Using RGB cable to view movies on tv

Question

When I use an RGB cable to connect my laptop to the Vizio TV I can only see the desktop, no folders or any other activity. However, once the cable is connected, the curser shows on the tv but not the laptop. How do I get the two to sync so I can use the larger TV to view videos/movies, etc.? It works without any additional help through Windows, but I don't want to use Windows!

Thank you in advance for your help.

You may have to adjust the resolution depending on you TV mode, and capabilities. — Mitch, Jun 02 '13 at 20:42
Do you mean a component cable ( separate wires for red, green, and blue )? — psusi, Jun 02 '13 at 21:59

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 03 '13 at 00:34

I expect you are running two monitors, and you aren't "mirroring", that is, they are set to be one wide monitor rather that two copies of the same monitor.

I use arandr to set my dual monitors. You can install it and find it with dash. You can play with it a bit and see if you get both monitors showing the same thing, or perhaps you'll find showing the video on the TV whale leaving the laptop monitor free for other things is useful.

Using RGB cable to view movies on tv

1 Answers1