Connecting laptop to TV on Solstice with HDMI

[phisha]

 Does anyone know whether a laptop can be connected to a state room TV with HDMI cable on Celebrity Solstice? Just wondering if we can view photos or watch movies that have been downloaded pre-departure. Thanks.

[mfs2k]

Not sure about Solstice, but for Equinox (Pre Revolution) I'm following other post suggestions and bringing an HDMI cable and a Samsung Universal Remote to change the input selection to the HDMI port.

[cle-guy]

S class ships run the cabin entertainment on a MacMini.  

Just disconnect the HDMI cable from the slot it uses and plug yours into the slot on the TV.

[bap335i]

On the Equinox a few weeks ago I used an HDMI cable I brought and a Samsung remote I had at home.  I needed to restart my Mac before it could see the output to the TV.  It was as simple as most described.  I am reasonably sure the ship equipment was using a serial interface, not HDMI.  I would expect this to be different coming out of dry dock.  

[mahdnc]

2 hours ago, phisha said:

 Does anyone know whether a laptop can be connected to a state room TV with HDMI cable on Celebrity Solstice? Just wondering if we can view photos or watch movies that have been downloaded pre-departure. Thanks.

 

We always connect our laptop to our stateroom screen to watch a blu-ray movie or two. 

 

Aboard Solstice (Jan 2018), the ship's video feed was connected to a DVI connection and we were unable to change the source input (e.g HDMI 1) for our stateroom TV.  See the picture immediately below:

 

Aboard Reflection (Jan 2019), the ship's sound/video feed (HDMI cable) was connected to "HDMI IN 3", so all you had to do was disconnect the HDMI from the ship and connect your laptop to it with your own HDMI cable. See picture immediately below:

 

Aboard Eclipse (Jan 2016), the ship feed was sent to a DVI connection (like on Solstice) BUT we  were able to use the buttons on the side of the TV panel to change the input to the HDMI input that we connected our laptop to.  See picture immediately below:

Edited March 13, 2019 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

btw, as far as dealing with the inability to change the input source on the Solstice TV, this is where that special remote that a few people bring comes in handy.  It can work with a TV that is locked into "Hotel Mode" which prevents you from changing input sources.

 

Alternatively, you can talk to Guest Relations and they will send someone up from IT to help.  We did just that aboard Infinity my son had a Playstation 4 connected to our stateroom TV that we could not change the input source.  On Solstice, this problem came up towards the 2nd half of the cruise and I was too lazy to talk to Guest Relations.

Edited March 13, 2019 by mahdnc

[Jim_Iain]

One other trick I have found that works without a remote is to turn off tv.   Plug HDMI into any available port and turn on the HDMI device (DVD Player or PC) and begin playing.    The TV will normally turn on automatically and will be on the HDMI you selected. 

 

To get back to normal TV just unplug HDMI and Turn off, wait about 30 seconds and then turn on again with the celebrity remote.

[mahdnc]

14 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

One other trick I have found that works without a remote is to turn off tv.   Plug HDMI into any available port and turn on the HDMI device (DVD Player or PC) and begin playing.    The TV will normally turn on automatically and will be on the HDMI you selected. 

 

To get back to normal TV just unplug HDMI and Turn off, wait about 30 seconds and then turn on again with the celebrity remote.

 

It depends on whether the TV and video source are HDMI-CEC compatible--most devices these days are.  It also depends on whether the CEC feature is enabled on the TV and/or defeated when in Hotel Mode.

[Jim_Iain]

13 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

It depends on whether the TV and video source are HDMI-CEC compatible--most devices these days are.  It also depends on whether the CEC feature is enabled on the TV and/or defeated when in Hotel Mode.

So far every ship I have tried it on works whether locked or not.  

[mahdnc]

We could not get the CEC feature to work on Solstice nor Infinity.

[Jim_Iain]

It worked for us on Infinity a year ago.   I will be on Infinity again in 4 weeks and will give it a try.   If not I'll just have them unlock the HDMI port.

[phisha]

7 hours ago, mfs2k said:

Not sure about Solstice, but for Equinox (Pre Revolution) I'm following other post suggestions and bringing an HDMI cable and a Samsung Universal Remote to change the input selection to the HDMI port.

Thanks, will try that.

[phisha]

Thanks everyone for your great suggestions and photos! Will give them a try and report back. 

[cle-guy]

I've also noticed Suites can have different TV:s than standard cabins.

On i think Infinity (maybe solstice?) within the last 12 months, you could just trim the TV to like channel 3 and it pulled the HDMI2 port.

Also, try pressing and holding the key to the right of the Zero button sometimes moves between ports.

I'm at 100% bing able to hook up to HDMI over the last 2 years.

 

 

[Gordoncruickshank]

On 3/13/2019 at 9:56 AM, cle-guy said:

S class ships run the cabin entertainment on a MacMini.  

Just disconnect the HDMI cable from the slot it uses and plug yours into the slot on the TV.

This has changed on the Revolutionised Silhouette, where the system Has changed to be the same as the Edge but on both the Edge and the Silhouette there is an option on the TV menu to stream from your device although that may not give you 4K streaming. I have been on both ships over the past 3 weeks but gave yet to find the inclination to try it out.

[mahdnc]

50 minutes ago, cle-guy said:

I've also noticed Suites can have different TV:s than standard cabins.

On i think Infinity (maybe solstice?) within the last 12 months, you could just trim the TV to like channel 3 and it pulled the HDMI2 port.

Also, try pressing and holding the key to the right of the Zero button sometimes moves between ports.

I'm at 100% bing able to hook up to HDMI over the last 2 years.

 

 

 

In 2016, our Infinity cabin TV used the channel 3 method. 

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, Gordoncruickshank said:

This has changed on the Revolutionised Silhouette, where the system Has changed to be the same as the Edge but on both the Edge and the Silhouette there is an option on the TV menu to stream from your device although that may not give you 4K streaming. I have been on both ships over the past 3 weeks but gave yet to find the inclination to try it out.

Tried that on Edge and failed -  Probably a setup issue but I could get to the point where it listed all the TV's (about 40) unfortunately they all had the same name     I was however effective in connecting to the HDMI port.

 

[Gordoncruickshank]

We have the hdmi cables but had too many good friends on the cruise to spend the time in our cabin.