How to connect to your TV through your computer

How to connect your TV to your computer

The idea to connect computer or laptop to TV is quite reasonable, if, for example, you often watch movies stored on your hard drive, play games, want to use TV as a second monitor, and in many other cases. By and large, connecting TV as a second monitor of your computer or laptop (or as the main monitor) is not a problem for most modern TV models.

In this article, I will talk in detail about how to connect your computer to TV via HDMI, VGA or DVI, about the different types of inputs and outputs that are most commonly used when connecting a TV, what cables or adapters you may need, and about the settings of Windows 10, 8.1 and Windows 7, with which you can set up different picture modes from your computer to your TV. Here are the options for wired connection, if you want to connect without wires, the instructions are here: How to connect the TV to the computer via Wi-Fi. Also may be useful: How to connect a laptop to a TV, How to watch TV online, How to connect two monitors to a computer in Windows 10, 8 and Windows 7.

How to connect your computer to your TV via Wi-Fi

In this article we will tell you how to correctly connect your computer via WI-FI to your TV, consider a few of the most popular options to date. The point of this connection is to be able to conveniently watch video files and photos stored in your computer or streamed over the Internet, on a large screen.

What you will need to establish a wireless connection?

Since Wi-Fi implies data exchange over the radio channel, you first need to make sure that your Smart TV, like your computer, has a built-in Wi-Fi module or optionally supports this technology.

As for laptops, almost all modern laptop models have a built-in Wi-Fi module. If you also want to connect a desktop PC to your TV set, you will need to buy a special Wi-Fi adapter.

The adapter can be made in the form of built-in system unit PCI-card with an antenna or external USB-module, which looks like an ordinary flash drive. The same external Wi-Fi adapter you may need to connect to the USB port of your TV, if it is not initially equipped with a built-in module. To avoid problems when connecting and configuring, it is better to buy adapters of the same brand as your TV.

It is worth paying attention to the Wi-Fi standard version that supports. It is better to choose the most current and fastest version of IEEE 802.11n. It has a wide bandwidth and will not cause lags and freezes the image on the TV screen. Don’t forget to update all drivers for your network devices as well.

The easiest way to wirelessly transfer pictures or music from your computer (laptop, tablet) to your TV is using the following methods:

• Via LAN via Wi-Fi router (computer. router. TV set).
• Using Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) or Wi-Fi Miracast (wireless monitor) technologies.

Connecting your TV to your computer using a Wi-Fi router (DLNA technology)

To organize wireless data transfer between multiple devices, they must have built-in or external Wi-Fi modules and be connected to a single local network via a Wi-Fi router. The TV set must support DLNA technology, a set of universal standards for multimedia exchange. You can check the accompanying technical documentation to see if this feature is available, although today all Smart TVs support DLNA.

We switch on our Wi-Fi router and configure it for DHCP mode (automatic distribution of the network settings) and assign the password for logging into the local network.

Using the remote control, enter the TV menu, go to “Network” and open the “Network Setup” tab. In the Network Setup Wizard that opens, activate the “Wireless connection” item. Choose your Wi-Fi network from the opened list, wait till the connection is checked and enter the access password.

If the router supports WPS, it is even easier to connect the TV to Wi-Fi network. You need to select the appropriate item (WPS/PWS) in the wizard of the TV settings and hold the WPS button on the router till the connection is established.

Install a media-server on your PC

To put it simply, in order to transfer files to your TV over the local network, you will have to create several folders on your computer to store different types of multimedia files (videos, music, photos). Then expand access to these folders from all devices connected to a common network, including the TV.

The easiest way to do this is to use any convenient for you media server program which is designed for organizing access to network resources from various connected devices. There are many programs that solve this problem: AllShare (Samsung Link), Samsung PC ShareManager, SmartShare, Serviio media server, Plex Media Server, Home Media Server and others.

Download the program to your computer, install it, set it up conveniently and run it. After the media server is launched you should enter the TV settings where you will see the folders with media content available for demonstration. Now you can browse your computer‘s files, launching them directly from your TV screen.

Connect your TV to your computer using WiDi/Miracast technology

Unlike DLNA technology, this option to wirelessly display multimedia information from your computer to your TV, allows you to view not only the files stored on your computer’s hard drive, but also those played online in its built-in web browser.

However, the technology WiDi/Miracast (screen mirroring) is very demanding to computer resources, so it is supported only by individual computers (laptops, tablets) with powerful hardware. And, of course, these advanced technologies must be implemented in the TVs. If your TV only optionally supports WiDi/Miracast, you’ll need to purchase a special adapter, which you can then plug into one of its HDMI ports.

The principle of wireless monitor technology is that the picture that is displayed at the moment on your computer screen is compressed using a special algorithm, and then is mirrored over the Wi-Fi channel to the big TV screen. You do not need to connect the TV set to the Wi-Fi network with the PC using the router: the TV receiver only sets up a separate mini-network for the PC connection.

