What kind of adapters/wires do I need.

Now I have been looking all over the interweb and I can't find anything that explains exactly what I need to do I was hoping i could maybe find the help I need here so thanks in advance for any help that any of you can provide.

What i really want to know is What kind of wires/adpaters i need to use my 42'' Olevia lcd as a display for my Imac?

We don't know without you telling us which iMac you have and the model # of your Olevia TV.

Or tell us what port is on the iMac and what ports are on the TV.

Oh wow sorry I have a 2.66 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo Imac, i don't know the names of 2 of the ports i have.

I have 3 usb's in the back

then there is one with a rectangle symbol with to lines on each side

then there are 2 different ports with the same symbol a circle in the middle then 3 branches coming off of it made of small lines. (sorry i wish i could explain it better)

And i dont know the model number of the tv but it has vga & hdmi imputs.

The rectangle with 2 lines is the mini display port and the other two are firewire ports. You are probably going to need a mini-display to vga adapter. I am not sure if there is a mini to hdmi option out there.

so i have to get the vga adapter? then could i get a vga to hdmi cord to the tv?

Is this the current model iMac or the one from 2008?

cool, and i got in in june of 08

In that case it does not have the mini-display port. The 2008 model has a mini-dvi port.

You will need a mini-DVI to VGA adapter or mini-DVI to HDMI adapter and then either a standard VGA cable or HDMI cable.

You can find these at monoprice.com or not quite as cheap at Amazon.

thanks for the help looks like what i need. very excited to get this all set up

You'll also need a separate audio cable to get the sound from the Mac to the TV or to your A/V receiver.
Probably something like this.

The VGA port on the TV will have separate plugs for the audio. Not all TV's have these for the HDMI inputs.

You might want to dig out the manual for the Olevia to check this, but also to check what resolutions it's VGA port will accept.
Some of these have a very narrow set of resolutions they will support through VGA before you end up being disappointed.

edit: FYI: there is no VGA to HDMI cable.

ahh ok thanks for the heads up..

would it be possible to run it this way and avoid the audio cable

Apple Mini-DVI to DVI Adapter - Apple Store (U.S.) and then hook it up to this Belkin HDMI to DVI Cable - 12 ft. - Apple Store (U.S.)

i know its more spendy but i prefer one direct hook up then 2 wires coming from the mac... plus i could probably find some cheap one of these

You could use the above but would have no audio via the TV. Although HDMI supports audio, the Mac's mini DVI port doesn't.

ah ok, so it looks like i have to get a audio cable

Um... so would it be better to go just straight VGA or Hdmi quality-wise? or are they about the same?