HDMI or VGA?

B2k

Apologies if this is in the wrong place, but I want to connect my Dell 9400 Inspiron laptop to my TV. (Its HD ready) Both my laptop and TV have VGA and HDMI slots and I am wondering which is the best one to use and do I need any other cables to conenct the two? I'm a bit of a noob at this kinda thing so excuse the simple questions!

Rew

If you have HDMI use it

Rew

You most likly wont get sound of HDMI from the laptop but its possible so you may need something to get the sound over as well.

Rocket!

Rew wrote: »

You most likly wont get sound of HDMI from the laptop but its possible so you may need something to get the sound over as well.

Another cable or an adapter? Anyone know?

Rsaeire

Rocket! wrote: »

Another cable or an adapter? Anyone know?

You'll need a specific Dell part; TJ965/RJ089. It’s an audio adaptor that fits in the S-Video out on the back of the laptop offering an S/PDIF, composite and S-Video out. I bought such an adaptor on eBay from a company called NewGearDeals, but I cannot find it anywhere on eBay now from any seller.

Here is an image of a similar adaptor. Although the image represents how the TJ965/RJ089 adaptor looks, the model number in the image will allow you to gain audio out on your Dell Inspiron 9400.

B2k

Any cheaper way to do it...?? With a regular audio splitter maybe..??

Rsaeire

B2k wrote: »

Any cheaper way to do it...?? With a regular audio splitter maybe..??

Not that I'm aware of. Proprietary connections can be irksome at best, so I understand your situation. Unfortunately there is nothing else I can see that will assist you in obtaining audio out from your laptop.

big_moe

i cant remember what model the laptop was but it was a dell anyway, and it had hdmi out and it gave audio out over the hdmi as well. if yours doesnt do that, check and see what audio inputs your TV has. the video (at least) will go out over hdmi. then just use regular audio cable from the headphone socket on your laptop to whatever connection your tv has. on mine it has 2 phono (rca) but i've seen some tvs that have minijack inputs

adam

Rsaeire

big_moe wrote: »

i cant remember what model the laptop was but it was a dell anyway, and it had hdmi out and it gave audio out over the hdmi as well. if yours doesnt do that, check and see what audio inputs your TV has. the video (at least) will go out over hdmi. then just use regular audio cable from the headphone socket on your laptop to whatever connection your tv has. on mine it has 2 phono (rca) but i've seen some tvs that have minijack inputs

adam

I completely forgot about the headphone socket, my mistake.

big_more, as adam mentioned, you could use the headphone socket as an audio out. What's the make and model of your TV?

Rew

I spooted that we have one of these laptops here in the office and it has DVI out not HDMI. If thats the case cand your using a DVI to HDMI cable/adpter then you def wont get audio on the HDMI.