Both when working from home and in your everyday life, a tele­vi­sion as a second PC screen can have many ad­van­tages. Not only can cell phone videos, pictures, or PC games be admired on a high-res­o­lu­tion flat screen, but pre­sen­ta­tions in your home office can also be shown on your TV. Find out what you have to do below.

What methods are available?

There are two ways to connect a PC to a TV: With or without a cable.

  • With a cable: With this classic variant using a connector cable, you can usually use the three types of cable (HDMI, DVI, or VGA). Depending on whether you are using a PC, laptop, or Mac, you should pay attention to the existing con­nec­tion.
  • Without a cable: A PC can be connected to a tele­vi­sion via WLAN, which is par­tic­u­lar­ly practical. In this case, you will usually need ad­di­tion­al streaming adapters, such as the Apple TV adapter or the Google Chrome­cast HDMI stick. If you use a Mac with AirPlay 2 support or TV sets with the Miracast wireless trans­mis­sion standard, you can connect your PC to a TV without an ad­di­tion­al adapter.

Connect a PC to a TV: What are the technical re­quire­ments?

The technical re­quire­ments for es­tab­lish­ing a con­nec­tion between a PC and a tele­vi­sion depend on the method chosen.

Via HDMI: If you want to connect the PC to the TV using an HDMI cable, you must pay attention to the size of the HDMI port. Depending on the device, HDMI cable ports exist in the following sizes: HDMI, mini-HDMI, and micro-HDMI. No ad­di­tion­al audio cable is required when using an HDMI cable, re­gard­less of the port size, since HDMI also carries sound.

Via DVI and VGA: DVI cables are usually used as a con­nec­tion between a PC and a computer monitor. However, some tele­vi­sions also have a DVI port. Since only the image is trans­mit­ted from the PC in this case, an ad­di­tion­al audio cable or external loud­speak­er is required. VGA con­nec­tors are among the oldest PC con­nec­tors and also only transmit the image. This means that an ad­di­tion­al cable or device for audio output is also required. DVI and VGA are usually only supported by older PCs.

Via WLAN: If you want to connect your computer to your TV wire­less­ly, you will need an adapter that transmits the signal between the PC and the TV. The HDMI stick Google Chrome­cast is used for trans­mis­sions from the Google Chrome browser, and an Apple TV adapter is used for Apple devices. MacBooks from macOS version Mojave 10.14.5 support adapter­less streaming via AirPlay 2. If your TV and Mac have AirPlay 2 support, no ad­di­tion­al adapter is required.

Via Miracast: With the wireless Miracast trans­mis­sion service, you can establish a direct con­nec­tion (Peer-to-Peer via the Wi-Fi Direct standard) between a PC and tele­vi­sion in order to transmit PC content. To do so, both the PC and the tele­vi­sion must support Miracast. For Windows, support is in­te­grat­ed starting with Windows 8.1. Macs, on the other hand, do not currently offer Miracast support.

Tip

Would you like remote access from a device of your choice to other devices connected in the same network, such as smart TVs, PCs, laptops, or smart­phones? Then a remote desktop software can help you to control devices remotely.

Con­nect­ing a computer to a TV: Step-by-step in­struc­tions

Decide on the right method: An HDMI cable can po­ten­tial­ly be awkward to fit, but usually offers a better con­nec­tion. We have written in­struc­tions for you for each method.

Via HDMI using Windows

Step 1: Connect the connector cable to the PC and tele­vi­sion. Some TVs au­to­mat­i­cal­ly recognize the device connected via HDMI and will switch to HDMI output. If this is not the case, open the TV input menu with the remote control and switch to the cor­re­spond­ing HDMI channel.

Step 2: If the sound is not trans­mit­ted au­to­mat­i­cal­ly, right-click on the loud­speak­er symbol in the taskbar and go to “Open Sound settings”. Here, you can change the output device to the desired tele­vi­sion screen.

Image: If the HDMI sound output does not happen automatically, switch your audio device under “Open Sound settings”
If the HDMI sound output does not happen au­to­mat­i­cal­ly, change the audio device under “Open Sound settings”.

Via HDMI with a Mac

Step 1: Connect your Mac to the TV using the HDMI cable. Here, too, you have to switch to the cor­re­spond­ing HDMI channel with the remote control via TV input if this does not happen au­to­mat­i­cal­ly.

Step 2: If the audio output does not change au­to­mat­i­cal­ly, go to “Sound” and “Output” in the macOS. You should now see your connected TV listed as an output device.

