Wireless connection of the laptop to the TV: instruction

Modern laptops and televisions can interact with each other using various interfaces. The most common at the moment are the HDMI ports. However, many devices also have wireless interfaces. Connecting devices this way is much more convenient. Wirelessly connecting your laptop to your TV is quite simple; you just need to choose the most suitable technology. We will consider all the main connection options. But first, let's talk about the advantages and disadvantages of a wireless connection.

Wireless Benefits

Wirelessly connecting a laptop to a TV is the ability to quickly pair the two devices and use the TV as a monitor. The main advantage of this connection method is the absence of wires, which usually always get underfoot and generally spoil the look. Also, using a wireless connection, you can conveniently and quickly set up a TV to display what is happening on the laptop screen. Wireless connection allows you to quickly and easily transfer the image from the laptop to the TV screen. In general, data transmission via wireless has been around for a long time, but video transmission has become possible relatively recently. Now many laptops and televisions have this option. You only need to know how to properly configure and activate it.

The disadvantages of wireless connectivity

For all its advantages, connecting a laptop to a TV wirelessly has a very significant drawback. The quality of the video transmitted wirelessly leaves much to be desired. The fact is that with modern technologies of wireless data transmission it is impossible to transmit an HD standard image or higher by air. So a reasonable question arises. Is the game worth the candle? It is much easier to connect a laptop via HDMI and enjoy high-quality picture. But many want to use a wireless connection. Therefore, you need to consider how to configure it. But first about the connection methods.

Connection Methods

There are some of the most common ways to connect a laptop to a TV. They are used in accordance with the data transfer technology that both devices support. For example, it will be impossible to connect the TV to the laptop via AirPlay, if the latter does not support this technology. So, there are some of the most common ways.

• DLNA This method involves sharing folders on the Wi-Fi media folders that are on the laptop. Then the contents of the catalogs can be viewed on TV. There is no question of using the TV as a second monitor.
• Miracast and WiDi. Using these technologies, you can connect the TV to the laptop as a second monitor. Both technologies are similar, but their support is available only in Windows 8.1 and 10. Windows 7 lacks such a useful option. It is also necessary for the TV to support Miracast.
• Using mini computers. If the TV itself does not have a wireless adapter, then the so-called mini-computers will help out. These are devices that plug into the TV's HDMI port and have Wi-Fi on board. The most famous product of such a plan is Google Chromecast.

All of the above methods help to wirelessly connect the laptop to the TV. Detailed instructions for each of them will be proposed below. In the meantime, the user is prompted to decide whether he needs such an option. After all, the picture quality displayed on TV will be below average. It’s impossible to even watch a movie normally.

DLNA setup

This is probably one of the easiest ways to stream a movie from a laptop to a TV without any wires. How to connect a laptop to a TV via WiFi using this technology? To do this, some conditions must be met. Firstly, the TV must be connected to the same router as the laptop. Secondly, you need to have Windows 8.1 or 10 OS installed on the laptop. And the setup instructions are extremely simple.

1. On the laptop, open the item "Network Settings".
2. We expose the "Home Network" in it.
3. Next, go to "Windows Explorer" and click on the folder that you want to "share" for display on the TV.
4. Right-click on the directory and click "Properties".
5. Go to the "Sharing" tab.
6. Check the box "Share" and click "OK."
7. Turn on the TV and select the desired directory in the menu.
8. We launch the desired film and watch it on TV.

The beauty of this method is that you can run a movie on a TV, even using a laptop. It is enough to right-click on the desired movie and select "Play with" in the context menu. In the list of players and devices there will be a TV connected to the laptop via DLNA. And the good news is that no special program for wirelessly connecting a laptop to a TV is required. Everything is done automatically, using the Windows operating system.

Configure Miracast and WiDi

If the previous method involved only playing video files using a TV, then this allows you to use TV as a full monitor. But here there are conditions. First, a television must support at least one of these two wireless data technologies. Secondly, the laptop must comply technically (have the right adapter and integrated graphics card from Intel). Let's look at an example of wirelessly connecting a laptop to a Samsung TV.

1. Turn on Miracast or WiDi support on the TV. On Samsung’s TV, it’s called “Screen Mirroring” and is located in the same place as other network settings.
2. On the laptop, open the side “magic” panel (in “Windows 8.1”) and click on “Devices”.
3. Then click on the "Projector" and click "Add Wireless Screen".
4. Now select "Send to Screen."

After that, the image of the laptop desktop appears on the TV. In the case of WiDi, you will need to run a special wizard to configure the wireless connection of the TV to the laptop. The wizard itself will have its own instruction (in Russian). It should be followed to fully configure the transmission of images on TV.

Custom adapter setup

Unfortunately, there is no universal instruction in this regard. The process of wirelessly connecting a laptop to a TV in this case entirely depends on the device used. There are only a few recommendations. Firstly, it’s worth making sure that the laptop will be able to work with such a peculiar “prefix”. Secondly, you need to make sure that the HDMI port on the TV is working. Only under the above conditions can you be sure that the connection is established and will be stable.

Some features of using Wi-Fi Direct

If the TV has its own Wi-Fi adapter and can create its own network, then connecting with DLNA becomes even easier. To make such a connection, not even a router is required. It will be enough to connect the laptop to the network created by the TV. Everything else will be configured automatically. And the data transfer rate will be much higher. If the TV has the option “Wi-Fi Direct”, then the connection process is facilitated using Miracast, since the connection will be carried out directly. Without the participation of a router.

Verdict

So, there are several ways to wirelessly connect your laptop to a TV. The simplest is the DLNA option. But it allows you to only play multimedia files from certain directories on a laptop. Options with Miracast or WiDi allow you to use the TV as a giant wireless monitor. This option is more interesting, but it is not suitable for all devices. It is necessary that both devices support these technologies. Only then will it be possible to count on a successful connection. True, if the TV supports Wi-Fi, then the likelihood of creating a stable connection increases dramatically, since the connection bypasses the router, router or modem.

Conclusion

To wirelessly connect a laptop to a TV is not a problem. The only question is whether such a connection is justified. After all, it is impossible to achieve high-quality images when transmitting content over the air. True, if the quality does not really care about the user, then there will be no problems. If the quality of the content plays a key role, then it is better to refrain from a wireless connection and use the classic version using the HDMI port. Then the picture and sound quality will really be high. But this is a completely different story, not related to today's topic.