correct channel on the TV then I can only think of it being a problem on the graphics properties. Check that your tv out is enabled and detecting your tv correctly in the advanced settings on your display properties (right click on your desktop, click on properties, settings tab then advanced in winxp). It sounds like it should be detecting it correctly if its displaying any picture but see if anything stands out.

I'm not sure otherwise, maybe someone with a bit more tekkie knowledge can suggest more advanced solutions.

Maybe you've tried all this buy for what its worth...

L'prof

I'm pretty sure I have it on the right channel as I plugged it into EXT1 and turned on EXT1! I could have a PC input connection on the TV but would that mean buying another cable and how much would it cost? I've tried messing around with the graphics settings but, I can't seem to find anything that might help!

Tom Dunne

jasonorr wrote:

Hi, I have a Medion MD96290 laptop and I want to connect it to my Philips LCD TV...I bought an S-video cable, which connects through the scart...I get picture but, it's black & white!!! I know it's probably something got to do with my settings but, I can't figure it out!

It's the cable. I went through 4 of them before I found one that actually works. In the end, I had to get one from s-video.com, none of the cables I bought in shops gave me a colour signal.

walshki

You should just need a VGA male to Female cable assuming your LCD tv has a VGA input. Hook them up and it should be straightforward. I looked at your laptop spec
Link and that should be it I think

L'prof

walshki wrote:

You should just need a VGA male to Female cable assuming your LCD tv has a VGA input. Hook them up and it should be straightforward. I looked at your laptop spec
Link and that should be it I think

Just checked there, I don't seem to have VGA on the TV, I have: Scart, HDMI, RGB and S-Video though, what would you recommend?

walshki

Well I think Tom's answered it for you there. Just get yourself a decent Svideo cable. You don't need to bother with a scart adaptor if you have a svideo input on the TV - just straight svideo to svideo.

Is your current cable svideo to scart or svideo to svideo with a scart adaptor added on? If you're using an adaptor take it off and plug it straight into the svideo input on the tv. If that doesn't work change the cable.

tallaghtoutlaws

I had the same problem with S-video but was lucky my HD Samsung has the VGA slot as one the posters here said Male to female does it but if your TV doesnt have the VGA slot you can but better S-video cables. Standard S-v cables tend not to give colour as they cannot carry the resolution from your PC or laptop here is a link to ebay with the other options of S-video cable. Also dont forget to make sure your laptop uses the same resolution as your tv.

http://search.ebay.com/vga-rca-converter_W0QQfkrZ1QQfnuZ1

Offalycool

U have to connect two pins on the scart plug that slots into the TV.. Google it to find solution. Best thing to use is a thin insulated wire. messy job and the res will be too low to read text but its ok for movies.

Edit: Some guides tell you to solder but I just placed the wire and plugged it in to hold it in place.

L'prof

OK so, say I get an S-Video - S-Video connection, I'll need a connection for the sound as well obviously?

tallaghtoutlaws

The link I provided I think has them on it but check your laptop to see if it has the outgoing sound ports usually a red and yellow holes most laptops dont. I bought stereo speakers for my laptop as my laptops sound card is high spec and provides better sound than my tv anyway.

walshki

Looking at your spec the most strightforward thing is going to be to use a connection like this one Ebay link for the sound connected to the headphone output socket on the laptop and the red and white input rca connections on your tv.

The connections spec on your laptop says something about being able to use the 3 sound outputs depending on the software your using but you'd have to look at the detailed instructions as to what software that works with etc. In theory that looks like it should work for surround sound systems and you'd probably need 3 of the above mentioned cables outputting to a dvd player, receiver or amplifier with 6 rca inputs. However thats not necessary for stereo sound where you can just use the one cable connected directly to the TV.

witnessmenow

I've a medion myself, and i wouldn't be so quick to agree with every one that its the cable... everey s-video cable i tried worked. My laptop came with a small s-video to yellow composite(regular) cable . Its possible that your laptop is outputing the american tv format (mine displays black and white if it is). Are you using ATI CATALYST control center or windows to configure it? Connect up your tv and make sure its set to output "PAL". Hopefully its just that simple!

As mentioned above the cable you'll want for sound this cable

Its $1.60 including delivery here at dealextreme
but your prob better off just buying them in any electronic store.. fiver at most.

The black bit goes into the headphone slot of the laptop, red and white go into the tv, or AUX port of a HI-FI

hope this helps!

L'prof

"ATI CATALYST control center"

What's this, should I be using it? I was just using windows to set it up which had several different Pal outputs for the TV but, alas they were all black and white!

jd83

I had the same problem op with a sony laptop, i went to peats and told the guy there and picked out a s video lead and a lead for the sound and they worked perfectly for me, so if you dont want order online go there or malpins if you live in dublin.

L'prof

I live in Galway but, there's a Maplin's here! So you'd recommend an S-Video to S-Video lead? I have a lead for the sound!

jd83

well i had the one that plugs into the scart on the tv and the s video on the laptop and all i got was black and white. As soon as i both the svideo to svideo it worked perfectly in colour. So hopefully its the same for you.

witnessmenow

sorry maybe your laptop doesn't have it, i was just presuming it was the same/similar to mine! Does your laptop have a ATI graphics card? Maybe it might help to download the catalyst control centre....but i highly doubt it! The windows thing should be fine. Try playing around with the frequency might help!? Regular tv take 50hz(i think) so try make it low.

L'prof

Thanks for all your help, I got it working with the s-video to s-video cable...still don't know why the other one wouldn't work!!!