| My computer right now is hooked up to my 53" TV | | | | regular monitor cable. Just look at the ports on both |
| across the room. It's a pretty cool trick, and if you have | | | | devices and you should be able to tell if they have one |
| a computer and television in the same room you | | | | in common, then you just have to figure out what they |
| should see if you have a way to hook them up. Doing | | | | are. If they do not have one in common, look on your |
| actual work is best on a real computer monitor (LCD | | | | TV for an S-video port (it's a black circle about the |
| preferred, but CRT acceptable), but watching videos, | | | | width of your finger), and if you find one, you just need |
| playing games, and surfing the web are pretty fun | | | | to buy a video card (they can be had for less than |
| things to do from the couch. | | | | $100) that has an S-video out. |
| The resolution of TVs compared to actual computer | | | | Once you have them hooked up with a cable (S-video |
| monitors is pretty bad, unless you have an LCD tv. | | | | or otherwise), you'll need to go into your driver settings |
| Mine is not, but even still I find that it is a very cool thing | | | | on the PC. In Windows, right-click on the desktop and |
| to have hooked up, and it works just fine for watching | | | | hit Properties to access the Display Properties |
| movies/videos. Games are doable if there isn't a lot of | | | | window, then go to the Settings tab. On some video |
| text on-screen that you have to read, but you won't | | | | cards you can select/enable an alternate monitor (the |
| be chatting to your buddies in World of Warcraft if | | | | TV) right from this window, but on most video cards |
| you want to keep from going blind. | | | | you have to click the Advanced button and configure it |
| Word processing / web browsing is tolerable, but can | | | | there. |
| be eye-straining after long periods. Definitely increase | | | | Most of the good video cards will let you display the |
| the text size as big as you can stand it for reduced | | | | screen on both devices (your monitor and your TV) |
| eye strain. All in all, I just use my TV for videos | | | | simultaneously, but the geForce card I have right now |
| because it's much easier to just sit at my desk and | | | | will only let me use the two displays as side-by-side |
| use my computer LCD monitor for doing actual work. | | | | desktops. This actually works out better for me, |
| Most newer video cards have an S-video port on | | | | because I can have news or whatever playing on the |
| them, and this is the easiest way (and the way I use) | | | | TV, and keep working on my normal desktop. I'm not |
| to hook your TV up to your computer. Some newer | | | | sure if you've heard or seen it, but Bill Gates uses a |
| video cards will also have other outputs, and some | | | | triple desktop on his computer (3 LCDs) -- I hope |
| newer TVs will have VGA or DVI inputs to take a | | | | you're as jealous as I am! |