Need help with what cables to buy for my TV

[Infi3ld Fly]

Im very illeterate when it comes to technology so i need your help 2+2. i just bought a plasma tv 1080i. here is what i want to be able to do with it so please advise with what cables im going to need to achieve all of this.

--- i want to hook my laptop up to my tv and use it as a monitor mostly just for poker.

--- i want to hook up a dvd player to it. not a blue ray or HD dvd player. just a regular dvd player.

--- I want to hook up a surround sound syestem

--- and obviously i want to hook up an HD box

if any of you can advise on what i neeed and where you find the most reasonable prices. Thanks a lot!!!!

[Josem]

basically, look at your output source (laptop/dvd player/etc.) and figure out what cables plug into it.

then, look at your display (ie, your tv) and figure our what cables plug into it.


then buy cables that go from your source to your display. it's not rocket science, and it depends on your models.

[RodeoBlue]

Might help if you posted what model TV or what outputs it has (how many HDMI/component/composite outputs, if it has a vga output or just a dvi, etc. whether your laptop has a dvi/hdmi/vga output).

Just blindly guessing: Basically you want an HDMI from your box to TV, a standard VGA that connects laptop-tv plus possibly either a male-to-male headphone jack, or a headphone to AV audio jack if you want your laptop audio to go to tv speakers, a component cable to connect your DVD-tv if your dvd player has that output or HDMI if its a higher end dvd player or AV if its a crappy dvd player, sound system hookup varies depending on what audio outputs your tv has.

Cheapest will always be ebay.

[Infi3ld Fly]

[ QUOTE ]
Might help if you posted what model TV or what outputs it has (how many HDMI/component/composite outputs, if it has a vga output or just a dvi, etc. whether your laptop has a dvi/hdmi/vga output).

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id be hooking up a dell inspiron and ive seen cables for like 30$ that are s video and audio. but ive also seen cables that are 60$ that look a lot more complex and id assume would give me the better quality??

[Infi3ld Fly]

[ QUOTE ]
basically, look at your output source (laptop/dvd player/etc.) and figure out what cables plug into it.

then, look at your display (ie, your tv) and figure our what cables plug into it.
i see where i can plug my dvd player into the tv but is there going to be that much of a difference in quality if i upgrade my dvd cables to plug into the tv or is the cable si have now (red, yellow and white) gonna give me the best quality i can get out of that player?

then buy cables that go from your source to your display. it's not rocket science, and it depends on your models.

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[BadBeatsCrewDerk]

Most TV resolutions are pretty low and aren't going to work very well for poker stuff. Maybe if it's good it'll be like 1920x1080, but as you can see this is not a great resolution compared to some 24" monitors that do 1920x1200.

Check the outputs. The best site for cables is monoprice.com. They are almost always the cheapest.

If you have a DVR that has HDMI output, you'll need a HDMI cable. Your DVD isn't HD, and probably doesn't upconvert, so you'll want some component (not RCA, unless your DVD player is REALLY old). If your computer has DVI out, get a DVI to HDMI cable (unless you only have one HDMI input) or a DE-15 cable.

As far as cable quality for more expensive stuff goes... that's not really true. The Monster company makes bank off people paying for overpriced cables and such. For HDMI cables though, get the shortest one that will work, as the longer the cable the poorer the quality, but you're not gonna notice any difference between like 3 and 6 feet or something that small.

[CrazyEyez]

Do you already have the surround sound receiver? Ideally you run everything through that, except for your laptop.

Post models of all your equipment, or pics of the jacks from everything.