HDMI not listed.

[Vicario]

My friend wants to display his photos from his laptop onto his TV. There is an HDMI socket on his (five-year old) TV but when the Source menu is scrolled on the TV there is no mention of HDMI inputs. I've tried every single output and none of them is assigned to HDMI. Anything else I can try? I have got the laptop working on my brand new TV with no trouble, so the fault isn't on the computer side.

 

[Lucid]

Some TV's have the option to enable/disable various inputs to slim down the AV input menu. But most likely it's the laptop where the solution lies. You'll find most laptops use power saving to disable the VGA and HDMI monitor outputs when not being used. You have to press a combination of Fn and one of the function buttons which has the little TV screen icon This will switch on the output of the socket. It doesn't matter if the cable is connected. The button still needs to be pressed for the signal to go live.



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[Grizzly]

Some TV's have the option to enable/disable various inputs to slim down the AV input menu.

It could be this, and I've also noticed that some TVs (particularly Samsung) don't display the HDMI input option if they don't detect a signal on the input.

But most likely it's the laptop where the solution lies. You'll find most laptops use power saving to disable the VGA and HDMI monitor outputs when not being used. You have to press a combination of Fn and one of the function buttons which has the little TV screen icon This will switch on the output of the socket. It doesn't matter if the cable is connected. The button still needs to be pressed for the signal to go live.

If Windows 7, a much easier way of doing this is to press [Windows key] + P.
That will display an on-screen graphic that shows all 4 output modes of the laptop ('Disconnect Projector'; 'Duplicate'; 'Extend' and 'Projector Only'). Then one can either use the arrow and enter keys, or the mouse, to choose exactly which state they want.
Certainly beats cycling round the states using Fn + Fwhatever.

 

[kbdiy]

You don't mention the make of TV. Have you browsed the manufacturer's website for any clues? Some offer Firmware updates which may be necessary for a 5 yr old TV to enable the additional ports perhaps?