Guides

• Keep a laptop playing on the TV with the lid closed: no sleep, no black screen

  Set the lid to Do nothing, turn off idle sleep, and mind heat and battery to run a closed laptop as a TV player.

• PC connected to TV by HDMI: no signal, no sound, or the picture is cut off

  The TV says no signal, the sound stays on the PC, the edges are cut off, text is blurry, or the screen goes black: fixes for each.

• No streaming box? Use your TV as the family's biggest screen

  Connect a PC, phone or console and use the TV as a display: your own videos, photos, video calls and a fixed kids channel.

• Don't want recommendations steering your kids? Make a TV that only plays what you chose

  Put the videos you chose in one library and let the TV play only those: no recommendations, no ads.

• How to organize family videos from your phone to watch on the TV with grandparents

  Gather the family videos on your phones, sort them by event, add covers and play them on the TV.

• Kids always want to watch TV? Setting rules works better than just limiting

  Rather than trying to stop kids wanting TV, agree on when, how long and what, and end viewing time calmly.

• Turn an old PC into a TV media player: what you need and how to set it up

  The hardware, cable, Windows settings and software for turning an old laptop or desktop into a TV player.

• Kids can't stop watching TV? Ways to limit screen time, compared

  Timers, TV kids modes, parental controls and player-side limits: which ones kids can get around, and which stop calmly.

• PC connected to the TV: how to use your phone or tablet as the remote

  Four ways to control a PC on the TV from your phone or tablet, from wireless mice to dedicated playback remotes.