How to watch TV

[phideaux]

Thanks y'all.

I been doing more research , it looks like for $29 , chrome cast may be the way to go.
I have 4 hdmi inputs to my tv, and am only using 1.

So I buy the chromecast dongle , plug it in to hdmi on tv.
Cast my phone via bluetooth and my problem is solved without a constricting cable.

I think someone here is using chromecast.
Any comments?

Jim

 

[UrbanHunter]

We use chromecast, the wife can cast to the TV from her phone or the computer, it works for moving things off the little screen without a big cable.

 

[Haertig]

Jim, look into that massive menu structure on your TV. You can cast to it directly, without needing a ChromeCast. I have done it on my TV, and yours is the higher end model, so I'm sure it has it. Specifically, I have cast the screen from a Windows 10 PC directly to the Samsung TV. It worked, but was underwhelming. This could have been, and probably was, because of the Windows end of the connection. I was not casting movies, I was casting a training video from a web browser. I never tried it casting from my tablet, because my tablet is so cheap that it doesn't support it. I haven't tried with my smartphone though. A Moto G7 (apparently we still think a lot alike - both having Samsung TV's and Moto phones!) Maybe the Moto phone supports casting - I've never investigated that.

I can't remember off the top of my head where I found the place in the Samsung TV's menus to turn on "casting reception" or whatever they called it. If I get a few moments later I will go over to the TV and see if I can locate that again. ANd I'll try digging through my phone to see if I can figure out how to cast with it.

 

[Caribou]

I watch TV the same way I have for decades. Turn it on, click through the channels, click through the channels, click through the channels, turn it off. Repeat in three hours.

 

[phideaux]

I watch TV the same way I have for decades. Turn it on, click through the channels, click through the channels, click through the channels, turn it off. Repeat in three hours.

That's exactly what we do also.

I'm just tired of paying to do that.
I might just try that chromecast with my phone and watch what I want to.

Jim

 

[phideaux]

@Haertig , slide your home screen down twice and you'll see cast.

Jim

 

[Meerkat]

Haven’t had TV for 20 years

26 years for us.

 

[phideaux]

Well, I'm still trying to figure out how to get my phone to cast to my tv.

I've decided to buy the new Chromecast dongle, .
But,
Everything I read says gotta have wifi...now does that mean you gotta have internet...because I do not have internet (except my cell phone).
I do have a wifi router . My security camera uses it to my tablet monitor.

Why do I need wifi to connect the chromecast?
Doesn't it connect by direct bluetooth .
Or , can I setup the chromecast to connect to my wifi router and connect my phone to my router and and cast to the Chromecast via the router?

I'm too old to hurt my brain this much.

Anybody got answers for me ?

Jim

 

[backlash]

Well, I'm still trying to figure out how to get my phone to cast to my tv.

I've decided to buy the new Chromecast dongle, .
But,
Everything I read says gotta have wifi...now does that mean you gotta have internet...because I do not have internet (except my cell phone).
I do have a wifi router . My security camera uses it to my tablet monitor.

Why do I need wifi to connect the chromecast?
Doesn't it connect by direct bluetooth .
Or , can I setup the chromecast to connect to my wifi router and connect my phone to my router and and cast to the Chromecast via the router?

I'm too old to hurt my brain this much.

Anybody got answers for me ?

Jim

You should be able to use your router to connect your phone to your TV without internet. My internet goes out and all my wifi stays connected together. Just connect them both to the same wifi router and cast away.

 

[phideaux]

Ok.

Shouldn't I also be able to connect to it with bluetooth?

Jim

 

[UrbanHunter]

This guy is connecting a tv to phone directly, he goes through a lot of different systems, phones, computers, and what ever

 

[phideaux]

This guy is connecting a tv to phone directly, he goes through a lot of different systems, phones, computers, and what ever

That's what I'm trying to avoid.

I want simple.

I have a smart tv.
If I had internet I could do a lot.


Jim

 

[Haertig]

Bluetooth is not used for casting video like this. It does not have the bandwidth to support reasonable video quality at the level you'd want for TV viewing. It's analogous to the fire department using 3 inch hoses to put out a fire rather than garden hoses. You just can't get enough water down a garden hose to do the job (in the case of video, we're talking data instead of water).

