Owners of mobile devices, even with a fairly large screen size, often prefer to view photos or videos not on their gadget, but to connect their phone via TV. Modern models of both mobile devices and TVs have all the prerequisites for making such connections. Well, the advantages of data transfer are undeniable.
What can be transferred from the phone to the TV panel?
Unfortunately, the vast majority of users are limited only to watching photos, movies, and videos stored in the device's memory on the Smart TV panel. But the possibilities of modern technology are much wider.
The thing is that with any connection option, which will be discussed separately, you can not only transfer video or graphics to the big screen. With the same ease when installing the appropriate softwareyou can watch online TV, play clips from the same YouTube resource, or even control it from your phone or tablet, if such a service is provided on the TV. Finally, you can easily broadcast games or programs used on mobile devices on a TV panel. As you can see, there are no restrictions. But the most important issue in solving the problem of how to transfer an image from a phone to a TV, in any case, remains the choice of the optimal way to connect the gadget to the panel. Consider the most common options.
How to transfer an image from a phone to a TV: basic connection methods
Conventionally, the options for connecting a mobile device and a TV panel can be divided into two main types: wired and wireless. Almost all modern TV models support at least one playback data transmission technology or have built-in Wi-Fi modules. However, aging panels also have their own solutions, although they seem somewhat cumbersome.
Among all that is offered on the market for such developments today, the main options are the following:
- USB cable;
- regular cable with tulip connectors;
- wired via MHL/HDMI cable;
- Slim Port cable;
- connection via home Wi-Fi networks;
- use of specialized technologies (Miracast, AirPlay and their analogues).
In the simplest version, you can use a regular TV panel that connects via a USB port, rather than modernSmart TV models. In this case, the mobile device will only be recognized as a flash drive from which image, video or audio files recorded on it are played. This is too primitive, you should not dwell on such connections, especially since you will not be able to broadcast programs, games or streaming video from the Internet to the screen. You can use UPnP technologies, but this is also something like USB transfer, but without wires. Let's dwell on more functional connection methods.
Using an HDMI cable (MHL connection)
So, let's make a reservation right away that questions related to how to relay an image from a TV to a phone screen will not be considered for reasons that it is simply inappropriate. In this case, we are interested in connecting mobile devices to TV panels with the appropriate data transfer direction.
So, the easiest way is to connect two devices using the most common HDMI cable. In a sense, this connection is similar to establishing a connection via USB, but the phone or tablet is no longer perceived as a removable storage device, but is recognized as a fully functional gadget. Although the presence of wires may seem like yesterday's technology to many, such a connection has several advantages, since there are no delays in image transmission at all. It is quite easy to broadcast video in Ultra HD quality with 7.1 sound (DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD) and even charge mobile devices whose powerdoes not exceed 10 V. Three types of cables can be used to output the image:
- Standard HDMI with an adapter together with a micro-USB cable for connecting external power.
- MHL cable that connects directly to the TV panel via HDMI connector.
- Special Samsung 11-pin cable. An adapter is required to connect devices with 5-pin connectors.
The first option can be called universal, but other connection types are supported by a limited number of TV panels and mobile gadgets.
Required initial conditions for setting up a wireless connection
Another simple solution to the question of how to transfer an image from a phone to a TV is to connect two devices through a home wireless network.
True, in this case, the TV must have a built-in Wi-Fi module. If not, you can purchase an external plug-in device that uses the USB port. In addition, for example, on Android devices, Wi-Fi Direct mode is supposed to be enabled. Activation of such a connection on different models of TV panels will be considered separately.
DLNA wireless network
When establishing a connection through a home network, you can use the built-in DLNA tools that are available in Android systems. Unfortunately, it is rather problematic to activate such a connection in "apple" devices, but as a kind of bridge, you can install applications like My Remote from the corporationPhillips.
By the way, on Android you can also abandon the standard tools and install programs like PlugPlayer or connect through the universal WD TV Live media player. However, this is not the most convenient option either, because with a sufficiently high load on the wireless network, transmission delays can be observed, and the connection speed set by the provider for the home wireless network also plays an important role.
Miracast technology
One of the most universal means is the use of specialized technologies directly designed to solve the problems of broadcasting images from mobile devices to TV panels. This is Miracast technology. It may have different designations for different manufacturers. So, for example, Samsung has a similar Screen Mirroring function, Sony has Mirror Link, Apple has AirPlay.
But the pioneers were still Android systems. To connect on a smartphone or tablet, you first need to turn on Wi-Fi and enter the Wi-Fi Direct settings, and select Miracast as the source on the TV. On the mobile device, the TV is then selected, which should appear in the list, after which the multimedia output is set in the settings. It is worth paying attention here that not all smartphones support screen rotation. But on the Sony Xperia ZL, when you change the orientation from portrait to landscape, the picture on the TV panel rotates automatically. And as it is already clear, the image from the phone to the WiFi TVonly transmitted if the panel is a Smart TV generation.
Connect via AirPlay
Now a few words about Apple's AirPlay technology. In fact, it is almost a complete analogue of Miracast TV. However, the transfer cannot be made without the essentials - a special Apple TV set-top box that connects directly to the TV.
To use the video mirroring function on your device, double-tap the Home button, scroll down the list of available applications and find AirPlay. When entering the section, all currently available devices that can receive a signal will be displayed. Just select the connected media player and activate the transfer.
Using Streambels and WiDi
The Streambels software product, developed by Clockworkmod, can hardly be called similar to Miracast or AirPlay. The screen of a mobile device is not duplicated when connected. Only file playback is possible, as is the case with a normal USB connection.
On the other hand, WiDi technology was originally developed as an alternative to Miracast, but has not received wide distribution. Until now, it is used mainly in Intel laptops, although recently there have been attempts to integrate it into mobile gadgets.
Features of connection to some TV models
Now let's look at some of the nuances of signal transmission to certainTV panel models.
The easiest way is to display the image from the phone to the LG TV. When the connection is activated in the smartphone on the TV, the network and the Wi-Fi Direct section are selected in the main menu. After that, just wait until the panel detects the mobile device.
On Sony TVs, press the remote control button to select the "Settings" section, then the "Manual" menu, then the "Other Methods" section, where you need to remember or write down the SSID and WPA parameters. They will then have to be entered when connecting a smartphone.
On Samsung panels, the "Network" section is selected in the main menu, after which the switch opposite the "Prog. AP" line is set to the on position. After that, you need to go to the security key section and set a unique password to access the connection. Only after that, an access point is selected on the Android device, a network connection is made, and when a file is selected, the Share button is pressed.
Possible playback problems
So, the question of how to transfer an image from a phone to a TV has already been sorted out. However, when using any type of connection, you need to pay attention to some possible problems associated with violations in the translation.
First of all, this concerns cases of using Miracast. With this connection, there may be interruptions in communication if there are obstacles between the TV and the mobile device. It is believed that the smaller the distance between devices, the better.
Some deviceshave the ability to broadcast copy-protected files, but the same Phillips TV panels do not support their playback.
The load on the wireless network can increase many times over, because when playing streaming video, the image is first transferred to the mobile device, and only then played on the TV. As a result, there are delays, slowdowns, audio lagging behind video, etc. Finally, not all mobile devices support creating two connections. For example, some Sony smartphones can connect to either the Internet or Miracast (Mirror Link).
Instead of afterword
But in general, the question of how to transfer the phone's image to the TV is solved quite simply. In any case, from all of the above, you can choose something suitable for yourself. Among the many tips, one can separately highlight recommendations that for any type of connection it is desirable to have both a mobile device and a TV from the same manufacturer. In this case, there will be no problems at all.
