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Phone or Tablet that can direct connect to TV


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I am looking for a solution that will let me display TV/video streamed on a phone, tablet or even possibly a laptop on a big screen TV and not use hotspot data. I do not have an unlimited plan other than the car connect in the truck which requires the key to be in the accessory on position thus draining the battery or requiring connection of a battery charger. The metal of the truck and materials in the trailer seem to create some connectivity and speed issues that I have not been able to adequately resolve with antennas/boosters. I have read Technomadia's information on the subject and looked at the MHL compatibility website. I can cast to the TV in the bedroom from phone/tablet or computer, but that uses hotspot data that does not last long when streaming.

I am thinking that  phone or tablet might be better than a laptop as my Sleek may be able to provide some signal boost if needed.  Is anybody actually using a device that hardwire connects to the TV that is currently available that works well for them?  What brand/model? What cables/adapters are required?

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A Roku TV or other Smart View enabled TV, and an android phone that supports it, would let you do screen mirroring. I think Samsung owns that name, but  other brands may have the same tech under different names.  i know my Win 10 laptop will connect to my tv the same way as my samsung phone will.   The Roku app may have mirroring capabilities to the tv too, ill have to check.

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1 hour ago, trailertraveler said:

I am looking for a solution that will let me display TV/video streamed on a phone, tablet or even possibly a laptop on a big screen TV and not use hotspot data.

I am thinking that  phone or tablet might be better than a laptop as my Sleek may be able to provide some signal boost if needed.  Is anybody actually using a device that hardwire connects to the TV that is currently available that works well for them?  What brand/model? What cables/adapters are required?

An iPad or iPhone + an HDMI adapter cable like this

SKP #79313 / Full-Timing / 2001 National RV Sea View / 2008 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon
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3 hours ago, chirakawa said:

When you cast from your phone to the TV, that's considered hotspot use?  I didn't know that.

At least on my Samsung Galaxy J7 and Tab A, I can not cast from the device while streaming direct from the cellular connection without the TV being connected to the devices hotspot.. The phone and the TV must be connected to the same network which if a hotspot or a router that a cellular device is tethered to the cellular data counts as hotspot data.

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3 hours ago, dartmouth01 said:

A Roku TV or other Smart View enabled TV, and an android phone that supports it, would let you do screen mirroring. I think Samsung owns that name, but  other brands may have the same tech under different names.  i know my Win 10 laptop will connect to my tv the same way as my samsung phone will.   The Roku app may have mirroring capabilities to the tv too, ill have to check.

Not sure what the difference between mirroring and casting is, but the Roku TV and Vizio Smart TVs I have using casting, which as far as I have been able to figure out uses up my hotspot data. 

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2 hours ago, trailertraveler said:

At least on my Samsung Galaxy J7 and Tab A, I can not cast from the device while streaming direct from the cellular connection without the TV being connected to the devices hotspot.. The phone and the TV must be connected to the same network which if a hotspot or a router that a cellular device is tethered to the cellular data counts as hotspot data.

Okay, I'm not understanding then.  I don't normally do casting, but have tried it on my TV.  Neither phone nor TV was connected to a network and I could cast photos directly to the TV.  In fact, the TV was showing whatever was showing on my phone at the time.

I'll try casting video and see how that works.

Everybody wanna hear the truth, but everybody tell a lie.  Everybody wanna go to Heaven, but nobody want to die.  Albert King

 

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2 hours ago, chirakawa said:

Okay, I'm not understanding then.  I don't normally do casting, but have tried it on my TV.  Neither phone nor TV was connected to a network and I could cast photos directly to the TV.  In fact, the TV was showing whatever was showing on my phone at the time.

I'll try casting video and see how that works.

The TV and the phone have to be connected somehow for what you describe. Wifi, Bluetooth, USB cable.

I am not sure what is commonly referred to as casting always works the same. When I cast from an app (like HBO Go, Crackle, Fox Now) on my tablet or phone to the Vizio Smartcast TV, once the video starts playing, I can power off the tablet and the video/tv channel will continue to play until I change inputs or turn the TV off. It seems like the app connects the TV directly to the streaming website just like occurs with the built in apps.  If I cast to the same TV from my laptop using the cast feature in chrome, what is on the computer screen is what shows on the TV. If I shutoff the computer, the video/tv show stops on the Smartcast TV.

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5 hours ago, trailertraveler said:

Not sure what the difference between mirroring and casting is, but the Roku TV and Vizio Smart TVs I have using casting, which as far as I have been able to figure out uses up my hotspot data. 

Casting, such as Chrome-casting, or using a Roku or Firestick all result in using "hotspot" data.  Miracasting, which is supported by Samsung phones (and some others) creates a direct wifi connection between the phone and aTV doesn't count as using hotspot data, but Miracasting is a tempermental technology and the results are often not totally satisfactory.

I do believe that Apple TV can also implement "true casting" but I don't have any personal experience with doing that.

Edited by docj

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1 hour ago, docj said:

Miracasting, which is supported by Samsung phones

My Samsung Galaxy J7 phone and Tab A do not support Miracasting as far as I can tell. According to this article, newer Samsung phones do not support miracasting.  

