What do I need to have or do to play videos that are on my computer on my TV?

[MoneyGuy]

What do I need to have or do to play videos that are on my computer on my TV? I imagine I could go to radio shack and buy the necessary cables.

[Vulcan]

Well, it depends on what your video card connections are and what your TV connections are. If you have a recent video card, it probably has a DVI out connection and if you have a HDTV it probably has a HDMI input connection. So you would need an DVI to HDMI cable.
Some ATI cards have HDMI out so than you would need a HDMI to HDMI cable.
If you don't have a spare HDMI connection on your HDTV than use the video card's TV out which should be a S-Video connection and some come with a dongle to convert this to a component connection.
Unless your card is HDMI you will need an audio ouot via composite or RCA cables to your TV or maybe your soundcard has toslink or a co-ax in which case you can connect one of these to your digital stereo receiver.

Just to add if these videos are 1080p than you will need a fairly recent video card that should be HDCP enabled. The best ATI cards for this are the 3870, 3850 and the 2600XT.
The best NVIDIA cards are the 8800GT, the new 8800GTS, the 8600GTS. These cards have Purevideo which are best at decoding HD.

Almost forgot, some HDTVs have a VGA connection which will also work.

[ericschand]

I'm assuming you have a LCD or plasma HDTV?

Does your computer have two video out (ie. two video cards,
or one video card that supports two monitors?) If so, you're
ok. If not, you need a second video card. You could do it
with your primary card, but it'll be a PITA.

Most any card will do, you don't need a major video card to do it.
I do agree with Vulcan that if money isn't an object, since you are
buying a video card, might as well make it a good one with HDCP
compliance for future use. My laptop has some mobile POS Intel
video, and it works fine.

You will probably need a 1/8" (1/4"?) stereo jack to RCA to connect
your computer soundcard to your stereo in order to get the sound.
Unless you are happy hearing through your computer :-) These
are a dime a dozen at most any general store, a few bucks
at the most (Zellers carries them, as does Walmart).

The TV has a DVI-I connector on the back. the "-I" is important,
but I can't see any TV having DVI not making it "-I". Check your
user manual.

My laptop computer only had a VGA connector.

I went to my companies desktop support people, and politely asked
them if they had a "DVI to VGA" converter somewhere. Many PC's
your company orders has these shipped with them, and they get
thrown out in the garbage or stored in some box somewhere.
Get one. Also ask them for a VGA to VGA cable, same story for
these. These will be the two most expensive cable items, so if your
company has them to give to you, you'll save a bundle.
Otherwise: http://www.monoprice.com

Connect your VGA out from your computer to the DVI-VGA converter,
plug this into your TV.

On your computer, right click on the desktop, Properties, Settings Tab.
Select the SECONDARY video card. Set it's resolution to 1920x1080.
Click the "Extend desktop" to enable it. Click OK.

That will give you 1080p output to your TV. Set your TV to the
appropriate input for the DVI-I (look in your user manual). You should
see a desktop appear, and your TV should report it as 1080p. If
not, check all connections and settings.

Open a video, drag it to the secondary screen on your TV. Full size it,
etc, etc, and watch your movie in 1080p awesomeness

For a VGA connector on your TV, skip the DVI-VGA converter part!
For a DVI connector on your PC, you need a DVI-DVI cable, again
your company desktop support has a lot of them.

ers

[Rathji]

I bought a 25' SVGA cable w/ stereo jack off monoprice for 15 bucks.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by ericschand

I'm assuming you have a LCD or plasma HDTV?

Does your computer have two video out (ie. two video cards,
or one video card that supports two monitors?) If so, you're
ok. If not, you need a second video card. You could do it
with your primary card, but it'll be a PITA.

Most any card will do, you don't need a major video card to do it.
I do agree with Vulcan that if money isn't an object, since you are
buying a video card, might as well make it a good one with HDCP
compliance for future use. My laptop has some mobile POS Intel
video, and it works fine.

I agree probably any video card will work but not very well for 1080p movies. The Diamond Viper Radeon HD 2600xt can be bought for $79.99. The other cards I mentioned are more high end, also good for gaming. Other cheaper cards such as the 8600GT, 8500, 2600 pro, and 2400 series cards will also work depending on your processor's power. He should try with what he's got. Some on board video will even decode 1080p but he may not need 1080p or 720p as his movies may be in SD.
It's pretty hard to say what he needs without him giving us more information about his TV, his computer and the movies he wants to watch.

[Finner]

If you have an XBOX 360 or PS3 you can use a program called TVersity to stream wirelessly to your TV.

[llama64]

Originally Posted by Finner

If you have an XBOX 360 or PS3 you can use a program called TVersity to stream wirelessly to your TV.

I use this. It's freaking awesome especially when combined with the ffdshow codecs.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by ericschand

You will probably need a 1/8" (1/4"?) stereo jack to RCA to connect
your computer soundcard to your stereo in order to get the sound.
Unless you are happy hearing through your computer :-) These
are a dime a dozen at most any general store, a few bucks
at the most (Zellers carries them, as does Walmart).

Do most motherboards (asus p5k premium) have two outputs for sound? Or do I need to buy a splitter for the 1/8" jack? I am already using one output for my computer speakers.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Burninator

Do most motherboards (asus p5k premium) have two outputs for sound? Or do I need to buy a splitter for the 1/8" jack? I am already using one output for my computer speakers.

I guess a splitter would work but my P5K also has an toslink and digital out for an audio receiver.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

I guess a splitter would work but my P5K also has an toslink and digital out for an audio receiver.

I don't have an audio receiver at the moment. So I just need something to make it work decently till then. Plus that'll just give me an excuse to buy a receiver and I waste enough money on electronics as it is.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Burninator

I don't have an audio receiver at the moment. So I just need something to make it work decently till then. Plus that'll just give me an excuse to buy a receiver and I waste enough money on electronics as it is.

Me two. I was just installing a new video card and reading the P5K manual and maybe you could try using the orange coloured port or the gray port.