Audio

[Carraig]

I have a Toshiba laptop that only has a VGA cable plug in, which is how I have been connecting to the TV so I can watch Netflix.  But I'm finding that from across the room, the volume is just no loud enough.

The Netflix volume level is turned up, the volume is turned up on the laptop, and the volume level in the controls is also turned up. But especially on older TV shows, it's just not loud enough to hear conversations.

Someone suggested one of these cables (I have no idea what they are called) plugged into the headphone jack of the laptop and then into the back of the TV. They said *theoretically* it would enable the sound to be fed through the TV, so I could use the remote to turn it up.

Will that work? And if not, do I have any other options?  I wondered about a long VGA cable but they are very expensive, and I might as well put the money towards a PS3, which my son says will solve all my problems.

[hb]

The adapter cable you provided a picture of will do the job perfectly. It is simply referred to as a 1/8" stereo miniplug to RCA adapter cable.

[Carraig]

Thank you!

Is this the right cable?

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/dynex-dynex-1-8m-6-ft-mini-to-rca-cable-dx-ad104-dx-ad104/101...

[hb]

Yes, that's the one.

When you get it hooked up, you'll need to experiment a bit with the volume setting on your laptop in order to make sure you send a strong enough signal to the TV without over-driving the TV's sound input (which would cause objectionable distortion of the sound you hear from the TV's speakers).

[Carraig]

Would you recommend putting the laptop's volume setting half way or three-quarters on the slide/scale to start?

[hb]

My suggestion is to start at "half way". You'll probably find that "three quarters" will be too loud unless the TV's volume control is turned almost all the way down.

[Carraig]

I got the cable, but I'm afraid it didn't work.  I plugged the black end into the headphone jack on the laptop, and the red and white ends into the lower two jacks your see on the left of this photo, which I thought were the right ones as they were labelled audio input jacks.

But it would appear from the diagram, that I should have used the first jack from the top, because the diagram on the right labels that the audio input jack for HDMI1 or PC.

So does that mean I have the wrong cable, and don't need the Y shaped one, but a cable with only two plugs, one for the PC and one for the TV?

[Juice0904]

You are using a VGA cable, right? That means there should be a spot on the TV for PC input (VGA). Along with that port, there should also be a spot for PC audio, giving you the option of either 3.5 mm headphone jack, or red and white audio inputs. You need to make sure that you are plugging the audio cables into the red and white inputs in the PC input section. Plugging them in anywhere else won't give audio for that input.

Hope that helps!

JB

[Carraig]

Yes, I do connect with the VGA cable.  I tried using the cable in the image up above, plugging the black end into the laptop and the red/white ends into the audio jacks marked on the left, but I got no sound.

That's why I am wondering if I need only a cable with two ends, and not a Y cable. It looks like perhaps I should only be plugging into the single jack on the top left, and not using the dual red/white jacks.

[Juice0904]

The cable you have should work - it just sounds like you are plugging it into the wrong audio input. Look at the PC input section of your TV. Close to the VGA port there should be an input for a headphone jack. Right beside that shere should be red and white inputs that are separate from any other video inputs (on their own). That is where you would plug your cable into.

Right now, it looks like you are plugging your cable into one of your TVs component video/audio inputs, which is the wrong spot.

JB