Can I use my TV as a second monitor?

Read the article that everyone's commenting on.
Subscribe to the RSS Feed for comments on this article.

I have a 2003 Samsung Tube style TV and want to use it as my computer monitor for watching movies. My computer(Compaq Presario SR1011NX) only has a VGA outlet for the monitor and my TV only accepts RCA inputs for Video or Audio. Is it possible to hook the two up with an adapter cable? I bought what looks like a VGA to RCA adapter, but when I hooked it up nothing happened. Does it matter that the cable packaging says Connection Cable YUV 3 RCA Plugs to 15 pin HDD Plug? The packaging picture shows only DVD to Projector. What should I do?

On my XP laptop, after I connect the S-video and audio cables, I then have to go into control panel/display/settings/advanced/monitors and change the display monitor there. Then the picture comes up on the TV. On my Vista laptop, it does it automatically.

there is another option if u only want to watch movies downstairs from your computer which is upstairs in the office: streaming.

anyway, I have ati radeon 9200 le(kinda old) and I heard that the extra pin from the s-viqdeo output are actually composite, but I would still buy an s-video cable and an adaptor for better quality

I have a tv in my PC. I can watch now every channel live in my PC in a full screen by the software named satellite-tv-player. Satellite-TV-player (http://www.satellite-tv-player.com) is very easy to use; I use it with ease and it works all the time no problems. I guess this is the official player, the new ability to play live channels in full screen. I watch my favorite Channel Live CNN & NFL Sports through this software. Channel selection is very good. It is simply great; it also seems to be very good on my Vista Ultimate system. I have tried many players claiming to be top of the line but none of them deliver as much content as does satellite TV player. The price is very reasonable for all the stuff you can watch.

After reading everyone's comments...I'm having the same problem. I'm running a Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop with a ATI Radeon Xpress 1150 graphics card with multiple monitor support and I recently acquired a 32" Philips television [model #32PT5441].

By using a VGA to S-Video and RCA adapter, I was able to connect the laptop and the tv...however, when on the SVHS channel, all I see is a blank screen. When I use Fn + F8 [which toggles between CRT and LCD] the tv screen flickers but nothing else happens. In the Display Properties, it appears as though the laptop cannot identify the tv as a secondary monitor, regardless of any and all changes to resolution, refresh rate, color scheme, and driver updates.

I'm thoroughly baffled by this, is there any advice you can give me so I can enjoy using my laptop as a DVD player/satellite radio/game center?

Thank you!

Hi Leo,

I've done what you said. I've purchased an adapter which is VGA to S-vid and RCA (so it supports either). I connect my laptop up to my TV (CRT - not digital) and it doesn't see the image. I've successfully used an external monitor with my laptop (through the VGA port in my laptop) as a primary monitor and secondary monitor. I've also successfully got sound through the headphone-out on the laptop.

What am I doing wrong? Is it to do with my video or graphics card?

Thanks a lot mate.

Cheers,
Andrew (from Melbourne - Australia)

hey leo. now my moniter is busted and im using my tv as my moniter. but the resoulution sucks and the words are small and although the screen is big in size, the display os bigger and i cant work like this. plzzzz helpp.

When I use my Windows display options to "project" my computer images to my TV via my S-video cable (as in showing a powerpoint to a classroom) the image is too large for any TV I use and shifted to the right. Using the various controls within the display menus doesn't seem to help the problem.

Hi Leo,

I have succesfully conected my mac laptop to the tv with full colour and it looks as fine as you would expect. However when I connect my PC with Radeon 9550 card via the s-video output into the scart input to the tv I cant get any colour. Even though I'm using the same AV channel (Y/C) as I use when I connect the laptop. Any suggestions from you as to how I can resolve this would be very welcome indeed.

HEY FRIENDS FIRST OF ALL UNINSTALL YOUR GRAPHICS DRIVER AND NOW YOUR COMPUTER WILL SHOW RESOLUTIONS OF 640 x 480 TO 2000 x 480 .NOW YOUR TV IS READY AS A MONITOR

To post a comment on "Can I use my TV as a second monitor?", please return to that article's main page.