How To Connect DVD Player To A Smart TV?(With/Without HDMI)

Even though it’s impossible to imagine life without Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Now, and other streaming services there are still plenty of folks that like to watch movies from their DVD collection.

How the connect your DVD player to a Smart TV? The easiest way is to use an HDMI cable. Plug one side of the HDMI cable into your player, the other one into the TV. It provides by far the best picture and sound quality. Alternatively, you can use a composite RCA(poor picture quality) or component AV cables.

Luckily, hooking up a DVD player to a smart TV – or a Roku TV – is easier than a lot of people think. Even if you don’t have HDMI! Let’s run through your options right now. Check out the list of the HDMI DVD player options on Amazon now!

How to Connect a DVD Player to a Smart TV

Here’s how you can connect your DVD player to your smart TV in just a few simple steps.

First, you need to identify the type of connection that your DVD player has.

• Most modern DVD players are going to use HDMI, the universal standard for these kinds of electronics.
• Older DVD players, though, take advantage of composite video signals.

It might be worth upgrading to an HDMI DVD player if you have the budget (they aren’t very expensive). But either way, you should still be able to connect your DVD player all the same.

1. Use HDMI  Video Cable

Luckily, most modern DVDs come with an HDMI port as previously mentioned. You will need to get a double-end HDMI cable.

1. Plug the HDMI cable into the appropriate spot on your DVD player.
2. Run the cable to the appropriate slot on your TV (choosing the right input).
3. Change the video signal option on your TV to the right configuration to show your DVD player.
4. You should see the DVD Player logo on your TV screen.

Tip: This option is the easiest and will provide you with the highest video and sound quality.

2. Use the Component AV Cables

These cables can either be Green, Blue, and Red Or Green, Blue, Red and also White. Nevertheless, these colors have their matching component colors on the TV or DVD port. So you will just need to find the matching colors.

1. Plug the component cables into the appropriate spots on your DVD player.
2. Run the cables to the appropriate slots on your TV (choosing the right input).
3. Change the video signal option on your TV to the right configuration to show your DVD player.
4. You should see the DVD Player logo on your TV screen.

Tip: This variant will provide you with decent sound and video quality.

3. Use Composite RCA Cables

These cables are usually Red, White, and Yellow cords with both ends for audio and video.

1. Plug the audio and video composite cables into the appropriate spots on your DVD player.
2. Run the cables to the appropriate slots on your TV (choosing the right input).
3. Change the video signal option on your TV to the right configuration to show your DVD player.
4. You should see the DVD Player logo on your TV screen.

Tip: We don’t recommend this option unless you have no other variants because it provides the lowest picture and sound quality.

How to Connect a DVD Player to a Roku TV

Connecting a DVD player to your Roku TV is just as simple and as straightforward.

You’ll want to first identify the kind of connection that your DVD player uses (most of them use HDMI now).

1. Plugin the HDMI cable into your DVD player.
2. Run that cable into any of the three HDMI inputs on the side or back of your Roku TV.
3. Power your TV on, select the appropriate HDMI source, and then confirm that your DVD player is working.
4. Pop a disk in, hit the play button, and watch your favorite movie!

How to Connect an Old DVD Player to a New TV

As we highlighted a moment ago, not all DVD players take advantage of the more modern HDMI input/output standard.

In the early days of DVD players (before HD TVs were as ubiquitous as they are today) most used a composite or analog system to get the signal from the DVD player itself into a TV.

Luckily, today’s TV manufacturers haven’t abandoned this classic standard (at least not yet, anyway).

You’re probably not going to have a whole bunch of composite or analog inputs on the back of your TV these days. But there should be at least one open slot available for you to connect older pieces of entertainment hardware like a classic DVD player.

All you’ll need to do is identify that your older DVD player uses the composite cables. This is obvious if the output is a yellow video output with two audio outputs (white and red).

1. Connect composite cables to the output on your DVD player.
2. Check the back of your TV to confirm that it has composite input options (the same yellow, white, and red plugs) and hook everything up in the correct location.
3. You should be good to go.

Of course, you can also pick up a converter if you want to use an older DVD player with composite output on a TV that does not have composite input.

These converters are really inexpensive but transform composite signals into HDMI signals so that you can use older electronics with your newer TV.

In case you happened to have component cables, follow these steps:

1. Plug the component cables into the appropriate spots on your DVD player.
2. Run the cables to the appropriate slots on your TV (choosing the right input).
3. Change the video signal option on your TV to the right configuration to show your DVD player.

You can always grab a converter for this cable type as well.

How to Connect a DVD Player to a TV without HDMI

If you have a TV that doesn’t have HDMI support you’ll have to go with the composite or component cables setup. Follow these steps:

1. Plug the audio and video composite cables into the appropriate spots on your DVD player.
2. Run the cables to the appropriate slots on your TV (choosing the right input).
3. Change the video signal option on your TV to the right configuration to show your DVD player.

Or

1. Plug the component cables into the appropriate spots on your DVD player.
2. Run the cables to the appropriate slots on your TV (choosing the right input).
3. Change the video signal option on your TV to the right configuration to show your DVD player.

This is perfectly fine if you have a DVD player that has a composite output as well, but what if you have a DVD player with an HDMI output and TVs that do not have HDMI inputs?

Well, then you’re going to want to get your hands on one of those converters we mentioned above – except this time you need a converter to transform your HDMI signal into a composite one.

Again, these are difficult to track down online and really aren’t very expensive.

You could even skip connecting your DVD player directly to your TV as well, choosing to route it through a media receiver that goes to a surround sound system (for example) before plugging into your TV with the appropriate connections.

At the end of the day, there are plenty of options out there for you to get your setup up and running no matter what kinds of connections you have on the back of your DVD player or on the back of your TV!

There’s always a way to get the job done right.

Closing Thoughts

So there you have it, a couple of ways to easily (and quickly) connect your DVD player to a smart TV or a Roku TV.

As you can see, getting your DVD player ready to rock and roll with your smart TV or a Roku TV doesn’t have to be a headache or hassle.

Use the tips and tricks we highlighted above and you’ll be watching your favorite DVDs in record time, including classics you can’t find on any of the popular services right now.