The first step is to connect your HDTV and Windows PC together. Once you do this your HDTV will show your Windows Desktop and can then function as a giant PC Monitor. This will allow you to view all of your Windows applications on your HDTV and also allow DisplayMate to fine-tune the HDTV picture quality.

Signal Connections:
To connect a Windows Desktop / Laptop to an HDTV you can use any signal connection cable that is common to both your computer and HDTV. Most newer HDTVs accept computer VGA in addition to digital DVI or HDMI, and analog Component Video, S-Video and Composite Video.

Most computers now have digital DVI or HDMI in addition to analog VGA, and some have analog Component Video, S-Video, and Composite Video outputs. So DisplayMate can be used to calibrate any TV, HDTV, monitor, video projector, or data projector that can be connected to an appropriately equipped computer.

You can use any combination of connections from your PC that will show your Windows desktop on the HDTV. You can calibrate each of them in turn with DisplayMate. Digital DVI or HDMI produces the highest quality connection. Next best is analog VGA, which is found on virtually all PCs and many HDTVs. Next best is analog Component Video. S-Video and Composite Video also work, but they are Standard Definition rather than High Definition, so the picture quality is not as good.

Digital DVI and HDMI Connections:
All digital connections are interchangeable, meaning if you calibrate an HDTV DVI or HDMI input using DisplayMate then the same calibration settings will apply to every digital component that is connected to that same port. Note that HDMI fully supports DVI, so you can connect a PC with a DVI output to an HDTV with HDMI inputs. You just need an HDMI to DVI adapter cable.

Analog Connections:
Every analog signal source is a bit different, but high quality components will always be very similar. So if you use DisplayMate to calibrate an analog signal port with a computer that has a high quality graphics/video card, then you are unlikely to need additional tweaking when you connect a different component to that input.

Plug and Play:
If you have a recent model computer and a recent model HDTV then Windows Plug and Play should automatically set up and activate the video output at the proper resolution and refresh rate. In other cases you may need to adjust the display output manually using Windows Display Properties or Advanced Display Properties, or if provided, a custom Control Panel supplied by the manufacturer of the graphics/video card.

Laptops:
For Laptops you will need to use one of the External Video Output connectors. Many new Laptops have digital DVI or HDMI outputs in addition to an analog VGA output. As described above Windows Plug and Play should take care of everything automatically when you plug in an external display. With some older computers the display may need to be already connected when the computer is powered up. In some cases you may need to press a Function Key to manually activate the external display. In many cases a laptop will simultaneously support both the internal LCD display and the external display.