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Forum Discussion
smithave
Jan 22, 2022Aspirant
External wifi card
January 22, 2022 I want to connect my HP PC to my Visio TV. My computer does not have a wifi card. Microsoft has a utility that will connect my PC to my TV if I can connect the PC and TV to the s...
plemans
Jan 22, 2022Guru - Experienced User
what visio tv is it? is it a smart tv?
Some computers could screen share but i haven't found it that reliable.
You could try something simple like putting plex on your computer and tv.
- smithaveJan 22, 2022Aspirant
The TV is a smart TV. It is connected to WiFi. Is what I need called an EXTERNAL WIFI CARD or a USB WIFI ADAPTOR?
- michaelkenwardJan 23, 2022Guru - Experienced User
smithave wrote:
The TV is a smart TV. It is connected to WiFi. Is what I need called an EXTERNAL WIFI CARD or a USB WIFI ADAPTOR?
What are you trying to do?
Connect a PC to the TV by wifi?
And what do you want that connection to do? It takes more than a connection to view computer programs, music, etc on a TV. Yiur TV has to have the software needed to make the connection and play the files.
You say "Microsoft has a utility that will connect my PC to my TV". What would that be?
As plemans says, screen sharing is not reliable. It is also a pig to set up in my experience.
I don't know what you mean by EXTERNAL WIFI CARD. Everything I can find suggests that it is the same thing as a USB wifi adapter. After all this "external card" has to connect to the PC some how. That usually means USB.
The normal way t connect a TV and a PC is through a router. You can then use either wifi or wired Ethernet (LAN) to make the connection. In my case, because the TV doesn't move around the place I prefer LAN because it is easier to set up and less liable to fall over.
A good way of doing this is with Powerline Ethernet. This turns the mains circuit into a LAN link.
- smithaveJan 31, 2022Aspirant
Thanks for your response. I am not electronically savy so I don't understand some of the terms y'all use.
Here's where I am. I bought a Netgear AC100 Wifi USB adaptor to provide wifi capability to my 10 year old computer--no internal wifi card. A Netgear tech--after hours of back-and forth--could not get the computer to link to my Vizio smart TV. I get a message on my computer that it does have "miracast" capability. The Netgear tech said the same thing. I tried to download Miracast from thier site. Got a messagethat said I could not do so--not compatible.
I went to Google Chrome and tried the CAST option--that didn't work.
I treid the Microsoft Action Center option--PROJECT, CONNECT, etc.--that didn't work.
The TV is linked to a wifi network. The computer says that it is linked to same wifi network. What do I need to do to link the TV to the PC desktop wirelessly so that what I see on the computer can be seen on the TV? (The two devices are too far apart to link with a cable.)
Thanks so much for your help. Sorry to be so uninformed.
Ray Strobo
smithave@aol.com
- plemansJan 23, 2022Guru - Experienced User
smithave wrote:
The TV is a smart TV. It is connected to WiFi. Is what I need called an EXTERNAL WIFI CARD or a USB WIFI ADAPTOR?
that isn't necessarily going to work.
If you're trying to get videos/photos from a laptop to your tv, you could install a media server like Plex or Emby to your laptop and the app on your tv. Tends to be a bit more reliable than try to rig adapters that might not work