Who knows about the new TV extras

[Texas Proud]

OK... I know that there are some people on the cutting edge when it comes to entertainment...

This weekend, I went to visit my friend who just bought a HDTV... he also bought a Blu-ray disk player with Wi-Fi... and a dongle that attaches to his TV that has Wi-Fi....

Now... He was using the blu-ray to play net-flix movies.. it also was playing some radio station... and looked like you could play You Tube videos.. it seems like it was a real nice setup...

Talking to him... I could not quite figure out which was the best way to go... he showed me running it through his TV dongle and then the blu-ray... it appeared that blu-ray had a better menu.... but I could not figue out what software etc. was in control...

SOOOOO, the question... does anybody have thid kind of set up If so, what are you using to get this... I would think that paying $9 per month to NetFlix so I can download any movie they have at any time is a great deal... but want to have flexibility if at all possible...

 

[Kronk]

Blu-Ray player with network attachment (wired, not wireless). It plays Netflix, Pandora (internet radio station thingy), and You-Tube (and Blockbuster, I think). Netflix streams well, hardly any hiccups with that.

No idea what the TV dongle does, so I can't speak to that.

 

[RonBoyd]

No idea what the TV dongle does, so I can't speak to that.

A dongle is a small piece of hardware that connects to a laptop or desktop computer for the purpose of copy protection or authentication of software to be used on that system.

from Dongle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Westernskies]

I'm just thrilled that I have my cable box and tv working off the same remote...

 

[RonBoyd]

OK... I know that there are some people on the cutting edge when it comes to entertainment...

My go-to websites for this data are:

http://www.hometheater.com/

and

AfterDawn.com (specifically - AfterDawn.com: Guides)

and

http://www.networkingaudiovideo.com/

 

[ERD50]

In general, there are a lot of ways to watch netflix downloaded movies. Just remember, what they have available for download ( "instant viewing" actually - it is streamed, you can't DL and watch later w/o an Internet connection, or at least not w/o some techno-tricks) is a subset of what you can order by mail.

You can watch Netflix Instant Viewing on most computers (Windows, Intel Macs, nothing for Linux as of yet, I think), also on a Wii box (netflix will provide a disc to do this, NC), or an X-box - many Blu-Ray players incorporate the feature:

Netflix: Rent as many movies as you want for only $8.99 a month! Free Trial

-ERD50

 

[W2R]

[old fuddy-duddy mode] Good heavens, what would any human being DO with all those entertainment options? There is so much that I want to do in retirement that I am never caught up. I don't even have time for what I've got with bare bones cable and I haven't watched a DVD or listened to the radio in my house since I retired.[/old fuddy-duddy mode]

 

[FUEGO]

I have a little media player called "WD TV Live". It's about the size of a 1 lb block of cheese.

It plays media files from my networked computers, from an attached usb hard drive and/or memory stick, and it also plays youtube vids (among other stuff). No netflix on the model I have, but I think the latest version of WDTV Live devices can play netflix movies. The unit costs ~$100. Plays full 1080p and looks good. The device has its own remote and graphical user interface to let you navigate your media sources.

 

[audreyh1]

[old fuddy-duddy mode] Good heavens, what would any human being DO with all those entertainment options? There is so much that I want to do in retirement that I am never caught up. I don't even have time for what I've got with bare bones cable and I haven't watched a DVD or listened to the radio in my house since I retired.[/old fuddy-duddy mode]

Says the lady who loves her Kindle!

Audrey

 

[Bimmerbill]

My new HDTV has a built in wireless adapter and a bunch of widgets. It has a Netflix widget, which I use all the time for watching streaming video from Netflix. Works great!

Each device will implement their Netflix streaming a bit different, with different menus, etc. So try a few to see which looks good to you, and is fast.

 

[brewer12345]

The Wii connection works really well for us. I ain't upgrading my 10 YO TV until it craps out or we move, so its nice to use a workaround that is pretty seamless.

 

[mn54]

It's very easy to connect your pc to the tv. I watch netflix, dvd's, etc.

 

[RonBoyd]

It's very easy to connect your pc to the tv. I watch netflix, dvd's, etc.

With the right (and, I might add, abundant) equipment, I find it easy but... not simple.

How have you done it?

 

[Bimmerbill]

I attached my Win7 PC to my TV. Can do it with a HDMI cable if you video card has HDMI out and your TV has HDMI in.

My vid card doesn't, so I used the DVI connection with an additional connection for audio. Then use Media Center with a remote to do DVR type functions. Wireless keyboard for surfing on the big screen.

