With the current trend for TV streaming services, more and more people are watching television via their computers, but why waste that TV sitting in the corner? Let’s discuss how to use HDMI to connect your computer to the television so that streamed content can be viewed on a larger screen.

Getting Started

Getting started is fairly easy. All you are going to need is a computer that has an HDMI port, an HDTV and an HDMI cable. You might find that you have a choice of different types of HDMI cable – a chunkier one that you probably already have connection your cable box to the TV, or a slimmer unidirectional style. Either type of cable is going to be just fine for this purpose, so you are fine to just use whatever you already have at hand if you don’t want to go out and buy something especially.

The first step is to plug the HDMI cable into your television, remembering to take note of which input port you have used. You then connect the other end to your computer. Switch on your TV and use the input menu to select the appropriate port that you are plugged into. At this point it is very likely that your television screen will remain blank so do not worry about that just yet, this is because you have not yet configured the connection.

Configuring Your Computer

The next step is configuring your computer to allow a signal to be sent via the HDMI connection. Windows will not automatically detect this connection. You will need to access the control panel and choose the ‘Adjust Screen Resolution’ menu. You should have two displays on the screen with one of them disabled. Click on the disabled display and choose the option that will allow you to ‘extend the desktop onto this monitor’. When you hit apply, your television should display your windows desktop.

The final step is to get your screen resolution right so that the desktop is spread across your entire TV screen. Most users will have success with 1100 x 650 or 1184 x 666, but you can adjust the levels to suit your own television Once this has been completed you can simply use your computer to play your chosen content and whatever you pull up on the computer should be displayed on the screen! It really is as easy as that!

Making The Most of Your New Trick

This process is something that is probably most useful to cord cutters, but even if you still enjoy your cable or satellite subscription there is still some benefit to knowing how to connect your computer to the television. Providers like Direct TV offer streaming content as part of their subscriptions. For example, if you travel a lot then you can use this trick to hook your laptop up to hotel room television and take advantage of any ‘on the go’ streaming services that your provider has to offer! You can check here for Direct TV availability in your area.

You could also do this to watch home video content that you have stored on your laptop on a big screen. This is especially useful if you happen to be visiting friends or family and you want to show off videos of your kids’ recent recital or similar. The possibilities are endless.

Connecting your computer to your TV is easy and can be done in just a few basic steps with very little effort.