When hooking up a video game to a TV via HDMI, which device is sending a signal and which is receiving it? I need to know because this doesn?

I was told in a previous question that there is no way that a laptop or a computer can receive a signal from an outside source like a game console or a television via their VGA or HDMI connectors. However, when connecting a game console to a television, the hookup is via HDMI (or AV in the case of older consoles). In any case, this means that either the game console or the television has to be sending a signal, and the other device has to be receiving it. In this case I have to assume that the television is on the receiving end since the game is displayed on the television screen (E.G. it is receiving signal from the game console), and this exchange happens through use of HDMI. So I don't know how it is that a laptop or a computer is not also able to receive signal via HDMI, unless it has to do with the mechanics of the device itself. Also, how do some people create screen recordings of themselves playing video games such as Mario Maker for Wii U and then upload these recordings to youtube, unless the game is somehow being accessed via a computer (which can record the screen)? I don't know how this is achieved.

Answers

Richard

The flow of information is primarily in one direction over HDMI - from the device creating the image (your video game) to the device displaying the image (your TV). There is a small amount of information flowing in the other direction to tell the computer or games console what sort of display it is connected to and what the displayable screen size options might be. TVs do not normally transmit video images over an HDMI cable and laptops and games consoles do not normally accept video images over HDMI. Many laptops with HDMI ports have facilities to mirror their screen onto an external HDMI display such as a TV. I hope this helps.

Master Of Puppets: This is generally how it goes

This is generally how it goes: Video game console's HDMI output <HDMI Cable> TV's HDMI input. It is that simple. What you're describing is a video capture. In this case, you plug in the video game console to the capture device. This capture device then has an output for the TV, and the device plugs into the computer via USB or on higher end cards, it is physically installed inside of the PC on a PCI-E slot. The computer has a software from the capture card's manufacturer that allows you to record the incoming video/audio signal from the game console as a video file. This video file is stored on the computer's hard drive where you can play it back, or edit it through video editing software and then upload it to YouTube or wherever else you want. Practically no consumer level computers have HDMI inputs. That's why you have to buy capture card devices to 'intercept' the video/audio of the game console to be able to record gameplay. It is the video game console that sends the audio/video data to the TV.

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When hooking up a video game to a TV via HDMI, which device is sending a signal and which is receiving it? I need to know because this doesn?

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