Okay techie people, I need some help. We want to watch the Glenbard game at IHSA TV. We have bazillion laptops here, but we want to broadcast the game on the big screen TV. What do we need to do to get it from a laptop to the TV? Besides I have a feeling if we are all watching live stream on our laptops it will start to lag.

The game is going to be broadcast on cable... is your big screen TV not connected to cable?

Assuming it's not... making it work will depend on the available laptop output jacks and the big screen TV's input options.

Since you don't have a lot of time to do trial-and-error research... I'd suggest going to Fry's armed with your newest and best laptop and the big screen TV's users manual (or a list of the various input jacks) and throw yourself on their mercy.

As an extreme option, get a “mini-” or “pico-” projector (assuming you'll have more use for it in the future). They're about the size of a pack of cigarettes but will fill a 6' screen with a surprisingly good picture. If you don't have a white wall bring a sheet. Around $300-$400... but way kewl for future on-site business presentations. (Oh... if you go this route... the speakers are small and tinny, if they exist at all. Plan to bring an amp and speakers.)

Fry's is a mile or so south of Butterfield on Finley in Lombard. Good luck!

WPWR....Channel 50

We will not have access to cable TV, nor do we have anything but a Walmart within 100 miles. Sounds like it's a laptop viewing only.

Here's a long shot that requires only a cable...

IF one of the laptops has an S-Video out, and IF the TV has an S-Video in, it's probable that it will with with only a S-Video cable. (In real life the jacks are only about a quarter of an inch across.)

You might have one floating around the house that came with a DVD player, TiVo, or so other piece of video gear.

This would be for the picture only. Use the laptop speakers for audio at the laptop end... or find a headphone-type plug to (probably) two RCA-type plugs for the TV end.

Somebody who plays their iPod through their big-speaker stereo will probably have one of these.

But the trick is hat the laptop has toe have the TV conversion circuitry built in for it to have that S-Video output. Some do. Again I say, good luck!

Do you have an HDMI connection on your laptop? If you do and have HDMI on your big screen all you have to do is get a cable available at Wal-Mart as low as 20 bucks. Plug it in to each and that is it! You may have to also change your speakers to make the sound come out of the tv. Just right click on the speaker icon, select playback devices and select HDMI speakers. Click use default and ok and the sound will come out of the tv! Very simple. We watch shows all the time through our laptop.

Thanks! Between us we have all those connections. It will be dependent on what Walmart has to get from the laptop to the TV.

Blow off your family and come to Champaign with us. No cords necessary.

HDMI. Good point. Newer technology than S-Video; includes sound with video.

The connectors are very flat and around 1/2-inch wide.
A cable probably came with a blu-ray DVD player, if someone in your group has one.

Maybe a Radio Shack is closer than a Walmart?

Geeze, what a jerk. Day should read, To Catch a Mouse — Make a Noise Like Cheese by Lewis Kornfeld, Radio Sacks honcho in the 80's.

One of the best books on small business marketing and advertising ever. —Ted E.

Well....uh....it is satire. I assume you're calling me a jerk. On Thanksgiving, of all days? Just terrible.

I've gotten cords at The Shack before.

No, I was calling Julian Day a jerk...

And yes, I completely missed the fact that it was from The Onion.

It was on the internet, so I thought it was real.