TV's and internet

[Sean Troy]

hi all, does anyone have their TV connected to their internet connection? What do you use the connection for and what does it take to do a correct connection? Thanks in advance for any info, Sean

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Sean,

Actually I have my internet service via my cable provider so I have a cable modem sitting here on the desk.

Each of our televisions has a cable "box" decoder.

[Eric DeSilva]

You can connect a television to the internet in a number of ways. One of my TVs has an ethernet port built in. My Blu-ray player has an internet connection. There are purpose-specific boxes, like the Apple TV box or the Roku box. You can use a TV as a display for a computer. Most game consoles--the Wii, PS3, XBox360--have internet connections.

What these allow you to do is take streaming video content provided on the web and display it. I can access Youtube if I want to see bad video clips of cats chasing roombas. At the other end of the spectrum, I can pay Netflix $9 per month and stream high quality movies from their digital library whenever I want. Or order a television program on demand from hulu.com or the iTunes store.

Eventually the internet will replace cable television. What your cable system does for on demand shows is no different than--say--netflix. Once you have a fast enough broadband connection, there is no reason you need to get your on demand from your cable system, however, so you can go right to the source--say ESPN--or an aggregator like Hulu.

Most internet enabled devices--DVD players, Apple TV, Roku, game consoles--typically have a nice easy interface to make watching content from specific places--usually including netflix, youtube and hulu--very simple. Installation is pretty easy too, presuming you have a high speed internet connection and a local area network in your house (local area network = router).

[Lex Boegen]

I stream Netflix over the Internet to my TV. I dropped my satellite TV a couple of years ago, so the only TV I get now is either over-the-air (antenna mounted in my attic) or Netflix. I have both a Wii and a Samsung Blu-Ray player that can stream Netflix to my TV, but I usually use the Wii for that. Its remote functions better for that than the Samsung. Both my Wii and my Blu-Ray player have built-in Wi-Fi network support, so they connect over my wireless network to the Internet. Note that not all Blu-Ray players support this type of connection, but if one does, they'll brag about it on the outside of the box. I specifically bought my Blu-Ray player for its Netflix streaming capability. Some new TVs also have this feature, but mine is an older set so it doesn't, hence my need for an intermediate device.

Note: you will either need a TV that can connect directly to the Internet, or some other device (like I did) to act as an interface between your TV and the Internet. You can also connect a "home theater PC" to the Internet and your TV too.

[Peter Stahl]

I've watched TV shows I missed using my laptop connected to my TV. I also have a PS3 which connected wirelessly to my DSl modem and I watch Netflix shows and movies. Lots of flat screen TV's have connections so you could hook up a PC and us it like a large monitor.

[Bryan Morgan]

hi all, does anyone have their TV connected to their internet connection? What do you use the connection for and what does it take to do a correct connection? Thanks in advance for any info, Sean

What do you want to accomplish? I have my xbox that streams things other than just playing games. The TV itself has an ethernet port and has youtube,netflix,etc built in. I also use a WDTV Live Plus which has all kinds of junk on it. I use it to connect to my media server to watch ripped DVDs or Netflix/blockbuster/youtube/mediafly/etc. My media storage server also runs PlayOn which can stream out a bunch more stuff...

If you just want to take your existing TV and stream things easily to it, I'd recommend grabbing the WDTV Live Plus. It does pretty much everything and is very small but still has connectors for all your stuff (composite/HDMI/component/fiber/etc).

[Sean Troy]

I'm not sure what I'd like to be able to do but I just hate wasting good technology:). I do have an eithernet port on the TV and the girls are getting a Wii for Christmas. Can the Wii use a wireless USB adapter and then connect to the TV to get internet access?

[Peter Stahl]

I don't have a wii but doing a quick search it looks like it's wifi ready like my PS3 which was very easy to connect to my home network/modem

[Lex Boegen]

The Wii already has built-in wireless networking. You don't need a USB adapter for it. It's easy to get it on the Internet using just the remote control that comes with it.

[Sean Troy]

The Wii already has built-in wireless networking. You don't need a USB adapter for it. It's easy to get it on the Internet using just the remote control that comes with it.
Good to know, that just made my day. Thanks all for the information, Sean

[Bryan Morgan]

Good to know, that just made my day. Thanks all for the information, Sean

Yeah the internet works ok on the Wii. You can also get Netflix for it. I think its like 7 or 8 bucks a month.