This could be a software OR hardware question (actually, both). I picked the software forum in a toss-up.

I would like to hook my laptop up to TV's when traveling, and HDMI is the most universally found connection on hotel TV's (I think). My use would be for watching movies - either locally stored on my laptop, or streamed over the internet from my home media server using the laptop as an intermediary (VPN is required to access my home network for streaming). My laptop is older, and only has VGA monitor, S-Video and mini-headphone jack (audio) connections (no Bluetooth). Currently running LinuxMint 17.

I was thinking of something like a Google Chromecast (this is where the "software" part of my question comes into play), but want to investigate what other options might be available. I could do with S-Video quality levels, I mention HDMI simply for the near-universal connection potential, not for its higher resolution capabilities.

Basically, all I need is a way to hook my laptop video/audio to a TV in a near-universal way (something that I would expect to be supported across many different hotel chains). I don't care if it is a wired or a wireless connection. It doesn't have to be HDMI, but I can't think of anything quite as universal these days.

Any experiences, suggestions or tips?

Thanks in advance!

When I got my Raspberry Pi nearly 2 years ago the only available monitor to set it up was VGA in, so I got a conversion cable.

Unfortunately, this is easier than converting the other way, for that you will probably need a converter box that will take VGA and sound inputs and provide HDMI out. Bound to be more expensive than my cable was :-(

Wonder if a usb video adapter would be easier and cheaper? Might be more trouble too.

Thanks for the replies thus far. Appreciate it.

I looked into VGA to HDMI converters. The decent one, per what I researched, cost a couple hundred dollars! Nope, that's not what I want. For that cost, I'd just buy a new laptop with an HDMI port and use a cable.

I'll go research that USB video adapter suggestion. I don't know anything about those yet. Sounds promising, if they aren't too expensive. I only have USB 2 on this older laptop, so that might be an issue as well.

I also researched a bit more into Chromecast. That's out now, because it requires an internet connection even if it's only streaming local content from your laptop to your TV over your LAN. IMHO, Google screwed up designing it that way.

Another possibility is a Roku with the Plex Client installed on it, and the Plex Media Server installed on the laptop. That's what I have at home and it works great (however the media server is running on a desktop machine, not the laptop - the laptop is a CLIENT to my home media server when I'm away). I would probably need to take a router along on trips. It wouldn't be connected to the internet, but would provide WiFi for a local LAN between the laptop and the Roku. There's a possibility that I could make the laptop WiFi function as an Access Point for the Roku, thus eliminating the need for a router. I'd have to research that possibility further. Since I have a spare Roku and a couple of spare routers I could implement this for free. It feels "kludgy" though.

I was hoping that the Chromecast - only $29 - would have done the trick more cleanly, but it looks like I'll have to spend more than that on a different solution. I'm not interested in Chromecast putting the internet as an unneeded/unwanted middleman just so Google can track me.

Other suggestions and ideas are welcome. I'm not going to pay a lot of money to make this work. I'll just continue to watch movies on my laptop screen if need be. It would be nice to send them up to a bigger screen though.

Raspberry Pi may be an option?

I think they got miracast on linux. The gizmo's I have seen are about $40 for a usb to hdmi adapter. Some of them directly claim terms like opensupport for linux or such.

I had been peeking at what all the android kernel has in it (linux really) and I'm pretty sure a few were usb video so it would work in linux too most likely.