Thread: What cable do I need to hook my computer to my dvd player?

My dvd player has only coaxial, s-video and av cable connectors. The laptop I'm buying has •3 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x HDMI port, 1 x VGA port, 1 x RJ-45 Ethernet port.
Do I need to buy a newer dvd player? My tv is ancient having only a coaxial connector, so if I can connect to this dvd player it would be best.

Thanks for your help.

Laptops do not normally have A/V inputs the way TVs and monitors have (the HDMI and VGA on the laptop are for video output, not input), so if you were planning to watch DVDs from the DVD player on the laptop screen, that won't work.

Anyway, if the laptop has an optical drive that's DVD compatible, you can just put the DVDs in there and watch them, without needing any separate DVD player.

The only other thing you could try, but it won't work very well, is to get a USB video capture device, like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-VC500-Touch-Capture-Device/dp/B000VM60I8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1301800999&sr =1-1

(But those are designed more for capturing/recording video to play back later, rather than watching it as it plays - so the video may be jerky, the sound may not be audible until you play it back later, etc.)

You may need a new DvD player. You should be able to find an HDMI DVD player to connect to your PC or mac.