 

[mn54]

I use two cables to connect them. A $6 vga to vga cable and a $2 rca to mini stereo cable that plugs into the headphone insert on the pc. If you want to use the audio from the pc you don't need the rca cable. Switch your tv to the pc mode and change the display setting on your computer to clone your desktop. Get the cables from My Cable Mart. Very reasonable compared to the big box stores.

 

[W2R]

Says the lady who loves her Kindle!

Audrey

That's one of the reasons why I don't have time for DVD's!! Too interested in the books I've been reading, and in other interests I have been pursuing in retirement. And to me, tying up my Wii (which has so many active/reactive entertainment options) with more passive entertainment options is a waste of its potential.

 

[harley]

We've got the Samsung Blu Ray player that does all that stuff, but I mostly just use it for DVDs. I do the streaming to my PC, and haven't gotten into Pandora yet, although I'm thinking about it. The dongle is merely a wireless receiver for the DVD player so you don't have to hook up ethernet to it. Not that high tech, just depends on how much time you [-]waste[/-] spend watching TV and such.

 

[audreyh1]

That's one of the reasons why I don't have time for DVD's!! Too interested in the books I've been reading, and in other interests I have been pursuing in retirement. And to me, tying up my Wii (which has so many active/reactive entertainment options) with more passive entertainment options is a waste of its potential.

Maybe, but you can't pull the "old fuddy-duddy" excuse with that one!

Audrey

 

[harley]

SOOOOO, the question... does anybody have thid kind of set up If so, what are you using to get this... I would think that paying $9 per month to NetFlix so I can download any movie they have at any time is a great deal... but want to have flexibility if at all possible...

BTW, just caught this part on a re-read. If you are talking about their streaming capability, it doesn't include all their movies. It works for me because I have very juvenile and off-center taste in entertainment. But the list of streaming movies is getting better, and they have a pretty decent collection of TV series you can stream and watch. But it seldom includes new, well received movies. And for some reaason, even a lot of older movies aren't available for downloading.

Currently I've got the Toxic Avenger 1 & 2 lined up for streaming.

 

[Keim]

WTH is a TV dongle? Is it for viewing the Playboy channel?

 

[MasterBlaster]

WTH is a TV dongle? Is it for viewing the Playboy channel?

<From WiseGeek>

A dongle is a piece of hardware that attaches to a computer in order to make a piece of secured software run. A dongle in this sense is used as a high-end form of security to prevent the unauthorized copying of software, since making a copy of the hardware itself is much more difficult than simply copying the software. The fairly absurd word seems to have been chosen more or less at random as a placeholder to describe the device when it was first used, and over time it was adopted as the actual name.

 

[ERD50]

RE: Netflix

But the list of streaming movies is getting better, and they have a pretty decent collection of TV series you can stream and watch. But it seldom includes new, well received movies. And for some reaason, even a lot of older movies aren't available for downloading.

That seemed odd to me, too. I figured every old classic or infamous 'B' movie or 'made-for-TV' movie would be out there, but not so. I kinda wanted to watch "Pirates of Silicon Valley", but not enough to take a precious slot from DWs DVD queue.

-ERD50

 

[Texas Proud]

<From WiseGeek>

A dongle is a piece of hardware that attaches to a computer in order to make a piece of secured software run. A dongle in this sense is used as a high-end form of security to prevent the unauthorized copying of software, since making a copy of the hardware itself is much more difficult than simply copying the software. The fairly absurd word seems to have been chosen more or less at random as a placeholder to describe the device when it was first used, and over time it was adopted as the actual name.

I will disagree with wisegeek on this one.... the device that they are talking about is a HASP... which I found out recently stands for 'hardware against software piracy'... one of our vendors use these for all their software... (adding this comment later.... this IS a dongle... but it is a specific type of dongle... there are others as mentioned below)

A dongle is a general name for something that attaches to a computer that does something... if you have a wireless mouse... you have a dongle attached to your computer which receives the signals and tells the computer what to do... it has nothing to do with the software... and the dongles that my friend has are wireless connections that are not inbedded in his hardware...

I wonder if you could call a flash drive a dongle hmmmmm

 

[RonBoyd]

I wonder if you could call a flash drive a dongle hmmmmm

Or that thing operating the keyboard?

 

[MasterBlaster]

A dongle is a hardware authentication device or hardware key. It doesn't refer to anything that plugs into your computer. A flash drive is not a dongle.

If your (or anyone's) wireless mouse uses a dongle then there is some sort of authentication between your mouse and your computer. Imagine a room full of wireless mouse driven computers and the problems involved with all of the different commands being sent. The dongle (in that case) resolves (and authenticates) that it will only follow commands from your mouse in your computer.