My book club wants to participate in an online conference in a couple of weeks that is running on the internet. It looks like we may have upwards of a dozen people in attendance. Rather than trying to all fit around a single laptop, we'd like to show the conference feed to the whole group by connecting a laptop to a large flatscreen TV. Am I correct in believing that most late model flatscreens would have the capability of displaying the feed from a laptop, accessing the laptop feed much like it does a BluRay player? My laptop has ports for both VGA (female) and HDMI (female), as well as USB ports. Is HDMI the best way to go? Or is there a better way? I'm not sure whose TV we are using yet but once that's settled, I just have to be sure it has the appropriate port on it, then connect the laptop to that port, right? (I know I'll need to set the input source for the TV to whatever port I connect the laptop to.)
hdmi. can either set windows as dual screen so both tv & laptop display same or set the tv as primary. might have to change the settings on the tv to accept video input from laptop.
The controls of the desktop gui & icon's & icon names,including menu items when using hdmi will most probably appear fuzzy & hard to read on the tv when using clone mode.Same goes for using extended desktop controls & writing on any media player will appear fuzzy the video itself will be fine & clear as will any subtitles,only the controls etc will look weird including any playlist.Just be aware & give yourself time to test out.I would suspect vga would be ok & the tv would have a computer mode for the vga connection.
Are you saying that VGA is likely to be clearer than HDMI? If so, that's fine. Clear and sharp is better than fuzzy any time. I'm not sure what to expect on the screen. This is a world-wide science fiction conference featuring several noted writers. I'm not sure if they are going to be in their own living rooms or at the front of a big meeting room. I don't know if there are going to be professional camera operators broadcasting the action or just a cheap webcam on a laptop capturing things. I don't know if it will mostly be the writers lecturing or if there will be a lot of back and forth between the writers and the fans watching online. I won't have any chance to practice any of this ahead of time either since I'm not aware of any comparable feed from another source to use for practice. Basically, it's going to be a lot of improvising and adapting to the unexpected. That's life I'm used to doing that in my day job....
if using vga then will need an audio cable from the speakers jack in the laptop to the tv or just a set of speakers externally from the laptop.
Don't misunderstand the video you will view will be the same quality it is transmitted at.If you use clone desktop it won't matter about the program interface as it will be on the controlling pc which will be in front of you,so any fuzzy play controls on the video payer won't matter as you'll have them on the laptop clear as day.Using the extended desktop option you'll most probably need to setup whatever video player thingy on the laptop then drag it to the tv then expand it,once video is ready to play just hit play all will be good.Best try it out on your own tv then you will see what i'm talking about.As for vga my tv doesn't have it only hdmi however vga is purpose built i would think for a pc on the tv Again the video & audio will be clear as day regardless what player or browser you use
