Zoom Bigger!

Tanya’s latest rug

Have you considered zooming, but are put off by having to look at such a teensy screen?  Never fear - we have a solution.....if your TV is new-er - eg purchased in the last 5 or so years, it can take the place of your teensy screen!  I tried it out this morning, and it works just fine! If you’re not comfortable monkeying with your TV settings, perhaps you have someone in your household, or bubble who can handle this for you?

Here’s how to tackle this “zoom bigger” thing:

“Airplay” is a feature that allows you to use screen mirroring with an iPhone or ipad.  It won’t work with Android stuff, sadly.  It’s commonly found on TV’s purchased in the past few years.  There are similar products like GoogleCast, but I’m not familiar with them, tho i suspect they do the very same thing.

a) with Airplay all you have to do is select “input” from your remote, and choose AirPlay.  Then go to your phone or ipad, swipe down from the upper right and choose Screen Mirroring and

b) select your TV (probably the only option there), and

c) bingo, whatever is on your phone or ipad is now on your TV screen.  Here you can see a shot of Tanya’s rug that she texted to me.  I’ve shown it on my phone, and because i have screen mirroring turned on, it’s now also appearing on my tv.

This feature is great to use when you want to watch a youtube video....or when you’re on a zoom call, and want to see it the big screen.  Particularly useful if you’re taking a zoom workshop, like all those lovely ones available through the OHCG for the Annual Conference!

Here’s a screenshot i took of a test zoom meeting (between the hubby and i - the only people here!).  If you squint really hard you’ll see my teensy iPhone in front and the same image on it as on the TV.  You still need an iPhone or ipad to act as the camera for the zoom call, but your TV screen replaces your ipad/phone screen.

Another possibility to do all of this is via a laptop with an HDMI port - it all sounds quite techy but if you have access to someone in the know, it’s really quite easy.