Remote to tv connection is infrared but what is the connection between your phone (like when you are using a remote app on your phone) to the tv? Would it be just a wifi connection and if so what is it interacting with in the tv?
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Not sure what phone specifically but I used to have a remote app on an old phone and it was same tech. Infrared. You could see the red dot blinking with a camera.
Your phone, or more specifically an app on your phone, will talk over wifi to an application or API on your TV that allows the app on your phone to control your TV, or to instruct your TV to show the video that is on your phone. As long as your phone and TV remain on the same Wifi it should continue to work.
It’s referred to as a network connection using a wireless broadcast signal. When your devices are connected to the same network they are able to discover, send and receive data. The app on your phone sends command to your tv via your network. Infrared isn’t technically wireless as it can’t work if there are objects that obstruct the path of the beam or light (invisible to human eyes) sent from the remote control device to an ir reader.
Your phone, or more specifically an app on your phone, will talk over wifi to an application or API on your TV that allows the app on your phone to control your TV, or to instruct your TV to show the video that is on your phone. As long as your phone and TV remain on the same Wifi it should continue to work.
There are still [some phones with IR blasters](https://www.androidauthority.com/phones-with-ir-blaster-858845/), but they are less common than they once were. They can interact directly with TVs the same way a regular remote would. Otherwise, it’s most likely a direct wifi connection through your local network
Think of a remote control like a very small wireless keyboard, and think of the phone sending video to the TV like a very small streamer streaming their screen over the network.
The remote control for a device like a television is sending very simple, very short, codes to the device much like the short codes sent by pressing a key on a keyboard. Each button has a unique code, and by listening for these codes, again much like listening to a compute keyboard, the device responds with the correct action. This is very low bandwidth, simple, and does not require any trust or setup between the two devices. Hitting the power button on one remote, doesn’t turn on all devices accidentally because the codes are different and may even use different frequencies or signaling (like infrared vs radio)
Streaming to a device though is a logical connection not unlike connecting to the internet. Instead of sending simple key codes, it is running a network stack like wifi, or blutooth, and sending complicated packets and frames of data from the source device like a phone, to the destination device like a television.
This requires a more complicated setup where you have to make the two devices aware of each other, trust each other, etc, and they have to negotiate a compatible set of standards to connect. Just like browsing youtube requires your browser and Youtube to agree on the video standards to use, the web standards, etc.
Chromecast for instance is a standard. Appleplay is a standard.
Then the device simply encodes a data stream like any other network connection, and sends it along where the television decodes it into video.
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