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Watch Internet Video on TV

by Jon Chase on December 10, 2009 at 06:30 AM


With online services like Netflix Watch Now and Hulu offering full-screen, high-quality streaming video, there's no reason to keep it confined to your laptop or monitor. Netflix's Watch Now is available already on a bunch of devices, however, if you don't have those you can still hook your PC or Mac up to your HDTV (or regular TV) to watch. Depending on the type of TV and computer you have, you may be able to use (in order of best to worst) an HDMI cable, a DVI cable, a VGA cable, or an S-video cable, along with an 1/8-inch to RCA audio cable for sound.

Once you've plugged your computer into your TV, toggle through the TV's inputs to whichever one you plugged into. Depending on the operating system of your computer and how it's set up, it may automatically mirror the monitor on your TV screen. Otherwise: for Windows PCs click on Desktop/Properties/Settings and select the second monitor (labeled 2) and click the box "extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor" and hit save (and be sure to boost the settings to the highest possible quality). Now drag your Web browser to the right of your computer's screen and it will appear on the TV -- bring up Hulu or Netflix, select full-screen viewing and watch.

For Macs, your computer will likely autodetect your TV and the correct settings, however, you can tweak them by clicking on System Preferences/Displays.

Tags: hdtv, hulu, hulu.com, huludesktop, netflix, netflix watch instantly, netflixwatchinstantly, top

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