Casting uses a standard network connection between point A and point B. Your WiFi router provides this over what is called the LAN ("Local Area Network"). The internet is on "the other side" of the router, what's called the WAN ("Wide Area Network"). A router "routes" traffic from one network (or subnet) to another - in the normal case for a home router "from the WAN to the LAN". Since both devices - your TV and your smartphone - are on the same network (the LAN), they do not even need a router to talk to each other. But you have to be careful when I say "do not need a router". What they need to talk to each other is called a "switch" (or a "hub" - a slightly different piece of hardware). But what everyone calls a "router" these days is actually three separate parts - an "access point", a "router", and a "switch". All bundled together into one thing that we generically (and confusingly) call a router. But devices hooked up to your LAN really only need the "switch" part of the WiFi router to communicate with each other.

That was a very long-winded way to say, "No, you do not need the internet", and "No, bluetooth won't work".

 

[phideaux]

Bluetooth is not used for casting video like this. It does not have the bandwidth to support reasonable video quality at the level you'd want for TV viewing. It's analogous to the fire department using 3 inch hoses to put out a fire rather than garden hoses. You just can't get enough water down a garden hose to do the job (in the case of video, we're talking data instead of water).

Casting uses a standard network connection between point A and point B. Your WiFi router provides this over what is called the LAN ("Local Area Network"). The internet is on "the other side" of the router, what's called the WAN ("Wide Area Network"). A router "routes" traffic from one network (or subnet) to another - in the normal case for a home router "from the WAN to the LAN". Since both devices - your TV and your smartphone - are on the same network (the LAN), they do not even need a router to talk to each other. But you have to be careful when I say "do not need a router". What they need to talk to each other is called a "switch" (or a "hub" - a slightly different piece of hardware). But what everyone calls a "router" these days is actually three separate parts - an "access point", a "router", and a "switch". All bundled together into one thing that we generically (and confusingly) call a router. But devices hooked up to your LAN really only need the "switch" part of the WiFi router to communicate with each other.

That was a very long-winded way to say, "No, you do not need the internet", and "No, bluetooth won't work".

Ok gotcha. Somewhat.
Where's the "switch"?

Where does the chromecast dongle come into play?

Jim

 

[backlash]

Connecting your TV to your wifi, then connect your phone to the same wifi, then cast from your phone and it should work.

 

[phideaux]

Connecting your TV to your wifi, then connect your phone to the same wifi, then cast from your phone and it should work.

Cast to the chrome cast?
Because I've tried , with both tv and phone ,on same wifi network , and can't get it to cast.
That's where I was hoping I could just pair to the chromecast and chromecast would cast to tv thru the hdmi connect.

Jim

 

[Haertig]

I do not have a Chromecast. But from what I understand about the older ones, you could ONLY cast to them from the Chrome web browser (i.e., what you could see in your web browser is what you would see on screen). You initiated the cast from within the Chrome web browser, not from a phone menu.

I do think they may have changed that over the years. But I don't know, since I don't have a Chromecast.

That's where I was hoping I could just pair to the chromecast and chromecast would cast to tv thru the hdmi connect.

That's how it works, except "pair" is not the correct term. You "cast" to the Chromecast. The question is, "How do you cast to the Chromecast?" I typed that exact question into Google and there are a lot of hits. I did not explore those to find out the process though. Just from scanning the Google hit synopsis's I get the impression that you can cast from the Chrome web browser or from a "Chromecast enabled app", whatever the heck that is.

The way I understand Chromecast to work (and my understanding would be 100% wrong!), is that it is different from "screen mirroring". What mirroring is, is the video stream comes into your phone, then your phone forwards that video stream to your TV. The phone is in the middle of the loop, constantly busy and eating up battery during mirroring. "Casting" is different. The video stream may indeed come into your phone initially, but by some magic method the stream is transferred to your TV (the Chromecast dongle technically) and your phone is out of the loop from then on. Maybe the phone still provides some monitoring and control function, but it is not a middleman in forwarding the actual video stream. But remember, with me not owning a Chromecast myself, I am only parroting "what I have read on the internet". Which as we all know, may not be accurate! Also, the Chromecast dongle has evolved and improved over the years. So something you see on the internet may well be outdated information. Initially, the Chromecast was only accessible via the Chrome web browser. Apparently now, there are things called "Chromecast enabled apps" (whatever that is!) And there could be even newer ways of accessing the Chromecast dongle that I haven't stumbled into yet. So if you turn up conflicting information in Google searches, look to see if the article you're reading has a publication date. Search out the new stuff and ignore the old.

