I need help with connecting laptop to TV.

How do i go about connecting a laptop to a sony bravia bx300 tv?

• i'm trying to use an HDMI cable. but my laptop (windows xp) just turns black whenever i try connecting the cable to the tv's and laptop's hdmi ports. the tv also says "no signal". i dont really know what i'm doing and there really isn't a "help" hotline i could call in our area. and i cant seem to find the tv's manual (its frustrating because i ALWAYS see it when i DONT need it, but disappears when i try to find it). i also tried if the problem was the hdmi cable i bought, but it worked fine on a samsung dvd player... is the problem because of my laptop's OS (win xp) ? if that's the case, what drivers/essential program do i need ? i've tried the tips in this article http://www.ehow.com/how_6975031_connect-pc-sony-bravia.html but i haven't had much luck. Tl;dr version; im just basically trying to use the tv as a monitor. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance

• Answer:

  First, you can check your laptop's user manual and read the instructions about hooking up your laptop to a TV / monitor through HDMI. Usually on laptops, there's a function (Fn key) that let's you change display from monitor only, monitor/TV, or TV only. Also, check what HDMI inputs your HDTV supports. If TV supports 1080p, then try changing your laptop display resolution to 1920x1080. You may need to lower the refresh rate to 30 Hz or lower, if your TV keeps displaying a Black screen or "no signal" message, or your laptop changes the display resolution to 1024x768 or lower resolution whenever you try to change the resolution to 1920x1080.