PICKDOME

Put PICKDOME on your TV

Four ways to do it, ranked by how well they hold up over a three-hour draft — and the fixes for the things that actually go wrong on the night.

Read this first and the rest is easy. Your laptop runs the draft. The TV is only a bigger screen for it — it never needs an app, an account, or an update.

Everyone else picks from their own phone using the league code. Their phones don't connect to the TV at all, and they don't need your Wi-Fi — cell service is fine. So if a phone can't join, that's never a TV problem.

Pick your route

1

An HDMI cable from your laptop

Most reliable

Works with any TV made in roughly the last twenty years, doesn't care about your Wi-Fi, and won't stutter when ten people are streaming in the same room. If your draft matters, use this one.

On a Mac

  1. Find your port. MacBook Pro from 2021 on, and most Mac minis, have HDMI built in. MacBook Air and 2016–2020 Pros have USB-C only, so you need a USB-C to HDMI adapter or cable.
  2. Plug in and switch the TV over. Press Input or Source on the TV remote and choose the HDMI number printed next to the socket you used.
  3. Set up the screen. Open System Settings → Displays. Mirroring is the simplest thing that works. To use the TV as the show and keep your laptop screen free, choose Extend, drag the browser window onto the TV, then make it full screen.
  4. Move the sound to the TV. Open System Settings → Sound → Output and pick your TV. Do this even though it seems unnecessary — it's the single most missed step, and without it the announcer plays out of your laptop speakers all night.

On a Windows laptop

  1. Plug the HDMI cable in and switch the TV to that input.
  2. Press Windows + P and choose Duplicate or Extend.
  3. Right-click the speaker icon by the clock, open Sound settings → Output, and choose the TV.
  4. Press F11 in the browser for full screen.
2

AirPlay to an Apple TV

Good, no cable

Also works on most recent Samsung, LG, Sony and Vizio sets, which have AirPlay built in — no Apple TV box required.

  1. Put the Mac and the TV on the same Wi-Fi network. Not the guest network — that's the usual culprit.
  2. Wake the TV up first, then on the Mac click Control Center in the menu bar, choose Screen Mirroring, and pick your TV.
  3. Sound follows AirPlay automatically, so there's nothing to change.
3

Cast from Chrome to a Chromecast or Google TV

Good, no cable
  1. Same Wi-Fi network for the laptop and the TV.
  2. In Chrome, open the three-dot menu and choose Cast, then your device.
  3. Under Sources, pick Cast tab so the audio goes with it.

Casting re-encodes the picture on the fly, so on a busy home network it can soften or drift over a long draft. Fine for a mock, but plug in a cable for the real thing.

4

The TV's own web browser

Last resort

Most smart TVs have a browser you can point at the draft. It genuinely works — but TV browsers are slow, their audio often stutters, and typing a web address with a remote is its own punishment. Use it if there's no laptop in the house, not by choice.

When it won't cooperate

The TV says "No Signal"

Almost always the wrong input rather than a broken cable. Press Input or Source and step through HDMI 1, 2 and 3 — the number by the socket you used isn't always the one the TV lands on.

Still nothing? Unplug the HDMI at both ends and push it back in firmly, then try a different socket on the TV.

The edges are cut off — the clock or the board runs past the screen

This is the TV zooming in, not the draft being the wrong size. It's called overscan and it's very common on older sets.

On the TV, go to Picture → Picture Size (or Aspect Ratio) and choose the option that shows every pixel: Screen Fit on Samsung, Just Scan on LG, Full Pixel on Sony, or plain 16:9 elsewhere.

Picture on the TV, announcer still coming out of the laptop

The screen and the sound move separately. On a Mac, open System Settings → Sound → Output and choose the TV. On Windows, right-click the speaker by the clock, open Sound settings → Output, and choose the TV.

If the TV is listed but silent, turn the TV's own volume up — it starts low on a fresh input.

Everything looks small, or slightly fuzzy

Put the browser into full screen — the green button on a Mac, or F11 on Windows. Then zoom with Cmd or Ctrl plus + until the board fills the room.

The laptop went to sleep in the middle of round six

Set it not to. On a Mac, open System Settings → Lock Screen and set the display to never turn off while plugged into power. On Windows, open Settings → System → Power and set screen and sleep to Never. Leave the laptop on its charger either way.

Your TV isn't in the AirPlay or Cast list

Both devices have to be on the same Wi-Fi network — a guest network, or a phone hotspot, will hide the TV every time. Wake the TV before you look, and if it still doesn't appear, turn the TV off at the power for ten seconds.

Somebody's phone can't join

Not a TV problem — phones talk to the draft directly, never to your screen. Check they've typed their own code correctly, and that they have signal or Wi-Fi of some kind. Any connection works; it doesn't have to be yours.

The board on the TV looks behind what people are picking

Refresh the page once. The board rebuilds itself from the server, so nothing is lost by reloading — every pick that's been made comes straight back.

Ten minutes before anyone arrives

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