I have an Acer Aspire 1350 laptop that runs Windows XP. My laptop has a VGA output and a S-video 7 pin output as well. I have a Sony CRT tv, with a 4 pin S-video and a RCA composite like most CRT tvs. So basically, i bought a VGA to S-video (female) and RCA (yellow composite - female) Y cable, thinking to connect the VGA to my laptop and the RCA to my TV. I bought a phono cable to connect the RCA to my tv. Herein lies the problem, when all the cables are connected, i can hear the sounds but there's nothing on my tv. I have tried pressing Fn+F3-8 and nothing seems to work. All that did was make my laptop screen go blank for a couple of seconds and then my laptop screen comes back.
I tried going to Display>Advanced settings to lower the resolution and it doesn't seem to work. Please help!!! I am at my wits end and have no idea what to do. I am beginning to think that i bought the wrong cables and that this is NEVER going to work. Any suggestions and help would be greatly appreciated.
To help people that didn't see your post from this discussion: http://www.techlore.com/forum/thread/11241/Connecting-laptop-to-TV/?page...
The item you have looks like this:
This is pretty much the same thing as the "vga to component" video cables they sell, only this one has an S-vid and composite cable instead. I talk about it here: http://www.techlore.com/article/10061/How-To-Connect-a-Computer-To-Your-...
Ths use case for this kind of cable is, particularly with an S-vid and composite attatched, is a rarity. It would connect a composite or S-video device to a monitor/display that supports these signals through a DB-15 input.
In some extremely rare cases, a computer graphics card "may" have the ability to output these signals through the DB-15 port, but I know of no such card that actually does.
According to what you've said, your laptop has an S-video output. All you need to do is connect an S-video cable from that port to your TV. Press Fn+F5 until the image appears on your TV (or you may need to go to your advanced display settings).
Now, I've only seen reference of this laptop in the UK. It may output in PAL by default, it might be NTSC. Something to keep in mind depending on the kind of display you're connecting it to.
Good luck.
If it does output in PAL by default, is there anything i could do to change it to NTSC? So i pretty much bought the wrong cable, like i thought. Damn!! So if i get the 7-pin (male) S-video to RCA cable, it should work? I would prefer to use a S-video to S-video cable but i read somewhere that if my laptop has a 7-pin output and my tv has a 4-pin output, it wouldn't work?
Also, is this the right cable? http://www.amazon.co.uk/VIDEO-PIN-RCA-TV-OUT/dp/B001QVHZ82/ref=sr_1_2?ie...
Sorry for constantly asking these questions. I wanted to make sure before spending more money. Thanks again for answering my questions.
The answer to your PAL question is... possibly. We'll deal with that when we get to it.
Before you buy anything, connect up an S-vid cable straight from the laptop to the TV and let 'er rip. According to your manual for the 1350, it should work just fine.
But my laptop has a 7-pin S-video output while my tv has a 4-pin S-video output? I thought that a 7-pin S-video to 4-pin S-video cable doesn't exist or work?
So should i get this cable instead? http://www.amazon.co.uk/VIDEO-PIN-RCA-TV-OUT/dp/B001QVHZ82/ref=sr_1_2?ie......
Shouldn't matter. The extra pins are often for an adapter dongle to provide additional outputs. In most cases (again, most) you can use an S-cable without such a dongle or adapter. Try it. You're not going to break anything. :)
Ok Thanks. I decided to buy this http://www.amazon.co.uk/VIDEO-PIN-RCA-TV-OUT/dp/B001QVHZ82/ref=sr_1_2?ie..... instead. I will try this out and see if it works. I have seen various posts of this working, so i thought i give it a go. If not, i will try the S-cable route.
Your call. While you wait for it to ship to you, there's nothing stopping you from trying an S-cable directly. You don't need any parts. Besides, if it works it will give you better quality than a composite connection.