How to Connect Any Phone or Tablet to Your TV Using USB
Why Use USB to Connect Phones, Tablets, and TVs?
With the ease and prevalence of casting to mirror a phone screen wirelessly, you might be curious why you should use a USB to TV connection for your phone.
If you hook a phone to your TV with a hardwired connection, you benefit from a low-latency signal. For instance, if you plan to mirror your phone to a television for gaming, you’ll want a USB connection rather than a wireless configuration. This vastly reduces lag.
Plus, for situations where you lack Wi-Fi or have a weak wireless signal, you’ll need a wired connection instead.
1. Connect Your Phone to an HDMI TV Using USB Type-C
The most recent Android smartphones feature a USB Type-C port. Also known as USB-C, this is a cylinder-shaped input that replaces micro-USB and is used for charging and data transfer.
Including support for the DisplayPort standard, USB-C can be used to mirror your phone or tablet’s display to a TV.
Simply connect the USB-C cable to Android, then connect this to a suitable docking station or USB-C to HDMI adaptor.
2. Connecting Phone to TV Using USB With MHL
MHL is one of the most common solutions for connecting a phone to an HDMI TV with a micro-USB cable. This technology allows MHL-compatible devices such as smartphones and tablets to connect to televisions and projectors.
To use Mobile High-Definition Link, you will need
1. MHL-enabled phone
2. USB to HDMI MHL adapter or cable
3. HDMI cable
4. Power cable
Although this is the general setup, the specific cable you’ll need varies. Google MHL cable [your device name] to find a list of compatible cables.
Next, connect your phone to your television with the MHL cable. After that, you should see your phone screen on your TV; it’s plug-and-play.
3. Connecting Phone to TV Using USB SlimPort
If you have an older phone, you might connect your phone to a TV with a SlimPort cable. While similar to MHL, SlimPort offers different outputs, but uses the micro-USB connection.
Whereas MHL is limited to HDMI, SlimPort outputs to HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort, and VGA. This makes it better suited to a variety of displays, including older monitors and TVs with no digital inputs.
Unlike MHL, SlimPort does not draw power from mobile devices.
You’ll need the following to connect a phone to your TV using a SlimPort adapter:
1. SlimPort-compatible phone (SlimPort’s list of supported devices)
2. A micro-USB SlimPort cable or adapter
3. Appropriate video cable for your display (HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort, or VGA)
Begin by plugging the SlimPort adapter into your phone. Then, attach the SlimPort adapter to your display using the proper cable. You should then be able to view your phone’s screen on a TV. Like MHL, it’s plug-and-play.
USB to TV: Connecting as a Storage Device
While the most common use case for connecting a phone to a TV using USB is for screen mirroring, there’s another option. Instead of screen mirroring, you can also simply view files like pictures on a TV.
However, this will require a compatible monitor, TV, or projector. Most modern displays should accept USB storage.
Of the various USB to TV connection options, this is the easiest. Since it only requires a phone, USB cable, and TV with a USB input, it’s simple to set up. Which specific cable you need depends on your phone.
USB to TV: Connecting to View Photos
Modern Android devices don’t support USB Mass Storage, so your TV won’t view your device as a true external drive.
This assumes that your TV or monitor features a USB input capable of displaying files from a connected storage device.
Simply connect your cable to your phone, then to the TV. With the standard USB end of the cable connected to your display, change the input on your TV to USB.
On Android, it’s likely you’ll need to change your USB settings to Transfer files or Transfer photos (PTP). To do this, drag down your notifications from the top of the screen when connected. In the menu, tap the USB is charging this device notification to change it.
Note that this doesn’t work with all TVs. In some cases, the USB ports are purely for firmware updates.
