We have been happily “TV” free for over a decade, streaming desired content on devices. We have returned to an old pattern of streaming content online across the laptop…mostly HTML based (specifically NOT using dedicated software such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video etc.)
We are considering a display solely for watching streaming content. Device will never see the light of cable TV, FIOS TV etc. Have no interest in ‘smart’ TVs that offer software for streaming content providers and the like. We did see one Samsung TV recently (Costco, don’t recall model) with builtin in Google Chromecast which might do the trick.
Goal: Stream content from laptop to larger display from websites.
Concern: As I understand it, many devices and services ‘block’ such streaming functionality.
Not needed: Smart apps, high end sound (home pods will cover sound,) cable tv, air tv, media boxes/servers etc.
Anyone know of how to best accomplish a simple budget friendly solution for larger display (think 35"+) just to stream content (secondary use would be as a standard display for laptop itself?) Anyone w/recommendations on display to purchase?
How will you stream sound to Homepods? I’m seriously interested.
If you hand the streaming off to a TV, e.g. using something like a Chromecast, then the streaming happens on that device, not on the laptop, so the Chromecast would need the ability to send it’s sound to homepods on an ongoing basis, separate from the streaming.
If you have Apple devices, you cannot beat the latest AppleTV (I know it’s relatively expensive) which can be attached to Homepods for sound and can take streams from any Apple Device.
We have a “Smart” TV, but it’s not connected to the internet and we use the Apple TV for pretty much everything related to TV. We also connect games consoles to it and a Blu-Ray player too.
Is there a reason you don’t want to use apps because on the whole they’re solid on AppleTV.
It has been years since I cared about any media related devices so not sure how these things work today. Thought - stream video to display (in question) and sound to HomePod. ATM we watch video on the laptop and stream the sound and I’m now understanding sound can’t get split to different device form video–just one location.
Everything is Apple. My understanding is Apple TV, various Apple OSs and Chromecast block streaming url style video, no?
(Apple TV would also require purchasing both Apple TV device and an Apple TV)
Several reasons, including metrics and profiles built from customer stream profiles.
The majority of name brand TV’s have AirPlay 2 and Chromecast mirroring built-in.
You’ll have to check specs and reviews carefully to make sure - especially if you want to use Chromecast as that phrase covers a wide range of Google-ish tech that spans several generations.
Keep in mind that mirroring to a TV using the built-in networking may still require enabling basic connectivity in the TV that opens it up to monitoring your activity and violating your privacy.
Selling “watch data”, even if aggregated or anonymized, as they try to claim, is a major source of revenue a big reason the cost of TV’s is so low.
If concerned about privacy and having a decent UI/UX, the best solution is still to connect an AppleTV to the actual TV and simply use the AirPlay / mirroring in the AppleTV instead of the TV itself.
This is the best way to get a “dumb large screen display” as the manufacturers refuse to make consumer versions of TV’s that are dumb because they want the aforementioned data broker income.
In the commercial world, they still make dumb TV’s, but they are much more expensive as they are designed for rugged environments and 24x7 use.
The one-time cost of an AppleTV should be considered the “cost of privacy”. But if you go this way, at least you won’t have janky streaming with the buggy firmware in many TV’s or cheap privacy-invading devices like Amazon firesticks, Google Chromecast, or off-brand “streaming sticks” from your local big box store.
If you are heavily in the Apple ecosystem, putting an AppleTV on all of your TV’s keeps the Apple UI consistent no matter the brand of TV.
I’ve always found AirPlay 2 much better to use than Chromecast, especially from Apple devices and apps.
I’m not sure you’re going to be able to keep the sound+video in sync if you stream video from a laptop to an external screen and sound from the same laptop to HomePods. This problem is amplified if you are streaming the outputs wirelessly, as with a HomePod. Human beings are very sensitive to any lag between visual and auditory stimulus. I know I found it very distracting.
But I’m happy to be proven wrong!
Personally, I favor privacy and simplicity over frugality, so I use an Apple TV to stream content, connecting the AppleTV audio output to a pair of HomePods and the video via HDMI to a TV. I can send a video through AirPlay and control it through my laptop from the couch (no need to find a place to perch a laptop so it can be plugged into the screen). For those services that don’t allow broadcasting to another screen (which seem to be most of them), I install the required app on the Apple TV.
FWIW, I use a “smart” TV that I never connected to the internet. I get a prompt to finish setting up every so often, but it goes away quickly. So, I’m using it as a dumb TV. I bought this model because I wanted an excellent small-ish screen (not easy to find) that would last for many years.
For most TV lines, I can assess the diagnostic or integrator menu and switch them to “hotel” or “public display” mode, which locks out just about everything.
But the downside is they become harder to support and if the screen fails, you can’t undo that mode to run any diagnostics, etc.
After running into a few issues in the past, I no longer try to force the TV into a mode that isn’t mainstream and instead rely on not setting Wi-Fi or LAN connections and also firewalling at the router or separate firewall to insure privacy.
Parents addicted to iPads, with YouTube and various clips and sentimental shows of yesteryear. They have a dumb tv and curious how it would go so purchased an Apple TV for them. The mirror function seems to do what they need, casting their small video to larger screen and sound goes right to their TV. That experience in a hour or testing was super successful from their iPad.
When I was in a hotel which had smart TV to cast from devices, which started this idea, streaming from my iPhone wasn’t working…at all. I could connect but anything I pulled up wouldn’t stream. Now, I was able to get Plex and Bluefin connected, which are home managed media servers…those were flawless and pretty slick when you are 1/2 way around the world.
Note - media management of the home server was getting to be a bit too much. While automated somewhat once you get everything going, you still had to tweak every so often. Files had to be downloaded before viewed - then manually deleted to free up space…endless hamster wheel so haven’t been active in the home server space and go more for url streams these days.
That ‘block’ from being able to cast url streams is what was getting me… couldn’t do you tube or anything. AppleTV installed yesterday picked up YouTube URLs just fine (more experimenting needed for other apps).
Goal is just to throw URL streaming to a larger display.
As you’ve identified, Streaming is different to mirroring.
I suspect you also hit compatibility issues between iOS devices/apps and Android devices which are potentially forked rather than running stock Android, so may not be standard and/or up to date.