So, as stated in the title I use Chromecast to watch my programmes (in other words I cast my programmes via Chromecast from my computer to TV). This can be very laggy at times. I could turn down the quality from 1080p to 480p but why should I lack the quality to watch my programmes. My setup at the moment is I keep all my programme files on external hard drives (movies on one, everything else on another. These hard drives are connected to my computer. I like to be as fully in control with what programmes I have so don't use third party software such as Plex. What I need is a way of watching my programmes without casting, so I'm thinking on buying a smart TV. So what I'm asking is: 1. can I connect my external hard drives to a smart TV and will this mean the programmes would not need to be cast? 2. My TV sound comes from a home theatre amp not the TV, will the option from above cause problems with this? 3. After carrying out first option, is there anything else I would need to do for it to work or, if the first option wouldn't of worked any way, what would people suggest?
what are your computers specs?other than that option one should work just fine.i do the same thing all the time.as for option 2,if the sound is routed from the tv to the home theatre then again not problem.
Computer specs aren't built for entertainment. Its a basic laptop, 2 year old Lenova Ideapad 320s So, looks like a smart TV in the near future is in order, cheers aiden
i looked up your lappys specs and it should run your videos just fine.could be a hardware or even a driver problem.make sure all drivers are up to date,especially for the gpu.still,if your movies are on hdds i would just get an external hdd enclosure.you can hook it up to the home theatre (to the usb port)and voila.no problem with the sound either.unless you really want a new t.v.lol.
Without looking at the specs, most modern laptops have an HDMI port. If you have one, then just connect it directly to your TV with a standard HDMI cable. My son left behind an old HP laptop from 2012 that has one an HDMI port and it works just fine.
