Linking a laptop to a tv/dvd player?

[flobadob]

My mate has a laptop, not sure if its XP or Vista. He's got a lead that at one end has a 15 pin plug which fits into the back of the laptop and on the other end of the lead is a HDMI end which can go into his tv or dvd player. How can you set it up so that he can view stuff from his laptop on the tv? Does it only show on the tv what is displayed on the laptop monitor or can you output stuff separately through the 15 pin port directly to the tv? Any help appreciated.

[Skids]

The 15-pin D-socket is for video output, so a lead that goes from that to a HDMI plug would suggest that you can use the TV as either a clone of the laptop monitor or as an additional monitor. In XP this can be set by going to the settings in display properties. I imagine Vista will be similar as it is basically XP but tarted-up.

[Vagrant]

On laptops, by default, nothing comes out of the 15 pin (VGA) connector.

This applies whatever the operating system is - it's done to save power.

To switch on the VGA connector, you have to press a key combination.

The actual key combination depends on the model of laptop, but try holding down Fn while pressing F4 (or whichever F key has a picture of a screen on it).

This will switch video output between laptop display, VGA, or both. Picture quality is usually poor with both turned on.

[flobadob]

Thanks vagrant I'll tell him to try that. I've got a PC and I don't see a button called Fn. Is it called something else on a PC? Is there a button on the laptop actually called Fn or has it got a symbol on it?

[Vagrant]

Desktop PCs don't have a Fn key.
Laptops do - it's got Fn on it.
It's used to access laptop specific functions.
It's most likely bottom left, near the Ctrl key - often smaller than most keys.