To start transmitting images, you need to install a special application Intel Wireless Display on your computer (if it was not pre-installed) and start broadcasting in it. In the TV menu, the WiDi/Miracast function must be activated. You can do this in its settings by entering the “Network” tab and then going to “Miracast/Intel WiDi”.

If the materials of this article did not help you to solve your question, ask it on our forum.

How to connect your PC to your TV via Wi-Fi

Today’s smart TVs can be connected to computers wirelessly via Wi-Fi. Technologies like DLNA and Wi-Fi Direct allow you to stream videos, music and other content to a TV screen or fully duplicate the image from your computer on your TV, turning the latter into a wireless monitor. And in the case of Wi-Fi Direct, you don’t even need a router.

For example, LG devices have a Smart Share service for similar functions. And Samsung televisions offer similar features as part of the AllShare service.

Wireless connection settings may vary depending on the manufacturer and the TV model. Some devices establish a connection in semi-automatic mode. Others require additional software to be installed on the connected computer.

Therefore, it is difficult to formulate a universal instruction that will fit all users. If you want to connect your TV to your PC via Wi-Fi, you can find the necessary information in a paper manual or on the manufacturer’s official site along with the necessary software for this.

Connecting a laptop computer to a TV set via HDMI cable

If you are interested, I will show you by the example of a laptop Asus K56CM and a slightly outdated LG 32LN575U TV, which, by the way, we have connected to Wi-Fi in this article.

So, one end of the cable must be plugged into the HDMI connector on the TV. They are labeled. There can be more than one. Doesn’t matter which one you plug it into.

Plug the other end of the cable into the HDMI connector on your laptop.

Or, to the video card on the system unit. If you have a desktop computer.

Most likely, the picture on the TV will not appear immediately. You need to select the signal source in the settings. On LG televisions, you need to press the INPUT button on the remote control.

And use the joystick on the remote control to select the desired HDMI, to which we connected the cable. In my case it is HDMI2. It will be active. If your TV is not LG, then there should also be a button that you can use to switch signal sources. If it does not work, write in the Комментарии и мнения владельцев, we will figure it out.

This is it, you should see the image from your laptop on your TV.

In the Комментарии и мнения владельцев, Dmitriy suggested that it is imperative to change the device name for the selected HDMI input on the TV. Because it changes some of the parameters that can affect the quality of the image. So I recommend that you do this.

In the menu select HDMI input (as pictured above) press the red button on the remote control. In the menu on the TV, it’s “Change device name” item. In the menu that appears, select the HDMI input, in which we connected the laptop and below select “Laptop”.

We’re done with connectivity. You can already use and enjoy the picture on the big screen. And I will also show you how you can configure the image output on the laptop, consider a possible problem with the output picture and sound. When the sound after connection will not come from the TV, but from the speakers of the laptop.

Wireless connection to the TV. Wi-Fi

Wireless technology is convenient and it is a trend of the modern market of electronic equipment. So first, let’s look at options for connecting your laptop to your TV using Wi-Fi-based technologies: using DLNA (you can also use a router), Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Di, Miracast, and Chromecast. The TV-set must have Smart TV supporting this technology (otherwise you will need to buy a set-top box), and the laptop must have Windows 7, 8, or 10.

Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Di, Miracast. Allows you to duplicate the laptop screen on the TV, as well as enabling the viewing of multimedia content.

Direct connection

To connect via Wi-Fi Direct, you need to do the following steps:

• Turn on Wi-Fi-adapters on both devices.
• Select “Home” (can be called “Menu”, “Settings”) on TV.
• Then go to “Network” (“Network”), in different TV models it can be “Device Connector”, “SmartShare”, “Source” tab, and activate Wi-Fi Direct.

Among the disadvantages of connecting via Direct. Low signal delay, short distance for data transmission between devices.

Wi-Di technology

Intel Wireless Display. developed by Intel wirelessly transmits content from laptops, ultrabooks, tablets to Smart TV and allows you to play 1080p HD video and 5.1 surround sound on compatible monitors.

To connect your TV with a laptop via Wi-Di, both devices must support this technology. This connection requires a few steps:

• On TV enter “Menu” (“Home”).
• Then you need to go to the “Network” tab.
• Select “ScreenShare” pairing mode in the opened window. monitor dubbing or “Content Share”. content broadcasting.
• Connection options will be proposed. Activate Wi-Di (may be referred to as “Intel Wi-Di”).

Connection with Miracast

One of the most popular ways. The TV must support this technology to connect via Miracast, or a separate adapter can be used. The second prerequisite is that the TV and the laptop must be inside the same wireless LAN. You also need to have a Miracast software installed on your computer, such as EZCast. After that you need to do the following:

• Turn on Miracast on your TV.
• Run the Miracast app on your laptop.
• There, click on the “Search Device” button.

