Help - my TV

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David Large
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Help - my TV

Post by David Large »

Can anybody advise me please.

We have a modern TV which is connected to a satellite dish - in fact we have 2 TVs connected to our dish.

When we have very windy weather our satellite dish signal reception gets obstructed by the waving around of a big tree in our neighbours garden and the TV becomes unwatchable.

On Sunday I was watching the rugby on my laptop and it occured to me that I could probably connect a computer to our TV through a USB cable and watch TV over the internet, whic seems to work fine in all weather conditions.

I know we should be able to move the reception dish and maybe we will.

Does anybody do this?

David
David Large
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amulheirn
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Re: Help - my TV

Post by amulheirn »

We have a Samsung 'smart' TV which allows you to show content from phones and computers on it through something called Smartview:

http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/smartview/

Not totally reliable - had to re-pair the phone a few times, but not bad...

A.
Paul Blore
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Re: Help - my TV

Post by Paul Blore »

I don't think you'll be able to do it through a USB cable David, but if your laptop has an HDMI port, that should work fine. Alternatively, pop down to you local PC World and pick up a Google Chromecast for about £30. That will allow you to send whatever your watching on your laptop to your TV via wi-fi.

Paul
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David Large
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Re: Help - my TV

Post by David Large »

Thanks Paul, that sounds like a plan.

David
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David Large
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Re: Help - my TV

Post by David Large »

amulheirn wrote:We have a Samsung 'smart' TV which allows you to show content from phones and computers on it through something called Smartview:

http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/smartview/

Not totally reliable - had to re-pair the phone a few times, but not bad...

A.
Thanks for this, although our Samsung TV is not old, I don't think it is a "smart TV".

David
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Roger King
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Re: Help - my TV

Post by Roger King »

David Large wrote:
amulheirn wrote:We have a Samsung 'smart' TV which allows you to show content from phones and computers on it through something called Smartview:

http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/smartview/

Not totally reliable - had to re-pair the phone a few times, but not bad...

A.
Thanks for this, although our Samsung TV is not old, I don't think it is a "smart TV".

David
You'll probably be OK. We have a very dim Sony but it still seems to work.
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nikbj68
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Re: Help - my TV

Post by nikbj68 »

My Samsung has a network port & can view BBC iplayer, Youtube etc...check remote for "Netcast"(I think that`s it...)or have a look on the back, I think there`s also a PC monitor port too!(You will need audio lead as well).
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Re: Help - my TV

Post by Old Boy Racer »

http://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/chrome ... 0-%20Exact

Chromecast dongle thing for 30 squids that plugs into TV USB port. Used one for a while before I updated everything last year. LG 4K Smart TV connected to a house WAN that also includes laptops, iPad, iPhones, Printers and Sonos sound system. 4 terrabyte Synology hard disk also attached to store photos, videos, 18,000+ music tracks and file backups from PCs. You can then choose between browsing using the TV software or those on your laptops, phones etc. The ability to play radio from anywhere in the world anywhere in the house is terrific as is all the stuff on YouTube shown on the TV. Plenty of stuff posted in 4k even if it isn't broadcast via the usual stations just yet. BT plan to upgrade their sports channels to 4k soon.

Robin
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David Large
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Re: Help - my TV

Post by David Large »

Thanks guys, I will go and invest in a Google Chromecast Dongle thing tomorrow and stick it in the HDM1 slot that I have just looked at on my TV set. All we need then is lots of windy days to recover my investment!

David
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Re: Help - my TV

Post by David Large »

Ok I went to Currys this morning and the guy said a Google Chromecast Dongle thing would not do what I wanted it to do. He said that they are verysmart internally but they restrict what TV stations you can use and if I wanted to watch mainstream TV by which I assume he means BBC 1 & " and ITV 1&2 and C5 etc etc then I would need a cable. So I bought a cable with HDMI on each end after checking that my laptop has an HDMI outlet which it does and I have seen the HDMI socket on the TV so I will try it tonight. On the outside of the Google box it does give the limited TV access list.

Although I am going out tonight!

About 12 months ago I joined the Institute for the Motor Industry (IMI) and they have a lecture in Birmingham each month. Tonight is about car engines with a camless induction system! How are they going to control the inlet valves? Will they have inlet valves? Please, I do not want anybody to give me the right answer before I go to the lecture!
They have very interesting topics but I expect to get lost in the technology fairly quickly! My degree in Civil Engineering and my MICE qualification does not prepare me for this sort of thing.
Tonight Alan (who comes to Le Mans with me) is coming as my guest for the first time. Of course he was a mechanic in the Dealer Team Vauxhall Rally Team many years ago and ended up as Service Manager in a well known BMW Dealership. My other mate who took me as a guest originally is 85 years old and spent his life in the motor industry and still goes to these monthly lectures with me.

I will report on my TV issues.

David
David Large
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