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Why am I not getting any sound through my TV from computer?

Help me hook my friend up! TV as a computer monitor question.

  • I have been asked to help a friend set up her (not yet purchased) TV as a wireless monitor for her computer. Can you explain it to me like I'm 5? I have been asked to help a friend set up her (not yet purchased) TV as a wireless monitor for her computer. Can you explain it to me like I'm 5? She loves to watch a Japanese TV station that streams their content in a window on their website and would like to watch it on her (soon to be purchased) TV. I've already realized that this goes beyond streaming video and that she'll likely need to set up her TV as a wireless computer monitor with sound. She already has an IMac, running OSX 10.6.? getting wireless access using an Airporter. Is there a decent Mac solution for this? If there's not a good Mac solution, she's willing to purchase a Windows laptop to get the job done. Any recommendations for receivers for this? Also, what would be the best resolution for the TV display to make sure she has a good experience? I'm decently computer literate, but know very little about AV. Help?

  • Answer:

    If she's willing to buy something, why not just get a cheap netbook with HDMI out and be done with it? Because, frankly, a wireless monitor solution is probably going to suck since she'll be both streaming the traffic of the video both ways: into the laptop and then OUT of the laptop into the television (if the television even handles that). That's just the pragmatic concern. I mean, the TV itself might have some built in capacity for receiving video signals across wireless, though. You didn't say what the TV brand/model was going to be (since you would need to research the features of the model). I would also look into seeing if the place she streams from has a working private Roku channel (a lot of places do now) and just get a cheap Roku to hook up to the TV.

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I know Intel makes a Wireless Display technology, but it seems to be tied to specific types of http://www.netgear.com/landing/ptv_supportedlaptops_usa.aspx - not sure if this is because it requires a specific chip in the laptop, or because Intel has some sort of IP agreement with the manufactures. Looking at http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wtech/iwd/sb/CS-031059.htm page, it seems like the only requirements are a mobile Core i-series CPU, Intel wireless chip and Intel's WiFi display software. I don't know of anything that does this for the Mac. Quite frankly, if the TV is within 50 feet of her computer, she should just buy a 50ft HDMI cable from http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1025501&p_id=9172&seq=1&format=2. Wireless display technology is still sort of in it's infancy...

Fidel Cashflow

I used a $300 Acer laptop connected to my HDTV via HDMI cable and it worked perfectly.

Telpethoron

If it has to be wireless, can she wait until OS 10.8 comes out (allegedly mid-July)? That will give her built in Airplay mirroring of her iMac's screen to any Airplay enabled device. In that case all she'll need is an AppleTV. How well this work will depend on how new her Airport is. When I do display mirroring from iPad to AppleTV over a wireless-g connection, it gets pretty choppy. Word is that over wireless-n that's somewhat-to-totally mitigated. That being said, wired is definitely the cheapest, easiest, least fussy and least buggy solution. As Fidel Cashflow says above, wiring from Monoprice is stupid cheap and infinitely more reliable.

Freon

"the TV itself might have some built in capacity for receiving video signals across wireless, though. You didn't say what the TV brand/model was going to be (since you would need to research the features of the model)." She hasn't made any decisions on the TV yet, so any recommendations you could make on that would be greatly appreciated. I'm also hearing that wireless might be out. That certainly simplifies things, I guess. Is there any specific software/hardware she would need to output to the TV?

The Light Fantastic

If you're not hung up on wireless, all you need is a laptop with HDMI Video Out, an HDMI cable, and an HD television set. The graphics card in the laptop will come with the software needed to display on the television. Connect them all together and you're done!

erstwhile

Chiming in to agree that the bandwidth currently available via home wireless connections is so limited compared to what an HDMI cable can do that avoiding the cable on aesthetic grounds still makes no sense whatsoever. Just wire the TV to the iMac via HDMI and be done with it.

flabdablet

Thank you everyone! I did indeed order her a pretty damn nice laptop for $350, a nice long HDMI cable and we went and bought her a new TV. I think this worked out really well - so thanks!

The Light Fantastic

Final followup - no problems whatsoever with the laptop-->HDMI Cable-->TV setup. It was really easy and she's completely happy with the result. Thanks everyone!!!

The Light Fantastic

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