How to Play the Video on Your TV

Open this week’s video first on the Belong Curriculum page— either on your phone or on the device you’ll use to cast. Then use one of the two options below to get it up on the TV.

Option 1: Play It From Your Phone, Watch It on the TV

Best if: you have a smart TV, a Roku, a Fire Stick, or an Apple TV, and your phone is on the same home wi-fi. This is the one most people find easiest — and your phone becomes the remote.

1. Turn the TV on and make sure it’s showing its normal home screen (the one with the app icons).
2. On your phone, open this week’s video in the YouTube app (not just the web browser) from the Belong Curriculum page.
3. Look at the top-right of the video for a small icon that looks like a screen with wi-fi waves in the corner (iPhone users may see a triangle with rings instead). Tap it.
4. A short list of nearby devices appears. Tap your TV’s name — something like “Living Room TV” or “Samsung 6 Series.”
5. Give it about ten seconds. The video jumps to the TV, and your phone turns into the remote — play, pause, and volume all happen from your phone.

Don’t see that icon, or your TV isn’t in the list? Nine times out of ten the phone and the TV are on different wi-fi networks (easy to do if your house has a “5G” and a regular network). Switch your phone to the same one the TV uses, then try again. If that doesn’t do it, use Option 2.

Option 2: Find It in the YouTube App on Your TV

Best if:your TV has a YouTube app and you’d rather just use the TV remote.

1. Turn the TV on and find the red YouTube icon on the home screen. Use the arrow buttons on the remote to move to it, then press the middle button to open it.
2. Move to the magnifying glass (search) — usually along the top or the left edge of the screen.
3. Type Church at the Grove Belongusing the on-screen keyboard. It’s slow, but you only have to do it once — YouTube will remember it next week.
4. Choose this week’s session video from the results, and press the middle button to play.

Faster trick: in the YouTube app go to Settings → Link with TV code. The TV shows a number; type that number into the YouTube app on your phone under Settings → Watch on TV. After that, you can send any video to the TV from your phone without typing on the TV again.

While the Video Is Playing

• Keep the remote (or your phone) in your hand. The video stops and asks your group to pause — sometimes twice, and once more at the end. You have to press pause yourself — it won’t wait on its own.
• On a TV remote: press the middle button once to bring up the play/pause controls, then press pause. On your phone: tap the screen, then tap the pause button.
• An ad may play first. Wait about five seconds and press Skip Ad.
• When the video ends, YouTube may start playing something else on its own. Just press pause or back out of the app so it doesn’t run in the background while your group is talking.

If Something Goes Wrong

• Black screen or “No Signal.” Press the Input or Source button on the TV remote and step through the options (HDMI 1, HDMI 2, and so on) until the picture shows up.
• Picture but no sound.Check the TV volume first, and make sure the TV isn’t muted. When you’re casting from a phone, the sound comes out of the TV, not the phone.
• Video keeps stopping to load. Your wi-fi is struggling. Pause it for thirty seconds to let it get ahead, or lower the quality: press the middle button, choose the gear icon, then pick 720p.
• Blurry for the first few seconds. Normal. It sharpens up on its own.
• Nothing is working and people are arriving.Don’t sweat it — pull up the video on a laptop, prop it on the coffee table, and gather in close. It has been done plenty of times and the night still works.