Do you plan to buy Google's new USB-C to HDMI cable for your Pixel?

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Did you know the latest Pixel 9s support video out over USB? Neither did I, but not that I know I am eager to get my hands on Google's USB-C to HDMI cable so I can output video from my phone. As a matter of fact, the cable come from Cable Matters, and is also available on Amazon for less than Google's pricing, which looks to be the place to snag one (read more about this in the linked coverage).So here comes the big question. Have you ever needed to output video from your phone to the point you'll go out of your way to buy a USB-C to HDMI cable? Hit the comments to let us know, as I can confidently say I'll be ordering one shortly. After all, you may not need to output video from your phone frequently, but the one time you need to, it sure would be handy to have a cable on hand to do so.

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Remember, the first phone connected to the hotel room TV becomes the community property streaming device for the remainder of vacation.

Nice one, Will, hahahaha. 🤣

I bought a 3 m long one off Amazon for £8 for my pixel 8 Pro, works great, although I usually just use cast my screen which works well most of the time.

Same. Running Android 15 pilot so video over USB was enabled again. Worked a dream.

Would definitely be good for watching sports programmes which are streamed but can't be cast via Google chrome.

I've got half a dozen adapters, cables, and docking stations that already do this for my laptops, phones, Steam deck etc. Does the pixel really need a bespoke solution?

I have a Pixel Fold and want to buy a set of AR glasses. Except.the lack of usb-c to HDMI means I can't hookup my phone to them.

So I'm glad Google is FINALLY getting with the program. My next phone won't be a Pixel, though, because this has really pissed me off to find out I bought a top end phone that was.missing a basic function.

Pixel Fold has this feature....

Pixel fold does have this function, as does pixel 8 and above

The 8 series also supports display out. It's in the android 15 and needs to be enabled

Pixel Fold (last year's model) does not have the hardware to do it, I'm told.

It would be very, very rare if I ever want or need to output video from my phone.

It would be nice to have that option but I can't see myself using the USB-C to HDMI cable on a regular basis. I'd use it if my laptop suddenly dies.

I have USBC to HDMI cables already for the last few years, hopefully these will work. But I would like to have my screen output on my 32" monitor at home with audio and mics that I have connected to it. That would be computing on the go!

Day late and a dollar short. They need to be able to cast to a screen like Samsung's smart view. I wish I could download that as an app, if pixel had that smart view option, they would need nothing else

A long time ago I was using a quarter inch to XLR cable and my dad told me to use an adapter instead because "you don't know what is actually going on in there or how well it's wired.

I usually apply that idea to all my cables.

I already bought it

So you can use it with nreal glasses now.

This article didn't mention any of this..

So let me offer some quick tips..

1. This is not exclusive to the Pixel 9 series.. 8 Pros are fully capable of this (even the older 6a can too w/ a little extra work... For now)

2. You do not NEED to buy Google brand cable.. I bought one from Walmart for about $15 $10 and it displays HDR content in more than 60fps just fine..

3. It would be worth looking to check if you have a C-port on your display then you don't have a need for an adapter, because any C-to-C cable can do this (assuming it is USB 3.0 or higher)

4. If your phone is upgradable to Android 15, you're in luck!

This was originally SUPPOSED to be an Android 15 built-in feature, but we will see, I don't think full implementation will be ready for another year or 2

Personally no. I can cast from pixel to tv using Google tv streamer all wirelessly, make no sense for cable.

I have a brother that still does this with his laptop, but he is not technically inclined enough to have a NAS and just use VLC player over samba/NFS on Google streamer.

That's crazy. Me buying the Google TV streamer is what made me pull the trigger on buying a 7-in-1 USB hub that does HDMI SD cards, USBC power, pass-through, etc. It's a versatile, little Swiss army knife that's going to work great for not only my Google TV streamer but my pixel 9 pro XL. And I'm not sure what Google's charging but I'm sure it isn't the 15 bucks that I got on the Acer 7 and 1 hub from Amazon. And I'm not sure what Google's charging but I'm sure it isn't the 15 bucks that I got on the Acer 7-in-1 hub from Amazon

Michael I'd be curious to know if the phone detects all the ports on the hub, I've had phones (past Pixels) that would detect say the USB-C ports but not the Ethernet let alone HDMI... I'm glad it does seem to work with the Google TV, but I wish they'd built in a second USB-C port regardless.

I've had a USB C to HDMI/displayport forever... My phones for years including the Pixel 7 have done video out.. not USB to HDMI standard directly but it does the same thing. There is so many video out standards

Would it keep the phone charged?

No, it won't. For that you'll need either a dongle that connects to an HDMI cable and has USB-C PD pass thru port, or a full on hub with the same feature. HDMI wouldn't power a phone, in fact the phone is probably powering the DP alt mode chip inside said cable that's then converting to an HDMI output.

Things haven't changed much in that regard, the second micro USB MHL adapter I had for an old HTC phone also had an extra port to supply power. I don't think that even displays with a USB-C input would power the phone...

Wish Google's implementation could rival Samsung's Dex.

Mirroring is one small step I suppose.

Only have P6Pro which doesn't have this yet but once (if) I get one of the future generations I will use this because the resolution when casting from Google Photos to a TV is abysmal and I have a suspicion this will be one of those forgotten quirks that no one ever fixes...

Nah. Why mess with a cable when casting works perfectly well?

I have a Pixel 7 Pro and I am happy with it, I don't see a reason why I would need a cable to connect it to a monitor maybe?

What if you crack the screen, but still wanted to get data off of it?

