(Last Updated On: December 1, 2021)

Fed up with watching movies on a smaller laptop screen? You can get the experience of a movie theatre at home. How about that? Just connect the Laptop to the TV and enjoy! Today I am going to tell you how to connect a Laptop to a TV. Let’s have a look!

Using a standard HDMI cable is the best way to connect a computer to your TV. You just need to connect one end to the laptop port and the other to the TV port. That’s all! You can hear sounds also through the tv speakers as the HDMI carries audio as well. Or else you can establish a wireless connection too. ReadMore: How To Protect Yourself Against Cybercrime?

However, there will be some instances where everything won’t go according to plan. And I am going to discuss such instances in this article with the solutions.

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What if your computer doesn’t have an HDMI port?

There are three sizes in HDMI connections.

1. Full size (Type A)
2. Mini
3. Micro

Usually, the ports in your PC and TV will be full-size ports. As displayed in red in the below example. But you need to remember that not all computers feature HDMI.

The latest models may have a USB-C port as an alternative. So you’ll need a USB-C to HDMI cable to proceed. Similarly, you can try an adapter to convert the USB-C, full-size USB 3.0, DVI, and DisplayPort connections to HDMI. Especially if you have a standard HDMI cable already.

If you only have a USB-C port and it is occupied already, you can try getting a hub to add more ports. And that will include an HDMI port too.

What to do if your computer doesn’t have any of the above options. You have one last choice. That is to use a VGA port to connect it to the TV. But you will need a separate audio connector as VGA doesn’t carry audio. So a VGA cable that comes with a 3.5mm audio connector will do the job.

My TV doesn’t have a spare HDMI port. What can I do?

You can use an HDMI switch to turn one port into multiple ports. Especially when all HDMI ports are currently occupied. These switches like Techole HDMI switches are not expensive at all. And it has 3 HDMI outputs as well!

Once you got such a switch first connect to the port labeled HDMI OUT to the TV using an HDMI cable. Now use the three HDMI IN ports to attach several HDMI-connected devices. There will be a button at the top of the switch. So that you can switch between the devices.

What if my HDMI cable isn’t long enough?

You might need to buy an extra-long HDMI cable for a well-mounted TV or if your tv is in an unusual place. Similarly, there are angled HDMI cables also. They are specially designed for TVs that are tightly fixed against the wall or have a port that is difficult to access.

Just click here to read more on other HDMI cable options.

I connected my laptop to the TV, but there is no sound. What can I do?

There are many possible reasons for this problem. Before moving on to the advanced fixes, I recommend you check whether the HDMI cable is inserted properly. Next, you can try another HDMI cable or a port. Then you have to confirm that the Settings of your PC are configured properly. Just right-click on the volume icon at the taskbar and select Sounds.  Then select the Playback tab and confirm the Digital Output or HDMI option is selected as the default.

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Sometimes you might not see these options here. In such cases right-click in that same window and ensure all disconnected and disabled devices are visible already. You can update the drivers of your sound card if they are still missing. Here’s how. Go to the website of your sound card manufacturer or you can use an application like Driver Easy.

There is no picture when I connect my laptop to my TV via HDMI

Usually, you don’t need to configure any settings to see the picture. But if you can’t see the video just check the connection first. Then proceed like this.

1. First press Windows key + P.
2. You will see a sidebar popping up with a number of display options lik Laptop Screen Only, Duplicate, Extend and Second Screen Only. The recommended options are Duplicate or Second Screen Only.

1. If you are still facing the problem, right click the Windows 10 desktop and select Display Settings.
2. Technically you should see twi displays as in the below image. If you don’t, your laptop was una ble to detect the TV. That indicates there is a problem in the HDMI connection itself. Just check whether it is inserted properly and try using a different cable or another port.

These are the troubleshooting steps if you do see the second screen. Firstly scroll down to Multiple Display options. Using this menu, you can select to mirror (duplicate) your laptop screen, extend the displays, or show only the TV.

How to connect your laptop to a TV wirelessly

Many gadgets can be used to act as a bridge between the computer and the TV to cast content from one to other; screen mirroring. These two words are slightly different techniques. One streams the content from within an app and the other replicates the laptop screen

When considering the technologies Wireless Display, Wi-FiDirect and Miracast are some examples. Amongst them, we recommend Roku Express for you. It’s a good choice because it’s cheap and can be plugged into your TV instead of HDMI. Then you can install apps for various catch-up TV services and movie subscription services. Similarly, you will be able to cast from a compatible device in the same way as the €30 Google Chromecast but with a mutch user-friendly interface.

Instead of a media streaming box, you can try wireless HDMI dongles like 4K dongles from Amazon. It’s the same as using an HDMI cable but instead of a cable, you have a wireless system.

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