I’m currently working on a plan to get rid of the cable box.
Built into my TV, I already have Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc… So I got that covered. My problem is, I can’t live with out my news channels. I figure the best I can do is stream the shows that I like directly from their websites.
The thing is though, when I connected my laptop via HDMI, the picture came up as a small square on my TV. Their was a way to bring it to full size but the cropping was so over the top, the smaller size was less distracting.
Right now, I’m thinking of getting one of those Chromecast things. But I have no idea if that device will reformat the picture to fit my TV.
Chromecast definitely sounds like it’ll do the trick. I saw a demo recently and it looked like it could beam whatever was on the browser to the TV, and they showed at least one instance in which a video player embedded in the site could be cast to take up the entire TV screen.
I’m not sure if there’s a limitation on that though - it might need to be an HTML 5 video tag, or an embedded you-tube video. I’m not sure.
Hopefully someone with hands on experience can clue us in.
The issue with chromecast is that if it’s not using a service that is formatted specifically for chromecast, it converts and broadcasts from your computer as it streams so you could potentially experience an extreme drop in quality.
It’s probably a configuration issue. Unless you have a 4K TV, it’s pretty safe to assume that your computer can output what the TV needs (720p or 1080p) through the HDMI port. You might just have to look at your multiple monitor resolution settings to make sure your TV is set to one of those resolutions. Usually right-clicking on the desktop will show you an Intel, Nvidia, or ATI control panel option, and those should give you TV-specific resolution settings if the normal Display control panel built into Windows does not.
This is most likely the cause. You probably aren’t outputting the correct resolution through the HDMI port. On a modern big screen, this is typically 1920x1080 or thereabouts. Sometimes there is further configuration needed on the television side to deal with overscan or underscan, but that’s fine-tuning compared to the resolution being output by your laptop.
There may be settings on the TV and on the computer to fix.
On the computer, in windows, the standard windows “Display properties” may not do enough, at the icons area find the icon for the video card … this has settings for how to do TV output… The reason to draw only in the corner is to allow the tv to used up close, so you can sit right in front of the tv…
On the TV Was that HDMI input set to PiP (Picture in Picture) or “use up close and personal computer screen” ?
But in any case, your awful full screen suggess that it was done by setting zoom … zoom is wrong . 4:3 is wrong. de-letterbox is wrong. Find all the settings which suggest manipulating the input, and set them to “don’t change the input”.
My computer had a “underscan” option, to ensure all the display is on the screen (for use for applications or games , among other non-video use )
But for television you might change the overscan, underscan setting to get it to full the screen properly, like a TV show would.