External wifi card

michaelkenward
Guru - Experienced User
Jan 23, 2022
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.
- smithave
  Aspirant
  Jan 31, 2022
  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
  - michaelkenward
    Guru - Experienced User
    Jan 31, 2022
    smithave wrote:
    
    Here's where I am. I bought a Netgear AC100 Wifi USB adaptor to provide wifi capability to my 10 year old computer
    
    I can't find any Netgear USB adapter that is "AC100". That is not a model number. It is a wifi speed. There could be a buncg of AC100 devices. But that doesn't exist either. There is an AC1900 USB adapter, model number A7000. And the A6150 is AC1200.
    
    A Netgear tech--after hours of back-and forth--could not get the computer to link to my Vizio smart TV.
    
    I'm not sure that a USB adapter on its own can connect to a Smart TV.
    
    The adapter is there to connect your PC to the wifi from your router. The Smart TV also connects to the wifi from the router. Then you need something extra so that the two things can see each other on the network.
    
    So there is not TV to PC connection. As plemans said earlier, you need something else to do that.
    
    How to Connect Laptop to VIZIO Smart TV Wirelessly – PC Webopaedia
plemans
Guru - Experienced User
Jan 23, 2022
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

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