Smart tv

[peeter 441]

Does anyone use a smart tv to access the internet,from what I have read they all claim to give full internet access so does that mean that I could browse this website on a smart tv and watch video clips.

[likesToLick 9,732]

I have one of the earlier smart TVs, a Panasonic about 3 years old. It has internet access, but limited to what Panasonic is willing to put on their TV portal. I can look at youtube or picasa for example, but I cannot run a web browser or visit this site.

I suggest you check the capabilities of each TV very carefully before you buy one. Online reviews may help.

[peeter 441]

Thanks for that likesToLick.

[Admin 14,342]

I'm not sure if this is what you want, but if you simply want to browse the internet and play video clips on your tv, buy a HDMI cable. They're very cheap (a pound or two) and you can plug one end in to the back of your TV and the other into a slot on most laptops (obviously check your laptop has this port first). Whatever is on your laptop screen will then be displayed on your television.

[Scot_Lover 1,778]

I have a Sony Bravia 42" that does anything on the Internet, it's connected to a Sony Muteki 7.2 (this is not a Sony add, I just love the connectivity and integration of all the components). The only problem I have is lack of keyboard support, it's just too clumsy to be useful. The quickest way to YouTube is by using YouTubeTV and run it from the iPad. As Admin has mentioned, run a HDMI cable from a laptop, and set the screen accordingly, then you can run anthing on the laptop to the tv. I do find that doing it this way tends to be too overpowering, some video / audio quality makes it worse, just not as enjoyable as it sounds.

Another thing I found useful was a media player, connected it to home network, and access my media server from it, plays anything, without running cables.

[likesToLick 9,732]

The only problem I have is lack of keyboard support, it's just too clumsy to be useful.

That's one I never thought of. The Panasonic has 2 USB ports. I have a generic wireless USB keyboard plugged into one port, and a WiFi dongle in the other, so although my Internet capabilities are limited, at least I can easily type in my Youtube searches.

I have an early model Western Digital media player plugged into an HDMI port, so I can play any video from a USB stick or portable hard drive. This has no network capability, so I may upgrade it to something better one day.