Do I need to install or download special software so that I can view videos "Windows Media Player" format from my laptop on my television.

The laptop has a monitor port and a HDMI output port and the TV has an S-Video input port.

I connected from the monitor port (on the laptop) to the S-Video on the TV ran the video on the laptop but the TV didn't seem to locate it when I scrolled through the various options.

And advice would be much appreciated.

No you don't need any special software (except for graphics driver for your laptop which should already be installed).

When you connect the cable it doesn't automatically come up on your TV (in most cases), you need to switch the monitor settings on your laptop to dual mode. Usually that's done with [Fn] + [F8] or something similar, look at your laptops keyboard for one of the function keys with two monitor icons on it. There is 3 modes: Laptop only, TV only and Dual Mode, in most scenarios going with Dual Mode is what you want to do.

I had that problem for a while too.

But recently I bought a new TV that has a PC Video input.

It is the display cable with 15 pins.

Now I just have a small netbook at the TV and use a flash drive

to bring the downloaded movie to the netbook.

Then Just play it on the netbook and it is on the TV

You need to display mode as a previous poster explained.

The netbook also doubles as a PC when watching TV I can

check email or Wiki for more information about what I am

viewing on the TV. I have wireless WiFi in my home.

One day soon the TV and PC will be combined and this will all be irrelelvant.

If you are running Vista then right click somewhere on the desktop. Select " Personalize " Select " Display settings " Then depending on your video card you will have several options on what to do as in duplicate, extend etc. Good luck

It appears your laptop only can drive a normal monitor (VGA) or HDMI (which is normal these days while you have an older TV that only has RF or S-Video type inputs. Not sure if there is any conversion hardware available but if you do not need a new TV perhaps a large monitor for the laptop would be a good investment as you could use for both TV from computer and home laptop use.

Thanks for the advice. My TV is only a couple of years old.

I will over the next day or three have another go.

I see that the Fn-F7 key is the one for choosing the various screen options.

Thanks again