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Telegram on the TV, without casting
Mirroring a phone onto a television works, after a fashion: the phone stays busy, the battery drains, and the picture is a copy of a small screen. A player on the TV itself does better.
The ways to get Telegram onto a TV
Screen mirroring from the phone
Works with most TVs, but the phone has to stay awake and on the same video for the whole film, a call or a notification lands on the big screen, and the picture is squeezed through Wi-Fi a second time.
A laptop on an HDMI cable
Telegram Desktop plays videos fine, but the laptop sits by the TV, and there is no remote: every pause is a walk across the room.
Downloading and copying files
Save the video, put it on a USB stick or a media server, and play it there. It works, and it is slow, and it fills the stick with copies.
A player on the TV itself
TMPlayer runs on the Android TV, Google TV or Fire TV, signs in to your own Telegram account with a QR code and plays the videos in your chats straight from Telegram. The phone is free the moment you have scanned the code.
How TMPlayer does it
No casting, no copies, no server in between.
It is a Telegram client
TMPlayer signs in with Telegram's own Link Desktop Device flow and reads your chats through Telegram's official library, TDLib.
It streams as it downloads
A video starts within seconds and keeps downloading while it plays. Seeking jumps the download to where you are.
It is built for the remote
A ten-foot layout for the D-pad, with subtitles, audio tracks and the next episode one press away.
Which TV do you have?
Android TV or Google TV
Install the APK and sign in. The Android TV guide.
Fire TV
Install it with the Downloader app. The Fire TV guide.
A PC next to the TV
TMPlayer also runs on Windows and Linux, played through mpv, with keyboard shortcuts. Downloads.
More help
TMPlayer does not provide media: it plays what is already in your own chats and channels. The questions cover what it can and cannot see.