Lpatop to tv via vga/svid/rca adapter

Hello,
i am trying to get my laptop on my tv. i have a gateway ant the tv i am using has no real input settings. i bought a vga/svid/vga adapter for it and ran it throught my vcr. had all the settings set right and still got nothing i was wondering where in vista is the setting i would need to play with for the resolution to get it to work? if you could reply it would be a life saver.