HDMI INPUT?

Question

I bought a Sony CD-DVD player recently off Amazon. I connected the HDMI port in back of the player and the other end into my Dell latitude. Why is my player not playing. Nothing even pops up on the screen, not even a menu. Is it possible to use this player with my laptop? If so, how?

jphughan · Answer

@yofunkylady  The HDMI port on your laptop is an output. It is meant to be used to send a video signal from your laptop to a display or TV.  It cannot be used as an HDMI input to receive a video signal from another device, like a CD/DVD player.  Laptops with HDMI inputs are extremely rare.  I've only seen a small handful of models ever introduced over the last several years that have them.  If you want your laptop to receive an HDMI signal from another device and display it on your system, you would need an HDMI capture device.  Elgato is one manufacturer that makes video capture devices.  Take a look at their HD60S or HD60S+, for example, or their 4K60S or 4K60S+ if you want that support at higher cost.

jphughan · Answer

@yofunkylady  By the way, I will add that if you want to capture video from copy protected sources, such as commercial DVDs, that may not work through a capture devices, because copy protection is specifically meant to prevent people from making recordings of the content.  Capture devices are more commonly used for capturing output from video game consoles, for example.  But if all you want to do is watch DVDs on your Dell Latitude laptop, it would have been much easier to just buy a USB DVD drive.  They're cheaper, smaller, and much more convenient than set-top DVD players.  Just connect it to a USB port on your system and install some DVD playback software.  VLC is a free and excellent choice.

HDMI INPUT?

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