You think you are good! When we lived in the hole in the lake we only watched puppet shows so we could give our TV to the poor.

UT accurately corrected my previous post. Where I said DVD, I should have said Blue Ray.

Meanwhile, I vaguely remember HD-DVD (Tohsiba's version) only did 1080i.

How long is the life expectancy of a video screen? How long does your computer or laptop flat screen last?

I've never had an LCD display go bad. My plasma TV is two years old this month with no appreciable difference in display quality. We probably only put about 20 hours a week on it, though.

Plasma or LSD anyone? Ok backing out now.

Plasma!
Haven't had LSD in nearly 20 years, but mushrooms made the last episode of Friends send me private messages (made me laugh for the first time ever though).

So, I've bought a large HD LCD TV. (Next I will buy a vowel).

I thought I would take a photo to show you all, and I thought it would be cool to connect it to my laptop computer and get the cellar on the screen, and photograph that.

So, cue 15 pin VGA cable, plug, plug ... no success. I can't get the TV to receive any signal from the PC.

The cable goes from the "video out" socket on the PC (dell inspiron running windows XP) to the "PC video in" socket on the back of the TV (Samsung). Using the "source" button on the TV remote, I selected "PC", and "scan for signal" ... and it said "no signal found".

My current guess is that either the PC is not actually sending a signal out through that socket, or it is sending a signal that the TV cannot recognise.
I've fooled around with the Control Panel in Windows, but with no luck.

Do any of you tech-savvy types have any suggestions?

My Nvidia driver has a screen for setting up multiple displays. I'm guessing that your driver will not send your screen to the 'video out' unless told to do so and also given some device information.

BTW, last week was the first time I set foot in a home theatre store. We were in the shopping center for something else and I thought I would take a look since they also had a 'tent sale' outside.

A 'low end' option including low-end hi-def projector, screen, and theatre seats was about $6,000 or something like $200 a month.

I admit, going into the demo small room and seeing a high-def Dave Matthews concert on the projection screen was amazing, especially sitting in the leather theatre seats.

I ended up buying 5 slightly used tin poster reproductions from their tent sale for $15.:cool:

On the dell, see if there is a "CRT/LCD" mark on the F8 key. If so, you can use "Fn-F8" to toggle the laptop's screen or another connected screen or both.

Thanks rich, that's the kind of theory I was working on.
Thanks Pie, I tried the FnF8 combo, and while it did change the appearance of my screen on the laptop, it still didn't send to the TV.
I also resized the PC screen to a ratio the TV was comfortable with but that didn't help either.

As for Rich's shopping style, buying the VGA cable took about half an hour because, not only did the shop have a really good driving simulator game all set up for customers to play on, there was a pet shop next door with puppies and kittens in the window. Awwwwwww.... :)

Zen ,
Got to the InPut screen on yer tv ( Menu , Inputs ), select Vga,
Plug in your cable ,
turn on Puter
Right click on yer desk top ,
go to Personalize , display settings
Thats How I did it

LCD is best for me because it does not relflect light coming in windows opposite the screen. Detail is great and features are more than I need. Glad I waited, and glad we have it.

Thanks, Pie, you were right!
Thanks to all for your advice! I can haz BIG interwebz now!
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The dual screen output is also selected in the Control Panel as part of the video display options. I don't remember. May be other display options on that page, although it does not appear you need them. That is how one might do same for other non-Dells.

An LCD TV is far better with it coming from the front - Plasma is much better when the light is from behind the unit. The plasma also displays a much deeper "black" than the LCD's. Glad you like it Zen!

At first I was all about plasma, but after about 5 years, you they start getting blurry. I like the fact that they have a wider viewing angle and that they have higher contrast ratios...blacker blacks, and whiter whites.

I started thinking to myself that I'm using the same television right now, that my first wife and I bought in 1991. Chances are I'm going to keep my next tv for a very long time. That being the case, I'm going with the most amazing LCD I've ever seen....

I'm going to get the Sony Bravia 52" LCD with 120 Hertz refresh rate. They call it "Motion Flow". Costco sells this particular TV at a pretty good price. I watched this TV several times at the Costco near my house. They had a blue-ray hooked up and were playing a Ice Age 2. I nearly had an accident on myself it looked so good. They have this television side-by-side with many other televisions, including others with 120Hz refresh rate, and this one simply beats all the others by a mile.

CHECK IT OUT