I ordered a UGREEN 6 in 1 hub, have successfully use this with my pixel 8 to connect to a monitor and also Logitech keyboard and a mouse.

To use desktop mode rather than mirroring I needed to enable developer options to enforce desktop mode.

I have the a switch travel dock that does the same thing. Could also use a Chromecast. Not sure what I would use it for with video but I am interested to see what the android desktop mode is, if it appears in 15.

In pixel 8 series, It was eventually enabled in android 14 via a feature drop, and has been working for about 8 months.

I use it all the time in hotels, but I got a third party cable from Amazon for a third the price of Google's, and double the length, so I won't buy the Google one.

I've used docks, dongles, USB-C to displayport, and USB-C to VGA adapters as well and all of them work fine. The only thing that doesn't work well is my Lenovo monitor. It starts displaying over type-c to c, but the image is squashed then it fails. I suspect that's an incompatibility on the monitor side though as everything else worked perfectly.

Is this really something new for Pixel phones? I've been using USB-C to HDMI since day one on my 4 year old Galaxy Note 20 Ultra (not a Google branded cable, just generic from Amazon), and I assumed it would work with most Android phones.

Most?

No. As far as I can tell only the more expensive offerings support video out over USB.

I remember researching about it back in 2021 when I got my mid-range Redmi note 10 pro.

I was looking to eradicate the lag and compression artifacts over Cast/wireless screen mirroring.

That's when I came across MHL adapters and HDMI Alt mode among other things, and also learned that only a small number of phones have the ability to output through their USB ports to HDMI inputs/adapters.

It's the more expensive phones, especially those of Samsung that have it.

So it's not your fault you generalize, considering you've spent considerable time on an expensive Samsung phone.

Apparently it's a luxury feature for some reason.

Right now I'm making do with my supplied cable, laptop and an open source adb enabled software called Scrcpy.

It's good enough, but I still search for reasonably priced phones with HDMI out support.

No but I did buy a 7-in-1 hub that does the same exact thing from Acer on Amazon for like 15 bucks

No, I already have a USB c hub with an hdmi port so I'm fine. It also has usb and SD card readers so that's a bonus

Does every part of the hub work on the phone? HDMI wouldn't have before the update to the P8 obviously, but I found on my Satechi hub even Ethernet wasn't seen by the phone and only the other USB ports were...

I can't remember about the card reader, and I've not tested with a more recent Anker 555 so I dunno if that was down to my particular hub or the level of support older Pixels had. I remember trying to find an Ethernet adapter that worked with the OG and not having an easy time...

This was 9 years ago ok, it was still just as likely to find Ethernet at a hotel or other public places as Wi-Fi, heh.

It's a natural for folks who have a vacation home with no wifi. (e.g.,YT)

My windows phones did this

I thought about it, but there shouldn't be anything special to that particular cable and Cable Matters does in fact sell it cheaper on Amazon. I actually already travel with a long HDMI cable and with a hub that has HDMI out, but I realize the latter might not get recognized by the phone.

I'm gonna get a dongle from Cable Matters to see if that'll work with my cable, but I don't wanna go on a hunt to see which dongles / chipsets will work so if the first one isn't recognized by my P8/9 I'll just return it and get the cable.

Most of the time I've used my Surface tablet for these purposes and it works a treat with my USB-C hub with HDMI, but I can totally see a scenario where I either didn't bring it or I brought a laptop instead and I just don't wanna go thru the effort of plugging in a charger as well get to something on a hotel TV, so I'd like to be able to leverage the phone's output ability.

Would be nice if a certain site tested a couple other cables/dongles to figure out which work. ;) In theory anything translating USB-C's DP alt-mode to HDMI should, but I know there's always some gotchas and incompatibilities.

I've tried all sorts on the pixel 8 pro and they all work except a Lenovo monitor by direct type c.

I've used dongles, many docks, USB-C to DP, USB-C to VGA, wireless HDMI senders, all worked perfectly.

One of my favourites is this SUNGOOYUE USB C Extender Adapter https://amzn.eu/d/81lAyd1 as you can just stick that on the end of a display compatible USB-C cable (the one that came with the phone Isn't) and you then have one cable for charging or HDMI output with a tiny adapter.

I have a USB extender with a female HDMI port. The USB extender has a male USB-C port to plug in to your device. I have a male to male HDMI cable anyway. So I can just plug all that in my phone.

(Sounds waayyyy more complicated then it really is)

Have been using for ages when travelling with my Samsung phone/tablet (one is pretty old and still has this feature). Got a 3m cable from amazon for 8 pounds and has been a life saver when in hotels with no ability to cast or no smart tv

No, cos I'm jumping ship to iOS

why jump backwards?😜

I first used a micro USB to HDMI adapter about 12 years ago on my htc Evo 5g LTE. It was called a mhl adapter. This was before the days of casting. My first android phone The og Evo had a micro HDMI port and that is what first gave me the idea.

Will this adapter work with the Pixel 8 series?

Yes I already bought it. It was only because I had $41 in credit thereafter buying the pixel 3 XL watch. 😬

Already have 2 and they work perfectly.

Bought it last week. Using it for the first time today to watch out of market NFL games with YouTube TV. Mock location app and this cord saved me $400 on the NFL ticket. With pixel 8 and newer it works as advertised. Plug it in and done. No BS just works.

I rarely do anything from my phone onto the TV. And when I do I just cast it and it's almost perfectly fine. So I don't feel the need to buy the cable. So no.

Does this mean the pixel 9 and 8 can now connect to VR glasses like the xreals etc

Nope, no sutch functionality on pixel 7

Yes there is... Been there for years.

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