The Vizio Smart TVs provide excellent performance in all price ranges. They are affordable and have excellent picture quality. They are not as expensive as their competition, but they offer a great value for money.
You will feel most comfortable connecting your phone or laptop to the TV due to the TV’s excellent picture quality. Your laptop can play a variety of file formats. It is also capable of running all kinds of games using a wide range of controllers, making it the ultimate gaming machine. You will also want to connect wirelessly, as cables can get messy. This article will show you how to wirelessly connect your Vizio Smart TV to your laptop.
Using Miracast
Miracast natively supports Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 operating systems. Simply click on the notification button in the system tray. When the menu opens, expand the buttons, and then click Connect. Once you’re connected to the same network, your screen will be mirrored to your smart television.
You can also purchase a dedicated Miracast receiver to connect to your TV. After your laptop has been connected, your screen will be displayed on your TV using the Miracast receiver.
This solution is more affordable than a wireless HDMI extender. The HDMI extender’s video resolution is 1080p. This means that 4K streaming is not possible. The adapter will likely scale down the resolution of your monitor to transmit it to the TV or adapter. It may experience display lag just like other wireless solutions. This means it does not offer the best gaming experience.
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Using Plex
Plex lets you stream your laptop’s media library to your TV easily. Plex is a media server program that can catalog all your audio and video files, and stream them to any device running the Plex application. It is also useful as a front-end for streaming media services. It can be used to record live TV via a USB tuner.
Plex is supported and supported by most major media streaming services. Plex can stream to your TV and your phone. Plex will also stream to any compatible device as long as it is connected to the Internet and turned on. Plex is free but you will need to pay for the premium Plex Pass for more advanced features such as DVR and TV.
Plex can stream and playback media in a significant way, even with its free version. It does not support screen mirroring. You will need to register via the server software in order to stream any content to your smart TV’s Plex app. It does not support games. It doesn’t support 4K streaming, as it only supports 1080p.
Wireless HDMI
An HDMI extender wirelessly transmits HDMI data wirelessly, from a transmitter to an receiver. This allows you connect your Vizio SmartTV to another small box with a short HDMI cable and your laptop to another small box with a longer HDMI cable. After the pair extenders devices have been connected and powered, they work much like an HDMI cable.
They have a much greater range than HDMI cables (up to 100ft) They are also point-to-point, so your home’s wireless network traffic won’t interfere with them.
However, wireless connections come with their fair share of compromises. Wireless HDMI extenders can only go up to 1080p so you cannot stream 4K HDR content. They can also cause excessive video lag. It will make it difficult to play PC games.
Using Steam Link
Valve launched Steam Link a few years back. While it didn’t make any headlines, its performance is impressive. Steam Link is a media streamer specifically made for PC games. It can be connected to your smart TV and paired with your controller. Then you can use it to play your favorite PC games.
Steam Link handles video/audio input data and video/audio, but your laptop does all the graphic processing. If you have a strong wireless connection, it is extremely responsive. You will get even better results if all the devices can be connected to your router via Ethernet.
The Steam Link app can be used in lieu of the Steam Link box if you own an NVidia Shield TV, Android TV media streamer or a NVidia Shield TV.
Steam Link is not designed to stream media, but screen mirroring and general media streaming are some of the limitations. It is also difficult to access content not accessible through Steam because its interface heavily relies on Steam’s Big Picture mode. This is not the best solution if you only want to watch movies and TV shows. You can also work through your laptop’s desktop using the Steam Link to minimize the Big Picture mode. However, this is unreliable and awkward.
Using Chromecast or Google Cast
Google Chromecast allows you to stream streaming TV shows and movies from your computer to your Vizio SmartTV. Plug it in to your smart TV and you can establish a connection with your home network. You can stream any Chrome tab directly from your laptop by simply clicking a button. You will need the most recent version of Google Chrome browser installed on your laptop in order to be able wirelessly connect it to your TV.