Quote

Android supported Miracast in Android 4.2 (KitKat) and Android 5 (Lollipop). However, Google dropped native Miracast support in Android 6 (Marshmallow) and later. If you want to mirror the display from a newer Android phone or tablet, you’ll need to do so via Chromecast.

Not 100% sure, but I believe my phone uses Android 7. I have an older computer that was upgraded to windows 10. I see a way to miracast (project) to the computer from a phone, but can not find the settings to project from the computer to a TV.

Edited by trailertraveler
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Okay, I know very little about this, so I'm not disputing anything anyone says.

I turned on my Android phone, a Motorola G5+ running Android 8.0.  I turned on my Android TV, a Sony Bravia of about a few months old.

On my phone, I went to settings and found a Connected Devices section with Bluetooth, Cast, Printing, USB, and Chromebook.  I clicked on Cast and it opened a section where I should see available devices.

I then went to my TV and found a section on casting.  It indicated I needed to turn on wifi on my phone.

After turning on wifi on my phone, the Cast section on the phone listed the Sony TV and I clicked on it.  After that, my phone screen was showing on the TV.  I went to Prime Video on the phone and played a movie.  The movie showed up on my TV in full screen mode with sound.

So, if my phone connecting to my TV on wifi is a network, then I misspoke earlier about not being on a network.  I was thinking home network, router, cellular, etc.

My question would be, if I am connected this way and viewing a movie, would the data used go against my hotspot allowance?  I never turned on my hotspot on the phone.

Everybody wanna hear the truth, but everybody tell a lie.  Everybody wanna go to Heaven, but nobody want to die.  Albert King

 

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9 hours ago, chirakawa said:

My question would be, if I am connected this way and viewing a movie, would the data used go against my hotspot allowance?  I never turned on my hotspot on the phone.

No expert here either, which is why I started this thread.  I don't know since my phone does not have that feature and I don't know if my Roku or Vizio TVs do either. If you have Verizon, it is pretty easy to check your data usage and it shows up pretty quickly. I would watch some prime video and see if the hotspot data increases.

Edited by trailertraveler
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15 hours ago, docj said:

Casting, such as Chrome-casting, or using a Roku or Firestick all result in using "hotspot" data.  Miracasting, which is supported by Samsung phones (and some others) creates a direct wifi connection between the phone and aTV doesn't count as using hotspot data, but Miracasting is a tempermental technology and the results are often not totally satisfactory.

I do believe that Apple TV can also implement "true casting" but I don't have any personal experience with doing that.

I'm not sure what you mean by "true casting", but if you mean not using any hotspot data, then, yes. When you're using Apple Airplay via AppleTV, then no hotspot data is used.

The same is true when you use Sling TV, as long as both the receiving and transmitting devices use the same hotspot. Different networks? Then you'll burn up data.

Edited by Zulu

SKP #79313 / Full-Timing / 2001 National RV Sea View / 2008 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon
www.rvSeniorMoments.com
DISH TV for RVs

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  • 7 months later...

I have a smart TV that I can connect to my phone or tablet using an app. I didn't know how to do it either until I watched the YouTube videos. And I want to say that it's great to be able to ask a question and get help and support on the forum, which is why I like communities. Frankly, I have one question for you. I am looking for a tablet to work with, if you can advise me on the best option from those in this review woahtech.com I will appreciate it. If you already have one of the tablets from this list, please share your feedback.

Edited by emmanuilteleshev
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Thanks to everyone that responded to this topic. Here is an update on what I have found out appicable to my situation and current equipment..

My Samsung phone and tablet are not capable of connecting by HDMI to a TV. They do have a feature called Smart View that will connect to my Roku devices by WIFI. The connection can be finnicky. Not a big problem with Netflix and other videos that can be replayed. It can be annoying if watching live programming. Using Smart View seems to take a faster connection than just watching on the device. Some apps are somehow able to detect that the screenshot is being projected and will not allow it instructing you to watch on the device.  When using the Smart View feature, battery drain is an issue. If the phone/tablet is plugged into the charger, they overheat and shutdown in an hour or less. If I need to use the Sleek to improve cell signal, overheating is also an issue and adds to the problem if the device needs to be charged.

Thanks again to all those that responded.

Edited by trailertraveler
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1 hour ago, trailertraveler said:

They do have a feature called Smart View that will connect to my Roku devices by WIFI. The connection can be finnicky.

The feature called Smart View by Samsung is more generally called Miracast.  Unless huge improvements have been made in the past couple of years it's more than just finicky.  We used it and eventually gave up because of its jerkiness and other issues.

Sandie & Joel

2000 40' Beaver Patriot Thunder Princeton--425 HP/1550 ft-lbs CAT C-12
2014 Honda CR-V AWD EX-L with ReadyBrute tow bar/brake system
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Follow our adventures on Facebook at Weiss Travels

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I use Smart View on my Samsung Tab A tablet and cast that to a Fire Stick.  It works great.

I tried various things previously and even bought a ChromeCast only to be disappointed in it not working.

My tablet is wifi only, I download Netflix or Amazon Prime shows and then watch later on television with no internet connection.  I absolutely love the simplicity and functionality.

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