Hooking stepmania up to the TV

coolforever · Trick Member Joined: 01 Jun 2005 Location: The earth.

Hey guys, I have a dell 5150 inspiron laptop computer, and I was just wondering how I can hook it up to the tv so I can play stepmania. Do you guys know which cords I need? Thanks.

PARANOiA -Respect- · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 2:08 pm Post subject:

I disagree with your name.
Its called StepmaniaX and you need an Xbox.

coolforever · Trick Member Joined: 01 Jun 2005 Location: The earth.

No, there is a certain cord I can use to hook up my laptop to a tv, but I'm wondering if you guys know which cord I need.

Assassin Ace · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 4:09 pm Post subject:

paper_wasp · Basic Member Joined: 27 Aug 2005

you probably need an s-video cord...relatively cheap you can find them at best buy or whwerever....make sure u have an s-video slot on your laptop though

PedanticOmbudsman · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 5:40 pm Post subject:

VIDEO:

Most laptops don't have S-Video outputs... if you do have one, that's great, but you need to check. And even if your laptop does have an S-Video plug, your television has to have one also or else you'd have nothing to plug it into. Larger, newer, and higher-end televisions are more likely to have an S-Video input, but most small and mid-sized basic televisions do not. IF both your laptop and television have an S-Video port, then you're in luck, because S-Video cables can be bought anywhere (including Wal-Mart), and you probably have one lying around your house somewhere because your television and/or VCR, etc., probably came with one.

More common than S-Video outputs on a laptop are regular RCA video outputs -- this is a round yellow port that you've probably seen on many televisions, VCRs, video cameras, etc. Almost every television will have a yellow RCA video input, and the cables are incredibly common and cheap... you probably have a few lying around your house.

If your laptop does not have a TV output, there are other more expensive add-ons available, but hopefully you'll be able to take advantage of one of the options listed above.

But video's only half the story.

SOUND:

Remember the round yellow RCA video jack on your television that I mentioned earlier? Next to it, there are likely to be two round RCA audio jacks that look exactly the same as the video jack, except that one is white and one is red. If you have a cheap TV, you might only have a white jack and not a red.

You won't have jacks like these on your laptop, but you will have a line out or speaker out port on your sound card. The plug that fits into these small round ports is called either an 1/8" plug or a 3.5mm plug depending on who you ask. What you need acquire in order plug your laptop's sound into your TV's sound is a cable with a 1/8"/3.5mm plug on one end and two RCA audio plugs (red and white) on the other end. These are a bit harder to find but Wal-Mart might have one if you look around, and Radio Shack definitely would. You could also use an existing cable with 1/8"/3.5mm male connections on both ends to go from your laptop to the vicinity of your television, and then plug that cable into an adapter with a female 1/8"/3.5mm plug on one end and two RCA audio plugs on the other, which then plugs into the RCA audio jacks on your television.
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