 

[Haertig]

Also note: When your phone has an option to "cast", that does not necessarily mean "cast to a Chromecast dongle". There are different types of casting/mirroring technologies, and they are not all compatible with each other. It would be great if your phones built-in cast technology just happened to mean it's "a Chromecast enabled device". But the phone could be implementing "mirroring" and just mislabeling it "casting". That's the problem with new technologies - there are no standards for a few years. It's the wild west out there!

 

[phideaux]

@Haertig , I believe there's an app for Android to cast to Chromecast. I gotta check out apps.

[Crying] I just want to be able to watch the kids basketball , which they stream on youtube on the big screen.

Jim

 

[Haertig]

Youtube can be watched in a web browser, they make the Chrome web browser for Android, which can stream to a Chromecast - so you should be good to go. Well, I should qualify that to say that the Chrome web browser can stream to Chromecast from a computer installation of that web browser. I would assume that the Chrome web browser for Android could stream the same way, but I don't know from personal experience (I don't use Chrome web browser on Android, nor do I have a Chromecast!) But I think it should work for you that way.

Also, check into the YouTube app for Android (vs. accessing YouTube via a web browser). It may well be that the YouTube app is one of those "Chromecast enabled apps" that I mentioned. Especially since YouTube is owned by Google (the makers of Chromecast).

 

[phideaux]

Yeah , I'm gonna order the Chromecast dongle , and then I can play.
It's only $29.

Jim

 

[Meerkat]

Don't use the cell phone enough to know how to use it, hubby uses it now and then to text or receive tests from business.

 

[Neb]

Yeah , I'm gonna order the Chromecast dongle , and then I can play.
It's only $29.

Jim

We use a Roku device on all of our tvs.

All I have to do is to open a YouTube video
Click the video display
Click the "cast to" icon (looks like a small screen with arches in bottom left corner)
Select which Roku

Bingo what is on the smart phone is shown on the big screen.

Disclaimer
All of my Roku players are connected to Internet via wireless. They use internet to manage channels and update software. We have internet to support The Princess working from home needs.

With Rokus watch;
YouTube
Blazetv
Vudu
Prime
Disney+


Starlink (Elon Musk) may also be an alternative. Supposed to be ok for streaming video but can be laggy if doing on-line gaming.

Just sharing other options.

Ben

 

[phideaux]

Yeah , I'm gonna order the Chromecast dongle , and then I can play.
It's only $29.

Jim

Well I went to WM Sat morning, picked up the Chromecast.
Been trying for 2 days, everything I can read, and see on youtube...
No luck.

I have a dumb phone or a dumb tv.

I just can't believe I can't get my phone to cast to the tv.

About to give up.

Uuuggghhh.

Jim

 

[Haertig]

The TV should not be in the game. Everything is done between the Chromecast and the smartphone. The TV just sees and HDMI device plugged in - it doesn't know or care if that's a DVD player, a satellite box, etc.

Are you getting some kind of display on the screen after the Chromecast boots? A logo or something? If not, and you're only seeing a black screen or something that says "no input", then it could be an HDMI problem. But if you're seeing a logo or other generic Chromecast image, that pretty much clears the HDMI aspect of things (and your TV), with the only place the problem could be occurring is between the Chromecast and your phone.

Assuming you are seeing a logo or similar, have you checked the admin screen on your router (usually there is a web login to control a router)? Can you see that the Chromecast has successfully connected to your router? Can you see that your cellphone has successfully connected to your router? Are they on the same network? (i.e., you can't have the phone on your normal LAN network and the Chromecast on a different "guest" network). They need to both be on the same network to communicate. How are you trying to cast? Are you using a "Chromecast enabled" app on the smartphone? Are you using the Chrome web browser on the phone?

 

[phideaux]

I do get a big colored number in the middle of screen , with message that says no internet connection , try
again.

I'm using Google Home app, that's what instructions say to use. Go thru setup , then I get the above.

On my phone wifi networks, Chromecast even comes up as a network .
I'm be tried setting both to that...same thing , no device found.


The phone and Chromecast are connected to same wifi.

My problem is they are not connecting to each other for some reason.

I use Cast on phone , no device found.
I use cast on youtube, says no device found , and I know both are connected to the same wifi.

Don't make sense to me.

Jim

 

[Haertig]

I forgot that you do not have internet connected to your WiFi router, you only have internet via your phone over a cellular connection.

I did a little Googling to see if the Chromecast absolutely requires internet. It normally uses internet, but that will only work if your WiFi router (that the Chromecast is connected to) has internet. Yours does not.