Via WLAN using Apple TV or AirPlay 2

Step 1: Check if your Mac and smart TV support AirPlay 2. In this case, no ad­di­tion­al Apple TV adapter is required. If there is only AirPlay support, you will need an adapter as a signal receiver.

Step 2: If you want to stream a video on the TV, open the video or stream that you would like to broadcast. In the playback controls, click on the AirPlay symbol which looks like a stylized tele­vi­sion with a triangle.

Step 3: If you want to establish a general con­nec­tion and syn­chro­niza­tion from the Mac screen to the smart TV, make sure the Mac and TV are connected to WiFi. Then click on the AirPlay icon in the menu bar.

Step 4: Select your smart TV as the output device and establish the con­nec­tion. An AirPlay code may be required the first time you connect. This is usually displayed on the output device, i.e. the tele­vi­sion. Syn­chro­niza­tion will begin after entering the code.

Via WiFi using Google Chrome­cast

Step 1: Creating a con­nec­tion between a PC and a TV is par­tic­u­lar­ly practical with the compact Google Chrome­cast HDMI stick. Insert the stick into the HDMI port on the TV.

Step 2: You will now need the Google Chrome browser to broadcast. Open the URL “chrome­cast.com/setup” and go to “Start”.

Image: Open the URL “chromecast.com/setup” in the browser
First, open the URL “chrome­cast.com/setup” in the Chrome browser.

Step 3: Chrome will now show you available Chrome­cast devices. Select your connected TV and wait for the set-up wizard to au­to­mat­i­cal­ly establish a con­nec­tion. Then, click on “Next”.

Step 4: When setting up for the first time, you will be shown a code. Enter this code, confirm by clicking on “Yes”, and then set your Chrome­cast name and region. Now, you can establish a con­nec­tion to the WLAN and click on “Next” to complete the setup.

Step 5: To broadcast the content of the current Google Chrome browser tab to the tele­vi­sion, go to the three-point symbol in the top-right corner of the browser and select the item “Cast” and the cor­re­spond­ing target device.

Image: To start broadcasting from your PC to your TV, go to “Cast” in the three-point menu
Start the broadcast from PC to TV by clicking on “Cast” in the three-point menu.

Step 6: In order to broadcast the entire Windows desktop, go to “Cast”, then “Sources”, and then “Cast desktop”.

Image: In order to cast not only a video, but the entire desktop, go to “Cast desktop”
Select “Cast desktop” to broadcast not only a video, but the entire desktop.

Via WiFi using Miracast

Step 1: With a smart TV that supports the wireless trans­mis­sion tech­nol­o­gy Miracast, it is par­tic­u­lar­ly easy to connect a PC and TV via WLAN. First, activate the Miracast function on the tele­vi­sion (under “Settings” or “Network Devices”). You will have to check whether Miracast is supported on either your PC or in Windows. Use the shortcut WINDOWS + K to open the “Connect” menu. Here, you will be able to see your TV for the trans­mis­sion if Miracast is supported.

Image: Press WINDOWS + K to find available Miracast devices
Press WINDOWS + K to show available Miracast devices in the “Connect” menu.

Step 2: Press WINDOWS + I to open the Windows settings, go to “Devices”, and click on “Add Bluetooth or other device”.

Image: Go to “Devices” in the Windows settings and then “Add Bluetooth or other device”
Select “Devices” in the Windows settings and then “Add Bluetooth or other device”.

Step 3: Go to “Wireless display or dock” and wait for your TV to appear. Click on its name to project your PC content onto the TV.

Image: To project PC content, go to “Wireless display or dock” on your TV
To start the transfer, go to “Wireless display or dock” on your TV set.

Step 4: If you want to specify what should be projected, press WINDOWS + A and go to “Project”. Here, you will find various options, such as “PC screen only”, “Duplicate”, or “Second screen only”.

Image: Press WINDOWS + A and select options for the transmission under “Project”.
To specify what you want to project, press WINDOWS + A and choose the option for the trans­mis­sion under “Project”.
Tip

You don’t always need a second screen to see several windows at the same time. To split your PC screen into two, three, or four Windows screens, use the shortcut WINDOWS + arrow keys.

Just want to mirror your PC or use it as a second screen?

You can usually connect your PC to a TV in order to project or mirror desktop content onto the tele­vi­sion screen. However, with this option, using the tele­vi­sion as a monitor differs from using a separate PC monitor. When you connect two PC monitors to the PC via an HDMI, Dis­play­Port, or DVI con­nec­tion and use them at the same time, you can usually only transfer content from the PC monitor to the TV through the PC-TV con­nec­tion.

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