Pairing with Chromecast

Among wireless connectivity technologies, Chromecast is unfairly overlooked. And it is a good way to use your TV without Smart TV. But with Chromecast you can only stream photos, videos, music and browsing.

This connection option requires a router connected to your laptop and a Chromecast STB connected to the TV. You don’t have to make any complicated settings, you just have to do the following:

• Launch Chrome browser on your computer.
• Open the menu in the upper right corner of the screen.
• Select “Broadcast.
• Select the name of your TV and what you want to broadcast in the pop-up window.

Connecting with DLNA

DLNA is supposed to play only multimedia content from a hard drive or SSD, without the ability to duplicate or expand the monitor. Your notebook computer and TV set must be in the same network. Connection via DLNA requires the following steps:

• Download and install a multimedia server on your laptop, configure it (instructions on settings can be found on the Internet).
• Create a folder on the computer, where the files will be stored (it is better to use Latin letters for the name).
• Pointing the cursor on a new folder, open the contextual menu, go to Properties-Access-extended settings and put a tick mark for the permission of the general access to a folder. Save Settings.

Then you have to find “Media server” on your TV (the name can be different in some TV sets). This tab can be found under “Inputs”, “Networks”, “Settings” or “Photos and Videos”, also depending on the TV model. Now you can go to the folder created on the laptop and view or listen to its contents: photos, videos, music through the TV.

Connecting a 4k TV to the computer. Ultra HD on HDMI

If you have an Ultra HD TV (aka 4k) and your graphics card supports this resolution, you stand a good chance of getting nice, crisp images. I checked it, it works. I have a 4k tv from Philips. And my computer has a GeForce GTX 750Ti graphics card which supports up to 4096×2160.

There are a lot of nuances. I am not a gamer, so I will try to explain how I can. The thing is that you can output a 4k image via HDMI, and I can do it. But most likely we will get a frame refresh rate of 30 Hz. Which is very little. To get 60 Hz, we need a video card with HDMI 2.0 and the same cable. That is why they use DVI cables to connect to 4k monitors. And I haven’t seen DVI in TVs.

I plugged everything in, started the computer, and saw that the picture on the TV is kind of weird, the colors are all wrong. Maybe it is only in my case.

The solution is very simple. First, I disabled UHD (Ultra HD) on the HDMI port of my PC in the TV settings. The picture turned out fine, but the resolution was the usual 1920×1080. So, this method does not suit us very well.

To get a true 4k image with natural colors you just need to change the display properties in Windows 10 to the maximum resolution of 3840×2160.

The image immediately returned to normal. Also the scale was automatically set to 300%. Otherwise, everything would be very small. This can be changed if needed. I have not tried to play at this resolution. But I don’t think it’s realistic. over, the video card on my computer is not the newest and not the most powerful.

I’m waiting for your Комментарии и мнения владельцев. Ask questions and don’t forget to share your tips. Have a nice day!

Connecting your computer to your TV. why you need it?

Firstly, you can use the TV equipment as a big screen to watch movies, and secondly, comfortably play your favorite video games. Use a pair of gaming joysticks or virtual reality glasses to fully immerse yourself in a virtual reality world. You can even use your LCD TV to talk to family and friends over Skype. Then the picture will be displayed on a big screen, which will make communication more pleasant. Computer can be used for other purposes or to duplicate the picture on two monitors simultaneously.

PC and TV are used together for business purposes. To show various presentations on the TV screen, use a laptop computer. A computer display is not capable of delivering images with the same good quality and color as a modern television.

Pairing is done using standard cables or by wireless connection. Setup takes minutes. The method should be chosen on the basis of the TV model.

Connect via Wi-Fi

Modern models of TVs with Smart TV function have a built-in Wi-Fi module, which will be useful for connecting your device with your PC and displaying images on the screen.

To do this, connect to a wireless network via the equipment settings, connect to this network on your PC. Now via the Control Panel go to the screen menu, enable monitor search in the resolution settings window. When the computer detects all monitors, you can broadcast your desktop on the big screen. To do this, both the computer and the TV must support Wireless Display (WiDi) technology, and it must be enabled.

If your TV is Miracast-enabled, or you use a special set-top box, all you need to do is install an app on your computer for broadcasting to the TV via Wi-Fi, such as the EZCast utility. After that, you only need to connect your TV and computer to the same Wi-Fi network, so they can work together, just like with a cable connection.

All of the described connection methods will allow you to transfer the image from the computer screen to the TV. Basically, connecting the equipment with HDMI cable is one of the most attractive and logical options, since this format of signal transmission will allow you to get a high quality picture with a clear sound. But the best way depends on the parameters of the equipment and which of these options is the most convenient for you.