Almost all TVs today are smart, but it is not so common for the same to happen with computer monitors. They have many hertz, dizzying resolutions and many other technologies, but almost always with an empty coconut. That was mine, until I decided to increase his IQ with the help of google gadgets that I had at home.
A monitor with a free HDMI and a new Chromecast with Google TV has been all I have needed to convert my monitor into a Smart Monitor with Android TVto have a kind of secondary TV in the office and to be able to relax and watch content with the comfort of having a remote control and not depending on the web versions of streaming sites like Netflix.
From dumb to smart monitor
I’m happy with the monitor I have on my computer, but it’s not particularly smart: it just shows what comes in through its input and that’s what it usually is. Smart TVs are widespread, but Smart Monitors are still rarewith few exceptions like this smart monitor from SPC.
Considering that I have a Chromecast with Google TV that I use mainly for
Connect and little else
I’m lucky that my monitor has HDMI, DVI, and Display Port inputs, of which I only use the DisplayPort port to connect to my PC. this leaves me Free the HDMI to be able to plug in the Chromecastalthough this is not going to be the case on all monitors.
Yes, it is still quite common for monitors to maintain a VGA / DVI and HDMI input, so in some cases you will be able to connect the Chromecast to the HDMI of the monitor connecting the PC to the VGA. If necessary, you could always use an HDMI to VGA converter to connect the Chromecast like this, although this is not highly recommended.
For the rest, just missing provide power to the Chromecast, which in the version with Google TV requires the use of a normal charger and not a USB, as in the old days. Almost better this way, because my monitor doesn’t have any USB port that could serve as a power supply anyway.
A problem with an easy solution: the audio
In my case, I am lucky that my monitor has speakers, so by changing the image source on the monitor from DisplayPort to HDMI, I go from monitor mode to Android TV mode, being able to listen to the videos I see on the screen without problems. apps like Netflix or YouTube, but not all monitors have speakers. Or, as it happens to mine, which has speakers but they sound terrible.
This has an easy solution, because you can connect a Bluetooth speaker or headphones to the Chromecast, to listen to the audio. In Android TV this is carried out within the section of Control and accessories.
In my case, I took advantage of another smart device I had at home, the Xiaomi smart speaker, Xiaomi Mi Smart Speaker, which is something like Xiaomi’s Google Nest. It would be worth literally any Bluetooth speaker you have at home, with the only requirement that you can put into pairing mode.
In the case of Google smart speakers and the like, this is done from the Google Home application, entering the settings of the gadget in question and tapping on Paired Bluetooth devicesto press later Enable pairing mode. Then it already appears on TV and they can be linked.
At this point I already had the image and a decent sound. The transformation from dumb to smart monitor had been completed at most. it took me about ten minutes and zero eurosWell, they were all devices that I already had at home.
Useful if you don’t care about traditional TV
By changing the monitor input I can switch between the PC and the Android TV apps
This invention is very good if you are one of those who do not remember when was the last time you saw a live TV broadcast and not by streaming, well, ob
The only possible downside may be the audio, but it’s easily solvable and the result powers your monitor into something like a TV, or at least a a place to consume content more comfortably than browsing the websites of each streaming site.
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