Figure 12-6 shows a composite cable and an RCA cable.
Check the Ports on Your PC??™s Graphics Card and TV or Projector
Now that you know what the ports and connectors for the various connection options
look like, check which ports are on your PC??™s graphics card and on your TV or
projector.
Normally, a desktop PC gives you far more choices than a laptop PC does??”and
if necessary, you can change the graphics card in most desktops without much difficulty,
whereas only a few laptops let you change their graphics cards, and then only
with considerable expense and minimal choice of replacement cards.
Project 12: Use Your PC as Your Home Theater 127
Most TVs offer one or more of HDMI, component video, S-Video, and composite
video. Choose the highest-quality connection type available for both your TV and
the PC. Many projectors offer both DVI and VGA ports. Some also offer HDMI ports.
Again, choose the highest-quality connection type available.
Step 2: Find or Buy a Cable
Now that you??™ve established what kind of cable you need, see whether you already
own one. For example, your shiny new TV may have included an HDMI cable that
you??™ve left sleeping in its Styrofoam nest, or your camcorder box may have packed
an S-Video cable along with its tangle of other cables. Or maybe a dusty old box contains
an unused component video cable that came with your DVD player??¦even if the
cable is several years old, it should work.
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