Nov 26, 2010
HOW TO CONNECT YOUR COMPUTER TO YOUR TV?
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In the old days, massive pieces of furniture dubbed "entertainment centers" housed our bulky TVs, stereos, and tape decks, and the idea that you could connect your computer to your TV was foreign.
Welcome to the 21st century where the digital world of movies, music, games, and more is just a click-of-the-remote away—and it's all available using a sleek entertainment PC.Entertainment technology comes in more flavors than we could have dreamed a few years ago. An entertainment PC combines everything a regular computer can do—e-mail, Web, etc.—with the best of digital entertainment. Some of these new PCs look like a traditional receiver you would find in your stereo cabinet—yet others are smaller sized PCs that take up little space, standing vertically.
Following are some of the fun things you can do. Make sure you talk with your sales person to ensure your new computer does some or all of the following:
- Record, rewind, and pause TV (even live TV) with the digital video recorder capabilities and incur no monthly fee.
- Listen to music from an online radio station and other streaming sources, MP3s, or your CD collection.
- Use standard PC functions like e-mail, the Web, and productivity applications.
- Play the hottest games on your TV.
- Share and organize your photos using your TV screen, not the small monitor on your PC.
- Play and burn CDs and DVDs and even personalize them with your own look. Check out this article "Make Your Own CDs and DVDs" to learn how.
Getting started
Any retail electronics store that sells computers should offer a selection of entertainment PCs. Consider these features and options:
- Windows Vista* is a great choice for an operating system (OS), building nicely on the functionality of Windows XP* Media Center Edition 2005, adding great usability features and enhancements.
- Make sure the entertainment PC you buy has a TV tuner card so you can watch live TV and enjoy all of the benefits of digital video recorder functionality.
- Who doesn't love a remote control? Yep, you can get that with your entertainment PC too.
- Look for Intel Inside® including Intel® Graphic Technology built in—no need to purchase an expensive discrete graphics card.
Although most TVs built in the last ten years or so will work with your entertainment PC, some of the more recent TVs are really spectacular, with your TV acting as a monitor. If you don't already have one, consider taking the plunge into HD TV and even better, one with PC inputs. And make sure you know what kind of video inputs are on the TV you will be using (see the discussion of plugs and cables below), because you'll need to match them up with the rest of the hardware.
A word about plugs and cables
There are a variety of plugs and cables that you can use to move video signals around in your entertainment setup. Your choice of connection will affect the quality of the picture. The connection type you use may be limited by what kind of plugs your TV has for video inputs (the more advanced connection types will likely be found only on the newer, higher-end sets), but you should use the highest-quality choice that is available to you.
Setting up your entertainment PC
Setup is easy and straightforward. First, read through the user guides, quick-start guides, and other manuals that came with your equipment. That documentation will be your main reference guide during setup.
- Connect the cable outlet to your cable box with a coaxial cable, if it's not connected already.
- Connect the video and audio outputs on the cable box to the inputs on your entertainment PC.
- Connect the video output on the entertainment PC to the video input on your TV.
- Connect the audio output on the entertainment PC to the audio input on your audio system, external speakers, or TV.
- Power up the entertainment PC and launch Windows Media Center* using the Start > Programs > Windows Media Center menu option.
- Follow the wizard to complete setup and configuration.
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COMPUTER TIPS
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