# How do I watch YouTube on TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 23, 2019, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875 "2019-11-23T16:22:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/21 "2019-12-02T02:34:37Z")
IMO, if the YouTube app was marketed to you as part of the product but it had already been cancelled (not included) by the manufacturer you should be compensated in some way (either by Sony or the retailer). Do you have the 2015 model that is shown in your Amazon link? Because that should still have the app, I would think. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/22 "2019-12-02T03:32:07Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > We got a Samsung TV a year or two ago, and when we took it out of the box, our Samsung phones immediately detected it and gave us a menu of options–including put phone on TV and TV on phone. The fact that it is incredibly easy to cast your phone onto the TV bothers me a little, and I am very boring person, in terms of shit that’s likely to show up on my phone. I imagine there are people who have a lot more to worry about. > > One thing infuriates me: the other built in feature is that the phone is a remote for the TV. But all it does is imitate the minimalist physical remote exactly. Here’s this wonderful opportunity to give me a keyboard for search functions, and it just . . . doesn’t. Had a chuckle over this, I can do the phone/tv mirroring thingy between my samsung phone and tv but it requires a special app to make my phone a remote. The Vaderling’s iPhone cannot (much to his frustration) be mirrored to the tv, there isn’t even an app, yet somehow he set his phone up as a remote for the TV ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/23 "2019-12-02T03:45:03Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Chromecast. A $35 device that lets you send anything from your laptop or smartphone to your TV, whether it be a dumb or smart TV. All you need is a WiFi network in your home. I might need to look into this. I don’t currently have a TV and there are too many things to know before I get one. but I’d just be streaming on the TV, no cable, no over the air channels. ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/24 "2019-12-02T15:05:33Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > No pad. Phone has nothing to do with anything. Tempted to respond to this with “Ok boomer” but instead I will explain. If your TV is on WiFi it most likely will be seen as a streaming device by your cell phone. When watching a video on your phone, look for an icon with a rectangle and WiFi waves. Press that and see if your TV display comes up as an output option. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/25 "2019-12-02T17:27:57Z")
I don’t watch videos on my iPhone. It’s for making calls and texting, checking traffic, and navigation. I do have Xfinity on it, but I almost never use it. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/26 "2019-12-02T17:37:59Z")
> [@JackieLikesVariety](#): > > I might need to look into this. I don’t currently have a TV and there are too many things to know before I get one. > > but I’d just be streaming on the TV, no cable, no over the air channels. If you’re streaming you might want to consider a Roku stick. You can cast YouTube from your Android phone to the TV via the Roku stick. You should also look into getting a tunerless display screen; it looks like a TV but has no tuner. It’s much less expensive for any given screen size. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/27 "2019-12-02T18:38:39Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I don’t watch videos on my iPhone. It’s for making calls and texting, checking traffic, and navigation. I do have Xfinity on it, but I almost never use it. Right, but you are asking how to do something new (play YouTube on the TV) and we are providing the steps. It’s like if you asked “how do I change the channel?” And we replied “use the remote and click the channel up/down button” and you said “I don’t use the remote.” ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/28 "2019-12-02T19:02:21Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > Tempted to respond to this with “Ok boomer” but instead I will explain. > > If your TV is on WiFi it most likely will be seen as a streaming device by your cell phone. When watching a video on your phone, look for an icon with a rectangle and WiFi waves. Press that and see if your TV display comes up as an output option. Do most Smart TVs have a cast option? My Vizio does but that’s because instead of been a “normal” Smart TV with built-in Apps, it has it’s own built-in ChromeCast. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/29 "2019-12-03T00:14:57Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > That’s the thing. My [Sony DVD/Blu-ray player](https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TYFCJ8S/r) doesn’t offer a way to choose YouTube. (Or Netflix, for that matter.) The description says: > > But I don’t see how to do it. You may have to download the YouTube app to your Blu-Ray player. Here is a link with instructions on how to do that on your model: > **[Can I add or remove apps on Blu-ray Disc players? | Sony USA](https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/home-video-blu-ray-disc-players-recorders/bdp-s3500/articles/00110782)** > [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > Tempted to respond to this with “Ok boomer” but instead I will explain. > > If your TV is on WiFi it most likely will be seen as a streaming device by your cell phone. When watching a video on your phone, look for an icon with a rectangle and WiFi waves. Press that and see if your TV display comes up as an output option. I think this is proprietary and manufacturer-specific. Samsung has a feature called AllCast, so I can screen-mirror my Samsung phone on my Samsung smart TV, but AFAIK if I had an iPhone there’d be no way to do it. > [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > As for YouTube, I use the YT app on my Android phone to find the content I want, and then cast it either to my Roku stick or the TV itself, depending on which TV I’m using. Once the video is running on the big screen I don’t have to keep it going on my phone. I don’t suppose that’s possible with an iPhone, though. Actually, I believe it should be. YouTube apps, including the iPhone one, have a “Watch on TV” feature that lets you link the YouTube app on your mobile device to the on on your smart TV (or, I’m assuming, Blu-Ray player, video game console, etc.) If they’re on the same wifi network they will detect each other, even if they are from two different manufacturers–I just tested this with my Samsung Smart TV and my Apple iPad, and it works. (If they don’t detect each other, you can get the app to give you a code to link them.) You can then select YouTube videos on your phone, and they will play on your TV. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/30 "2019-12-03T00:19:13Z")
How much would getting a smart tv cost? And getting it hooked up? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/31 "2019-12-03T01:49:47Z")
Just to make sure things are clear, there are two completely different things that both sometimes called “casting”. One is a technology called [Discovery and Launch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_and_Launch) (DIAL), which is used I think exclusively by Youtube and Netflix. When you use the cast icon in Youtube to cast to, say, a Roku, the phone merely sends a Youtube URL to the Roku, which then opens the URL and starts streaming from Youtube. The phone could be completely powered off at that point and the Roku will continue to stream from Youtube. The other technology is [Miracast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracast), which lets you cast directly from your phone to the Roku. This casts the raw screen image, whether it’s in the Youtube app or the home screen or any other app. The phone is actively encoding its screen to a video stream which is sent via Wifi Direct to the Roku which then displays it on the TV. DIAL works only because Youtube supports it, but Miracast works with any app and doesn’t require app support. The downside is not all phones support Miracast, and it’s more susceptible to wifi glitches causing video artifacts, since it’s running very close to real time and doesn’t have much buffer. Since Apple doesn’t play well with others, they have their own incompatible casting standard called Airplay which is similar to Miracast but I don’t know too much about it. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/32 "2019-12-03T09:27:50Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Alas, we do not watch YouTube on TV. Our TV is fundamentally an Android device, and when YouTube abandoned their original App API, our TV lost it’s YouTube App. > > Sucks. Don’t buy a Smart TV – get a dumb TV and one of those Amazon/Google/Apple/Whatever streaming devices, unless you want to replace the whole TV every few years. +1. Our first smart TV had Amazon and Netflix built in (among other things), then Amazon, to “improve service” terminated the app for that model. We have a Roku there now. I think the OP’s situation involved the blu-ray player having the appropriate app, which is a similar solution (in fact it was a suggestion made here, to me, when we bought the TV mentioned above). ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/33 "2019-12-03T18:41:22Z")
I personally hate casting because there seem to be never ending issues. We always have problems like different phones, different TVs, wifi, the TV can’t see the device, the device can’t see the TV, different TVs support different casting technologies, and so on. I’m the one who ends up having to debug the problem. I suppose it would be good if only one person was doing it with a small set of devices, but my household almost always has issues when we try to do it. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend casting for someone asking how to watch YouTube on the TV. If the person is asking the question in the first place, they might be more likely to expect casting to just work in a simple manner. Someone who has the skills to get casting working in a general setting would likely already know how to watch YouTube on the TV. For example, if my in-laws ask, I’m going to tell them to get an AppleTV or something which has a 99% chance of just working out of the box. If I tell them to try casting, there’s a 99% chance I’ll spend hours on the phone with them every time they want to use it. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/34 "2019-12-03T18:50:25Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > I personally hate casting because there seem to be never ending issues. We always have problems like different phones, different TVs, wifi, the TV can’t see the device, the device can’t see the TV, different TVs support different casting technologies, and so on. I’m the one who ends up having to debug the problem. I suppose it would be good if only one person was doing it with a small set of devices, but my household almost always has issues when we try to do it. > > I wouldn’t necessarily recommend casting for someone asking how to watch YouTube on the TV. If the person is asking the question in the first place, they might be more likely to expect casting to just work in a simple manner. Someone who has the skills to get casting working in a general setting would likely already know how to watch YouTube on the TV. For example, if my in-laws ask, I’m going to tell them to get an AppleTV or something which has a 99% chance of just working out of the box. If I tell them to try casting, there’s a 99% chance I’ll spend hours on the phone with them every time they want to use it. This is especially true in the OP’s case, since we don’t know whether his TV is a smart TV or not, and it seems like he might not have the technical sophistication to tell. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/35 "2019-12-03T20:50:38Z")
Buy a Roku (about $50). I have one in my 8 year old tv and it works just fine. The dingus allows you to stream about a zillion channels, including YouTube. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/36 "2019-12-03T21:00:29Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > How much would getting a smart tv cost? > And getting it hooked up? Does your current TV meet your needs except for “smart” features? Then keep it and get a streaming device. While a lot of folk here mention Roku, I am much happier with a FireTV 4k stick. (Which just days ago was on sale for $25.) This model allows me to hook up a OTG Ethernet device so streaming is faster and more reliable. To set up a “smart” TV is the same as setting up a current regular TV except for one thing key thing: networking. You need to set up WiFi (or even better Ethernet cable). (There’s other features involving USB media and such that you may or may not care about.) Then if you have Netflix, Amazon Video, etc. you have to set up the device for each of those. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/37 "2019-12-03T22:11:18Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Does your current TV meet your needs except for “smart” features? Then keep it and get a streaming device. While a lot of folk here mention Roku, I am much happier with a FireTV 4k stick. (Which just days ago was on sale for $25.) This model allows me to hook up a OTG Ethernet device so streaming is faster and more reliable. > > To set up a “smart” TV is the same as setting up a current regular TV except for one thing key thing: networking. You need to set up WiFi (or even better Ethernet cable). (There’s other features involving USB media and such that you may or may not care about.) Then if you have Netflix, Amazon Video, etc. you have to set up the device for each of those. Both my TV & computer hook to the same modem. I also have a cable box. There is what looks like a flash-drive port on the front of the cable box. Would that work? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/38 "2019-12-03T22:20:04Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > If you’re streaming you might want to consider a Roku stick. You can cast YouTube from your Android phone to the TV via the Roku stick. Depending on the Roku, it may have a native YouTube app (mine does) that you can use without even having to fool with your phone at all. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/39 "2019-12-03T22:23:54Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Both my TV & computer hook to the same modem. > I also have a cable box. > > There is what looks like a flash-drive port on the front of the cable box. > > Would that work? No, the port on the cable box won’t work. That will be for some device specific to the cable box. You’ll need to plug it into an HDMI port directly on the TV. You mention that the TV is hooked directly to the cable modem, so your TV should be relatively recent and should probably have HDMI ports. They sort of look like a USB port, but the sides are not straight. Some TVs will have both USB and HDMI ports. You should be able to spot the difference. The USB ports are rectangular. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875/40 "2019-12-04T00:29:27Z")
I’ve got a Raspberry pi 3 hooked up HDMI to my dumb TV. Using Kodi, I watch movies etc with it. The content lives on a 4Tb HD. Since I don’t usually leave the thing WiFi connected, I’ve never looked into the streaming channels available through Kodi. However, there are a bunch, possibly including YouTube. If not, I can turn on WiFi, run Firefox on the pi, and output to the TV. That’ll get you YouTube for certain. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-youtube-on-tv/843875.md?page=3)