How to Use your Laptop as a Monitor via HDMI, by Techy Druid on YouTube. 4 min 33 s.
- Video length
- 4 min 33 s
- Time to do it
- 10 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 9
What you need
Steps
Check your laptop's ports. The built-in HDMI port only outputs video, so you need a USB HDMI capture card with an HDMI input to bring a signal in.
Plug the capture card into a USB port on the laptop you want to use as the screen. Use a USB 3.0 port if you have one.
Connect one end of the HDMI cable to the source computer and the other end to the HDMI input on the capture card.
Download VLC Media Player from videolan.org and install it on the laptop acting as the monitor.
Open VLC and click Media in the top menu, then choose Open Capture Device.
Set Capture mode to DirectShow on Windows or AVFoundation on Mac. Pick your capture card from the Video device dropdown.
Set the video size to 1920x1080 and the frame rate to 30 or 60, then click Play. The source screen should appear in the VLC window.
On the source computer, press Windows key + P and choose Duplicate or Extend, or open System Settings then Displays on a Mac.
If the picture stays black, lower the source resolution to 1280x720, try another USB port, or swap the HDMI cable.
Tips and common mistakes
Cheap capture cards often cap out at 1080p and 30 frames per second, so drop the source resolution to match.
Expect a small delay on screen, which makes this setup fine for slides and documents but poor for fast games.
If you need sound, select the capture card as the audio device in VLC's Audio menu.
Keep the HDMI cable short, since long or thin cables cause flicker and dropouts.
Questions
Can I connect two laptops with just an HDMI cable?
No. Laptop HDMI ports are output only, so a plain cable sends nothing into the other machine. You need a capture card in between to convert the HDMI signal to USB.
Why is there a delay on the screen?
The signal is being captured, compressed and decoded by software, which adds lag. Capture cards with USB 3.0 and hardware encoding reduce it, but it never disappears.
Does this work on a Mac?
Yes. Install VLC for Mac, open Open Capture Device, and choose AVFoundation as the capture mode instead of DirectShow.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
