Forum Discussion

dedmiston's avatar
dedmiston
Moderator
Dec 20, 2021

Play back content to laptop via HDMI?

My laptop has an HDMI port, but it's for output and not for input. I don't know much about directionality of the HDMI signal, but I don't want to cast content from my laptop to my TV. I want to go the other way and view content on my laptop from a little Android streaming box.

Has anyone here done this? Is there another device I need to connect to the laptop?
  • 1492's avatar
    1492
    Moderator
    Dec 21, 2021
    Forgot to mention, there are a couple of ways to view the live capture. One is to use the free open source VLC Player.

    Basically, from the top menu, select Media > Open Capture Device...(or CTRL+C) and set the parameters based on your USB capture dongle such as:




    Press Play.


    If the video is not displaying wide-screen, go to VLC top menu, and select Video > Aspect Ratio and select 16:9. Or change the setting in Advanced options...

    The playback quality is going to depend on your PC hardware/USB dongle, so may have to make some changes to VLC settings for best results.
  • dedmiston's avatar
    dedmiston
    Moderator
    Dec 20, 2021
    Fantastic. Thanks a ton.

    I just ordered one to get here tomorrow.

    And funny you mention that about Miracast. I got to thinking more about it and I think the Miracast only flows the other direction too (from a computer or mobile device to the Android box).
  • 1492's avatar
    1492
    Moderator
    Dec 20, 2021
    Dave, I've never heard of Miracast used in this manner. I don't think it will do what you want.

    What you need to watch video on your laptop is an HDMI USB3 or USBC capture dongle. This will bring an external HD video source via HDMI cable into your laptop.

    HDMI capture dongle's have become quite inexpensive in recent years. This one is $18.99 on Amazon.com. Though don't have any experience with this particular brand. You don't need to install extra drivers, WIN10 has the drivers built-in. Just plug it in.

    I bought another similarly priced dongle so I can use an older Sony sports camcorder as a webcam, as is has a zoom lens and image quality is far superior than any off the shelf webcam available. Quality of 1080HD is amazingly good.


  • dedmiston's avatar
    dedmiston
    Moderator
    Dec 20, 2021
    jcpainter wrote:
    Ask the person you purchased the Android streaming box from.


    Amazon. They don't answer questions.
  • jcpainter's avatar
    jcpainter
    Explorer
    Dec 20, 2021
    I have an Android streaming box and I connect it via HDMI to my TV. I would guess you could do the same thing connecting it to your laptop.

    There may be some software required to run on the laptop to accomplish this? Ask the person you purchased the Android streaming box from.

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