Don’t sweat the small stuff.  Catch The Mania is a great program for building business and for generating income for yourself.  It’s designed to be simple, cost effective and easy to produce but with every great service based product there are a few things that can be done in preparation to ensure your success.  One of these things is making sure you have all the right equipment and part of your equipment are the few adapters and cords that will help you to more easily connect from all types of computers to all types of TVs and projectors.

Take a look at the pictures to get a better feel and read the descriptions to see what each adapter does.

Outputs, Adapters, Converters and Cords For PC users:
PC’s generally have either an HDMI output or a VGA output, and some have both.  This makes PC’s one step and one adapter easier than Macs.  Here’s the difference between the PC outputs

–HDMI Output – this allows you to plug a straight HDMI cord from your PC into any TV or projector that has an HDMI input.  HDMI is where video technology is going but the thing about it is that HDMI and VGA is only a one way connection, meaning that you can convert HDMI to VGA but you can’t convert VGA to HDMI.  This means that having an HDMI output on your PC gives you the most flexibility because most TV’s accept HDMI and those that don’t usually accept VGA so all you need is an HDMI to VGA adapter and you can plug into 95% of the TV’s out there.

–HDMI to VGA Adapter – This allows you to convert any HDMI (digital signal) to VGA (analog signal).  It’s great for making sure you can connect to any VGA TV or projector.

–VGA Output – Some PC’s have this output instead of HDMI, these are generally older PC’s and they work great but the only limitation is the TV or Projector you want to broadcast the presentation to, as long as you are connecting to a VGA input on the TV or Projector it’s a very simple, straightforward connection.  All you need is a straight VGA to VGA cord, plug one end into your computer and the other end into the TV or Projector.  The challenge with VGA comes as TV’s get cheaper and more and more do away with the VGA input in favor of HDMI.  If you were going to buy a new computer today you would want to make sure it has HDMI output.

–VGA to HDMI Converter – If you have a PC with the VGA output but you need to plug into a TV or projector that only takes HDMI you can pick up a number of different converter boxes that will do the trick.  They are relatively inexpensive and with them you will be able to cover 95% of all TV or Projectors.

Once you have the right adapters and converters it’s simply a matter of getting the right cords.  Ideally if you carry a 20 foot HDMI cable and a 20 foot VGA cable you will be ready for anything.

Outputs, Adapters, Converters and Cords For Mac users:
Macs are great for audio/visual presentations but their hardware and software is generally proprietary meaning that if you want to connect to anything Non-Mac you will need some type of adapter.

The two main outputs are as follows (there are others but these two are the main outputs)

Mac Book (the white notebooks) – This is what a Mini-DVI (digital video) Out looks like on the white Macbooks.
Mac Book Pro (the silver notebooks) – This is what a Mini-Display Out looks like on the silver Macbook Pro.  Notice the slot is smaller and in a different location from the white Macbook.

**NOTE**  There is a difference between the older white Macbooks and the newer silver Macbook Pro’s.  The older white laptops have what is called Mini-DVI adapters.  The silver Pro’s have what is called Mini-Display Port.  Check this link to really see the difference well explained.

Depending on which computer you have you will get the correct sized adapter.  From there it’s a matter of just covering your bases, the same way as with a PC.  Each Mac Mini DV Out has multiple ends to connect VGA, DVI, HDMI and more.  If you want to cover 95% of your TV’s and Projectors simply get a Mini to VGA and a Mini to HDMI remember that depending on your Mac you will need the appropriate adapter, the Macbook White laptops are older and have bigger outputs and Macbook Pro Silver laptops have outputs that are smaller (See pics above).  From there just plug the mini adapter into your Mac and then the VGA or HDMI cord into the adapter and run the other end to your TV or Projector.  Click this link to see what adapters you need for your computer and to order.

The cables are no different for Mac or for PC.