How to connect YouTube to TV

After reading my guide on how to watch movies on YouTube, you have discovered a new world and all you do is see the titles on the Google platform. However, the idea of ​​spending the evenings in front of your computer screen or, even worse, that of your smartphone, does not excite you and you are wondering if there is a more convenient solution, perhaps that allows you to enjoy YouTube content on the TV. .

Well, if that’s the case, let me tell you that you’ve come to the right place at the right time! With today’s guide, in fact, I will tell you how to connect YouTube to the TV and how to play content on the TV directly from your smartphone, tablet or computer. How do you say? Can’t wait to learn more and start playing YouTube on your TV remotely “controlling” it? So don’t waste any more time and get deeper into the topic right away.

Come on, make yourself comfortable and take five minutes of free time to devote to reading the next paragraphs. Read carefully the instructions I am about to give you, choose the solution that you think best suits your needs and try to put it into practice. I assure you that everything is much simpler than it seems and I am sure that in no time you will be able to enjoy a good movie on TV via YouTube, starting and stopping the playback whenever you want via your computer or your mobile device. Happy reading and, above all, have fun!

Index

• How to connect YouTube to TV: Smart TV
  • How to connect YouTube from phone to TV
  • YouTube: how to connect PC to TV
• How to connect YouTube to TV with Chromecast and other devices

How to connect YouTube to TV: Smart TV

If it is your intention to connect YouTube to the Smart TV , know that this is an extremely simple operation to complete, as long as two fundamental conditions are met: the TV must have been previously connected to the Internet and must integrate the Google Cast protocol (in the case of Android TV / Google TV devices ), or have the dedicated YouTube application . If you do not know how to connect the Smart TV to the Internet, you can take a look at the specific tutorial available on my site, to have clear indications on what to do; if, on the other hand, you don’t know how to install the YouTube app on your TV, take a look at this other guide of mine, to understand how to proceed.

How to connect YouTube from phone to TV

There are several ways to stream YouTube content from your mobile phone to any Smart TV: if both devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network , but even if the TV is connected to the Internet via an Ethernet cable, you can use the broadcast function integrated.

To proceed, first turn on the TV and wait a few moments so that the Smart functions can access the Internet connection; then, start the YouTube app on your smartphone and, if you intend to log in to your profile on the TV as well, tap the Continue as [name] button ; following this operation, your subscriptions and your favorite videos will be synchronized on the TV and will be accessible every time you start the app on the latter device. If, on the other hand, you want to avoid associating the TV’s YouTube app to your profile, tap the Ignore item , visible a little further down.

Now, to establish the connection, press on the transmission symbol (the screen with the waves ) visible at the top of the YouTube app for smartphones and tap on the name of the TV, located in the panel that appears on the screen; if the TV name is not immediately visible, try opening the YouTube app on the latter device as well. Once the connection is established, all selected movies in the YouTube app for smartphones will automatically play on the TV.

When needed, again through the YouTube app for smartphones and tablets, you can search directly on the TV using voice search , or turn the phone into a real remote control equipped with directional arrows, able to navigate within the YouTube application for TV: to do this, touch the broadcast symbol visible on the phone screen again and press the voice search icon or the remote control icon , depending on your needs. To disconnect the phone from the TV, press again on the transmission symbol and tap on the Disconnect item , visible at the bottom.

If you wish, you can choose to pair your smartphone directly with the TV, so that you can start broadcasting movies even if the two devices are on different networks . To succeed, start the YouTube application on the TV and use the remote control of the latter to open the main menu of the app (just press the left directional arrow several times consecutively , until the panel expands).

Now, select the Settings item , reach the Connect with TV code section from the screen that appears later and, when you see the 12-digit code to establish the connection, switch to the smartphone and open the YouTube app. From there, tap on the transmission symbol , choose Connect with TV code from the menu that appears and enter the digits you see on the screen in the appropriate field. When you are done, click on the Connect buttonand that’s it: starting from this moment, you can transmit YouTube videos from your phone to the TV, with the same methods seen above, even when the two devices are on different networks. Please note that the preferences of the account in use on the smartphone, following this procedure, will not be transferred to the TV .

YouTube: how to connect PC to TV

Want to start streaming a YouTube video from your computer to your TV ? This can also be done, provided that two conditions are met: the PC and the TV must be connected to the same network and you must use YouTube through any browser based on the Chromium engine , such as Google Chrome for Windows, macOS and Linux ( that you can install, if you don’t already have it, following the instructions I gave you in this guide ) or Microsoft Edge ( here I explained how to get it). Chromebooks _, as you can easily imagine, they are natively compatible with the transmission of content via Google Cast.

Having said that, let’s see together how to proceed: open the YouTube home page, search for the video of your interest using the appropriate top bar and start playing it on your computer by clicking on the relevant box; now, position the mouse cursor in correspondence with the playback box , so as to display the control bar, click on the Play on TV button (the screen with the waves ) located at the bottom left and select the name of the TV from the list that is proposed to you, to start the transmission of the movie on the screen of the latter device.

Alternatively, if you use the Google Chrome browser, you can also transmit the movie using the function accessible from the toolbar of the same: after starting the playback of the video on the computer, click on the musical note symbol with three horizontal lines visible at the top of right, near the avatar of your Google account (or the little man symbol), click on the Select a device button visible in the panel that appears and then select the name of the TV from the list of compatible devices.

To stop playing the movies on the TV, press the button you used to start the broadcast again and select the Stop broadcast item from the panel that appears.

How to connect YouTube to TV with Chromecast and other devices

How do you say? Do you have an older generation TV without Smart functions, or without native compatibility with Google Cast and / or YouTube app? No problem, you can easily remedy this by purchasing Chromecast, an HDMI device produced by Google, which, after connecting to the Internet, allows you to transmit content from YouTube (but also from many other applications compatible with Android and iOS) directly on the TV , using the Google Cast protocol.

At the time of writing, the Google “key” is available in two versions: a basic one , which costs € 39 and allows you to view videos up to a resolution of 1080p; then there is Chromecast with Google TV , which costs € 69.99 and, in addition to having support for up to 4K resolutions with HDR, comes with a remote control and Google TV operating system.

To use the dongle, simply connect it to a free HDMI port on the TV and to the power outlet (or only to a USB port on the TV, if you are using the base model of the device) and connect it to the Internet using the Google Home application , available for both Android and iPhone. Once Chromecast is connected to the Internet, it is possible to start the transmission of the contents coming from the smartphone in the same way as seen in the previous chapter of this guide; for more information, take a look at my guide to Chromecast operation, in which you will find everything explained in great detail.