I'll try to bring together all the ways to stream a game legally on your TV, smart or dumb. When you find the answer you need, quit reading.
- 4 of Iowa's first 5 games are on BTN+. This requires a paid subscription, available at www.btn2go.com. You can buy it on a monthly basis and cancel after December 3rd's game against Omaha, our last BTN+ game. This means you'll have to purchase 1 month, but time it carefully since the first game is November 4th. Subscribe right before the game on November 4th, and cancel right after the game on December 3rd and you'll be fine.
- Be sure to know how to sign in to your cable or satellite provider account online. You may need to do this to watch games online.
- IF before the games start, these games designated as "BTN+" become designated "BTN2GO," then the paid subscription won't be required, but signing in to your cable/satellite provider WILL be required.
- We have no games scheduled on ESPN3 this year as of now, so you don't need to worry about that. The UNI game does not have TV assigned yet, so I suppose that's a possibility, but unlikely.
- All other games are on TV, so we ONLY need to worry about streaming the 5 games on BTN+
Here are various methods for getting the picture from your phone or laptop to the TV:
1.
Roku - either you have a roku box which you purchased, or your smart tv has Roku integrated. If you have Roku, you'll need to add the BTN2Go app to your roku, and you'll be required to sign in to your BTN2Go account to watch BTN+ games.
2.
Chromecast by google - A Chromecast stick can often be purchased on Groupon or Amazon for around $18, or $35 regular price. Chromecast plugs in to an hdmi port on your tv, and requries a USB port, which it uses to power the Chromecast stick. If your TV has a USB and HDMI port available, then that's all you'll need, but if your tv has NO USB port available, you may need to plug it into a phone charger or something that allows it to be plugged into a wall. a long female USB extension could also be used. Bottom line, Chromecast requres a power source as well as being plugged into the TV.
- Once your Chromecast stick is plugged in, you'll need to go to your laptop to set it up. Simply select the appropriate input and follow onscreen instructions to get it set up. During that process you'll set a "name" for your chromecast stick, pick something you recognize.
- Once it's set up, and the game is on, you can simply bring the game up on your laptop, tablet or smartphone (using your BTN+ subscription on the BTN2Go app), and there will be a little icon in the corner of the video player that allows you to "cast" it to your chromecast. You'll click that icon and select the "name" of the chromecast stick, which you set previously. Boom! Streaming!
- Please remember, if casting from a tablet or smartphone, you WILL need to install the BTN2GO app on your device in order to access the game from your device.
3.
HDMI cable from laptop to TV - If your laptop has an HDMI cable you can simply bring the game up on your laptop, plug one end of the HDMI cable into the laptop, one end into an HDMI port on the TV, and then select that port using your "TV/INPUT" button on the remote, and it should cast the game onto the TV. Hit the full screen button in the corner of the video player and you'll fire it right up!
Those are the 3 ways I've used. Sorry it's long, but hopefully one of these methods will work for you, and come December 3rd, you won't be in the dark about how the hawks have looked this season!
