For the technically ignorant among us, how do you get your T.V.s to get internet connected? We have 4 T.V.s and I would not want to watch the World Series on my 19" monitor.
For the technically ignorant among us, how do you get your T.V.s to get internet connected?
In my home, we only have internet. I plug my 46” set directly to the htmi output of the video card on my desktop computer. We then use the 46” set for youtube video or computer games. I sometimes use it as my computer monitor too.
I think there are more direct ways to do it now, but that is what works for us.
Connect your TV directly to a computer that has internet access. Some TV’s have wifi built in that will connect directly to the internet and to various on line video sources such as Netflix, ect. I think you’ll more large screen TV’s with home theater PC’s built in complete with wireless key board and mice.
I use a small, quiet “shoe box” intel PC with my 32 inch wide screen and while I have FIOS, I also have internet connected to my TV PC and I watch Netflix and others. The PC also lest me edit my DSLR photos right up on a 32 inch screen with amazing results. Talk about a convergence machine!
If you have a decent laptop, you can connect the lap top’s video out put to your TV and connect the laptop to the internet. Even modern “cheapy” laptops(amd apu’s and intel i3’s) can get you good streaming HD signals for your TV; playing games is another issue.(however amd a10 series are said to give i5 intel boxes a run for their money)
The set-top-box is the thing the cable company gives you. Your remote tells the set-top-box what channel to tune to. Intel's box would connect to your Internet on one end, and your TV would connect to it.
Got Netflix and HuluPlus.
I only watch 2 things on network tv. Jeopardy and Big bang theory. Wife likes Castle. That's it. Oh. METV. Memory (something TV) Nostalgia programming. Old tv shows from the 50's and 60's wife watches that a lot.
I love the roku. Lots of choices though their better stuff is dvd only, netflix that is.
Heck if netflix can do it, Intel which has MUCH more powerful resources to draw on can certainly do it. Technologically that is. Dunno about channel contracts and the like. Or govt intervention. We all know how good govt is in intervening in a good thing.
You buy a roku or a similar box that connects from your home internet to your TV. Or use your Wii or Playstation.
AppleTV. $99, just plug it into HDTV. Get Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, iTunes, Vimeo, and stream stuff from my PC. Love it.
WD Live TV has wi-fi. It can connect your TV to Netflix, etc. (if you have a subscription), and to USB hard drives and networked computers.
I use it to view standalone video files via USB drive(s) and NAS wi-fi hard drive. WD Live TV accepts most common video formats.
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/homeentertainment/mediaplayers/
A lot of people are pointing you to streaming servers like Roku or Apple TV. They are great but you mention sports. You won't get that through these devices. They stream Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO Go, stuff like that. Lots of archived content like movies and previously aired TV shows on demand but not live TV.
I'm assuming you don't have or want cable so you truly want to get over-the-air live programming but without cable. For local channels you can simply hook up an HDTV with an antenna and pull the local HD channels directly, no cable and no internet required. It's digital so quality will be either as good as you'll get wired or no signal at all; perfect or nothing. And it's free. You can do the same thing with a PC if you put in a HD video capture card. Then you can run the HDMI output directly to a HDTV (most have HDMI inputs).
It's hard to get live non-local channels over the internet. I saw a company called Aereo that apparently has a server room in New York City with a bunch of capture cards wired up to HD antennas and they are pulling the live signal off the air and streaming it for a fee. They appear to be getting sued to death by all the networks. Their defense for this at the moment seems to be to limit their service to NYC only, so basically they only convert live over-the-air local NYC channels to internet streams within the NYC itself (i.e. where people can get them for free directly with an antenna). So here it is just a convenience thing for people in New York City who want to watch already free New York City local channels on an Ipad instead of a TV. And still they are getting sued. If they win some cases, maybe they'll expand. In the meantime third party streaming of live TV is probably an area where the law will need to get settled.
Get a ROKU box
Most new TV’s and all BluRay players have the ability to connect to the internet.