Need Wifi Solution for non Wifi TV

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rgoulter

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#113153 8-Jan-2013 12:01

I have a Samsung 46 LCD TV which is about 3-4 years old and it does not have wifi, physical network port or the smart hub software.

Is there anything I can do or any device I can buy to allow me to use the internet TV sites on my TV? i.e. I want to play TV series on demand from the internet to my TV preferably without running a network cable.

A friend of mine mentioned theres a wifi enabled blu ray player but im not sure this will allow me to do what i want to do.

Any ideas?

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#741540 8-Jan-2013 12:04

Buy a PS3. You will get TVNZ ondemand and Quickflix.
And it has wifi built in

$349 from JB Hifi.

freitasm

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#741542 8-Jan-2013 12:05

If you have HDMI on your TV then you could get one of these Android TV sticks.

Referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies

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Klipspringer

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#741543 8-Jan-2013 12:06

freitasm: If you have HDMI on your TV then you could get one of these Android TV sticks.

Good idea. Clean forgot about those.

Has anybody on geekzone actually used one?

rgoulter

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#741669 8-Jan-2013 14:43

freitasm: If you have HDMI on your TV then you could get one of these Android TV sticks.

Thanks for that, I checked it out. It appears you are forced to use quickflix which looks limited and costs $15 p/m. Can you use this device for any internet streaming services like hulu or netflix?

Also i have an wifi xbox 360 on the TV but that also appears limited to microsoft based streaming services.

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#741671 8-Jan-2013 14:45

It's an Android device. You can do anything an Android device can. It just happens it comes with Quickflix pre-installed. From their page:

Once connected you can use all of the Internet features of the SmartVU-mini right on your TV.

Having internet features on your TV allows you to use internet TV and video services such as Quickflix Smart Movies, YouTube, Daily Motion and others.

Using your home Wifi Internet connection*, you can instantly experience a world of online entertainment and stream movies, TV shows, videos, music and news from a selection of entertainment apps including Quickflix, YouTube, Spotify, IMDB and more.

Or you can stream entertainment from your PC, USB drive or microSD card.

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rgoulter

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#741710 8-Jan-2013 15:34

i found this on trade me

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=549508936

needs a remote/KB though

any way to use an android phone as a remote/KB?

Lenovo

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freitasm

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#741798 8-Jan-2013 17:56

You know buying things from Trade Me is "buyer beware".

Referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies

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rgoulter

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#742060 9-Jan-2013 09:10

Yep understand.

After doing some research on the net I ended up purchasing this from Deal Extreme.

Rikomagic MK802 IIIS Android 4.1.1 Google TV Player w/ Wi-Fi / 1GB RAM / 8GB ROM / HDMI - Black-177486

http://www.dx.com/p/177486

From what I can tell its the latest in the RikoMagic line up, its only a couple of months old and its got dual-core CPU and Quad Core GPU.

I didnt want to risk buying an android TV stick that would choke on 1080P so I went with this one which is the gruntiest I could find and it supports bluetooth for using bluetooth KB/Mouse which is important to me.

DX had free postage so came to $80 NZD which is way cheaper than the inferior models currently listed on trademe.

Thanks for pointing me to a good solution where I could then research and purchase.

antoniosk

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#742063 9-Jan-2013 09:23

Coincedentally I got Ascent's weekly mailer, offering this for $98:

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=411601

________

Antoniosk

rgoulter

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#742064 9-Jan-2013 09:30

antoniosk: Coincedentally I got Ascent's weekly mailer, offering this for $98:

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=411601

I would not recommend this due to A8 single CPU, 512 Mb Ram. when doing research on the net most who brought this level of specs reported video lag and 1080p not being possible.

allan

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#742086 9-Jan-2013 09:47

freitasm: If you have HDMI on your TV then you could get one of these Android TV sticks.

That's interesting. I wonder what is actually installed on there for Quickflix, because there is no actual Android app available in the Google Play store.

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OldGeek

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#742394 9-Jan-2013 17:11

I am in the same position as the OP but I am wondering if the devices referenced in this thread have the ability to see local network shared resources. For example if I have a Wi-Fi connected PC with movies stored in a shared directory could these devices access and play them?

ajobbins

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#742402 9-Jan-2013 17:24

Raspberry Pi could be an option (with the addition of a WiFi adapter if needed).

Run Raspbmc and you can get an XBMC interface on your TV to stream media or browse the web.

HDMI CEC works well too so you can use your TV remote to control the device as long as your TV supports it (most modern TVs do)

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macuser

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#742408 9-Jan-2013 17:38

MK808 could be a good option, 125$ on trademe. Far faster than 802

Radiotron

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#743046 10-Jan-2013 21:23

If you simply need connectivity to a media server via DLNA (WMP11, PS3 Media Server, JRiver et al), a cheap Sony BDP will get you there - BDP-S390 is a useable DLNA client, built-in WLAN, the Sonys also have internet TV - Youtube, Quickflix, and so on, need a PS3 for TVNZ on Demand if shopping for a Sony though

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