We have an 10/11 year old laptop which creeks along for sole purpose of watching films on portable HDD to the projector.
Projector has 2 HDMI inputs - chromecast on one and HDMI cable on other.
The HDMI port on the laptop has died - cable works fine on work laptop so know that's not the issue.
I've tried doing a factory reset of the laptop and updating all the drivers but HDMI still dead.
Is there a reliable way to cast from a windows 10?
I've tried using chrome, but that only seems to want to cast the browser window, not a playing video.
Failing that, where's good for laptops, for say circa £500 that can handle some light gopro 1080p editing?
Thanks
Can you put the media on an external HDD and then plug that straight into a Roku stick? That has a USB player I think.
Guessing it's not got a type c port, otherwise USB hub with a HDMI port would work.
Does the projector definitely not play direct from the HDD?
What happens if you press cast desktop or cast file?
Casting desktop with the video playing has always worked for me.
What happens if you press cast desktop or cast file?
Casting desktop with the video playing has always worked for me
It just seems to keep casting the Google chrome browser. Tried to cast a file and naught happened.
Guessing it’s not got a type c port, otherwise USB hub with a HDMI port would work.
Does the projector definitely not play direct from the HDD?
No USB C - my "good" laptop doesn't have that. No USB input on projector, only USB 5v out sadly.
Can you put the media on an external HDD and then plug that straight into a Roku stick? That has a USB player I think.
I'll look into that, thanks
USB A to HDMI cable would sort it if you have a spare USB slot. I have a usb C hub that does it like above but no reason you can't get a USB-A cable or hub.
Some can be a bit finicky so check reviews first it buying non-branded off amazon etc.
We have been using window wireless adapters for our projectors at work.
The HDMI output on one of the others instructors laptops did not work and he could not access it. This turned out to be a software problem cause by a windows 10 update.
https://www.microsoft.com/accessories/en-us/products/adapters/wireless-display-adapter-2/p3q-00001
As suggested above, two options:
1. A USB to HDMI dongle or dock.
2. A Miracast adapter. These are ok for watching video, but are too laggy for use as a second monitor.
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-miracast-screen-mirroring,review-2286.html
I would boot the laptop from a Linux live cd/usbstick, to see if HDMI works, and eliminate the possibility that it's a problem in Windows.
I would then go and buy a new laptop, you cheap b*****d!
I would boot the laptop from a Linux live cd/usbstick, to see if HDMI works, and eliminate the possibility that it’s a problem in Windows.
Or you could go to the Device Manager in Windows and check that everything's ok there. But, I guess pissing around with Linux is how the cool kids do it.
It's not about being cool, the Windows device manager may say the driver is OK, but there could be some other issue preventing it from working. This is a non-destructive and simple way to use an entirely different OS to check out the hardware.
(That does not mean that I am not cool though)
No other video ports on it? Odd for laptops of that era to only have hdmi.
What application are you using to play videos?
No other video ports on it? Odd for laptops of that era to only have hdmi.
Depends what the projector has, also. I'd have thought VGA > VGA might be likely if not ideal.
Oh, and - if it turns out that the laptop is a no-go, you could just use a Raspberry Pi.
No other video ports on it? Odd for laptops of that era to only have hdmi.
It has vga and hdmi - projector has no vga input and i believe vga - hdmi won't be the full 1080p?
As for buying a new laptop, no idea about current cpu / graphics cards. Just look at amazon and the Huawei ones look on paper good value, but feel buying that brand at the mo feels like not the best idea.
As for the program to play the films, just using the default Windows program.
Get some kind of android TV device, I've got a nexus player but one of the newer Google TV Chromecast will probably work, cost about £50. Then install Kodi (formerly xbmc I believe) and you can set up a network share on the laptop and stream from there.
With this approach you also get the added benefit of all the streaming apps on the android device should you want to use them.
Can you run Plex mediaserver or similar on the laptop and cast to the chromecast from that?