In my post above ( How to watch TV ) I mentioned the difference between "casting" and "screen mirroring". Casting will not work for you, because that requires the Chromecast to have internet connectivity, and yours doesn't. But I just found out in my Googling that the Chromecast will also support screen mirroring. Which is what you will need to do since your Chromecast does not have internet connectivity. This is good. I did not realize that a Chromecast would also support mirroring, but the news ones indeed do this. So in theory, you're not sunk yet.

It looks like for mirroring to work, you first have to get your Chromecast disconnected from your routers WiFi (I saw that mentioned in one of the articles I linked to below). The Chromecast evidently has it's own WiFi network that it uses for mirroring. You said you already saw this Chromecast network on your phone's WiFi networks, and tried connecting to it. If that didn't work, I wonder if it might be because your Chromecast was already connected to your routers WiFi? Therefore the Chromecast thought it had internet and wasn't responding to its built-in WiFi network. I don't know - I'm just guessing here.

Here are a couple of articles I found on using a Chromecast without WiFi and without internet. Even though sometimes they intermix "WiFi" with "internet" they are two separate things. In your case, you DO have WiFi. But you do NOT have internet (not to the Chromecast at least, but your phone has it via its cellular data plan). So you have to research and read carefully to make sure you are attacking the right problem.

I saw mention of a Chromecast feature named "Guest Access". I do not think that is what you want. That appears to be a way to control the Chromecast from a device (phone) that does not have WiFi, but the Chromecast itself must have internet. That is not your situation.

Below are some articles I found that may or may not be helpful. Just Google "How to use a Chromecast without internet" to possibly turn up more articles and more details on setup. I can't really tell you how to set this up in specific steps since I don't have a Chromecast myself to do any testing/learning with.

I did run into one very interesting not in one of the articles below:

Important: The "Microphone" permission in the Google Play Services app needs to be turned on to successfully use the "Cast Screen / Audio" feature with Chromecast. If you don't have this permission turned on, the Cast Screen session will immediately disconnect after trying to connect.

https://smarthomestarter.com/does-chromecast-work-without-internet/
https://www.itpro.com/mobile/28299/how-to-use-chromecast-without-wi-fi
https://www.lifewire.com/use-chromecast-without-wi-fi-4174601
https://www.alphr.com/google/google...ction is,Chromecast, which is mentioned below.

https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/6059461?hl=en
https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-str...hromecast-using-wifi-network-without-internet
https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-use-Chromecast-2-without-an-internet-connection
https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-way-for-a-Chromecast-to-work-without-internet

 

[Haertig]

I do get a big colored number in the middle of screen , with message that says no internet connection , try
again.

Could that be the code that is required to connect your phone directly to the Chromecast network? In one of the articles I linked above I seem to remember something about a "code" being used to complete the connection.

 

[phideaux]

Could that be the code that is required to connect your phone directly to the Chromecast network? In one of the articles I linked above I seem to remember something about a "code" being used to complete the connection.

Once that code is on the screen , my phone ask if I see the code ,yes or no.
I click yes. It says connecting .
Then it says can't connect to internet. Try again.

With logo chromecast.com/ at bottom.

Can't do anymore .
If I had internet I assume I'd be good to go.
There's nothing more to do at that point.

Jim

 

[Meerkat]

I know everybody has different tastes when it comes to watching tv.
That's what makes life.
But I quit watching all news , about a week ago, except 6 o'clock local that sucks.

I like old movies and John Wayne . I watch History channel some, and John Wayne.
I do like some sci-fi movies , and John Wayne, some Jimmy Stewart.

I have Dish satellite...it sucks. Same stuff over and over.

I do not have internet or wifi.
No internet available my area .
If I had WiFi there would be lots of choices.

Only internet I have is my TMobile phone , unlimited everything.

I was just thinking about another way to pick and choose what I want to watch , on the big screen.
Has anybody tried one of these ?
View attachment 57631
I think it will give me hi def to my tv.

I been reading ... Uuuggghhh.
Usb c, micro hdmi, usb 3.1, MHL,

I have the Moto E5+ phone , best I can tell it has the Micro USB.

Anybody doing this with the cable above ?
Or have any other suggestions.

Jim

One of my top 10 maybe 5 movies of all time was Jimmy Stewart 'The Rare Breed'.

We have wiFi and hdmi cable,no tv for going on 26 years now we turned it off before we had wifi. Rented lots of movies and listened to radio.