Smart TV's

Lestratcaster

So the old folks aren't chuffed at Virgin Media's price hike again, for phone, broadband and TV which has 150 channels they don't like. This month we're going to ask to take the TV off the monthly package and they want to get a smart tv.

VM will want their box back won't they? And what else would we need to get it going so they can watch Netflix and stuff?

I'm a bit behind with all this smart TV shit cos I don't really watch TV anymore. Not on an actual TV anyway.

octatonic

We have an Apple TV attached to a TV here in Geneva and it is all we watch.

The problem with Smart TV's as they can end support for certain technologies or don't gain new ones.
Plugging a 'smart box' into any display with a HDMI connection is the way to solve this problem IMHO.

DiscoStu

Get a Chromecast for £30. Plug it in to the HDMI on the telly.
Stream what you like to it from your phone/tablet.
Saves buying a new TV.
Job done.

dano

Now TV is a good option to look at. Little stick plugs into HMDI monthly subscription choose channels you want, we have one and never looked backed after ditching Sky.

Lestratcaster

DiscoStu said:

Get a Chromecast for £30. Plug it in to the HDMI on the telly.
Stream what you like to it from your phone/tablet.
Saves buying a new TV.
Job done.

And they can use the existing Wi-fi for this?

crunchman

Lestratcaster said:

DiscoStu said:

Get a Chromecast for £30. Plug it in to the HDMI on the telly.
Stream what you like to it from your phone/tablet.
Saves buying a new TV.
Job done.

And they can use the existing Wi-fi for this?

Yes.

Other options are the Amazon Fire Stick, or the Now TV stick as mentioned above.

Any of them will plug into any TV with an HDMI port.  This is the way to do it, as @octatonic said above.  The smart functionality on the TV will be unsupported well before the lifespan of the TV is up so you will probably end up plugging in one of these devices anyway.

Lestratcaster

crunchman said:

Lestratcaster said:

DiscoStu said:

Get a Chromecast for £30. Plug it in to the HDMI on the telly.
Stream what you like to it from your phone/tablet.
Saves buying a new TV.
Job done.

And they can use the existing Wi-fi for this?

Yes.

Other options are the Amazon Fire Stick, or the Now TV stick as mentioned above.

Any of them will plug into any TV with an HDMI port.  This is the way to do it, as @octatonic said above.  The smart functionality on the TV will be unsupported well before the lifespan of the TV is up so you will probably end up plugging in one of these devices anyway.

Will it work with an ipad as opposed to a PC/Laptop? As in, to stream from, e.g YouTube.

LastMantra

An android box and a decent controller?
Maybe needs a bit of maintenance but they're cheap and you can put any app you want on it.

Majorscale

What has an Apple TV box got over a Chromecast type dongle? Price obviously as there is always an Apple tax but I’m certain there has to be more functionality!

exocet

I'd opt for a "box replacement" to give standard Freeview TV with EPG and PVR for recording stuff. Humax make a few under their own badge plus OEM for others such as BT. These boxes tend to have the "apps" built in such as Amazon Prime / Netflix / Now TV etc...my BT branded box does. 

That said, Chromecasts are good but if your folks have got used to a "box", they might be better of with another box.

Lestratcaster

exocet said:

I'd opt for a "box replacement" to give standard Freeview TV with EPG and PVR for recording stuff. Humax make a few under their own badge plus OEM for others such as BT. These boxes tend to have the "apps" built in such as Amazon Prime / Netflix / Now TV etc...my BT branded box does. 

That said, Chromecasts are good but if your folks have got used to a "box", they might be better of with another box.

I think this as well, they're nearly in their 60's and aren't very good with techy gadgets!!

crunchman

Majorscale said:

What has an Apple TV box got over a Chromecast type dongle? Price obviously as there is always an Apple tax but I’m certain there has to be more functionality!

It works with Apple Stuff

Kittyfrisk

Daft question, but can their TV natively get Freesat/Freeview already?
In which case, all you need to do is to sort out a Netflix/NowTV subscription (if this enhancement is indeed needed at all?).
Or else get a cheap Freesat/Freeview box & away you go.
Both the FTA providers have more channels to watch than 'normal' TV.

strumjoughlamps

Roku

Thread over

dindude

Agree Now or Fire stick is all you need, I use Amazon fire for everything. It cost about £35.

Bring on the era of the “dumb” TV that looks good but has an HDMI socket, an audio out, and that’s it!

TheMarlin

dindude said:

Agree Now or Fire stick is all you need, I use Amazon fire for everything. It cost about £35.

Bring on the era of the “dumb” TV that looks good but has an HDMI socket, an audio out, and that’s it!

I think everything will get dumber as ‘The Cloud’ matures. Everything will be held on the cloud, devices will just connect to your cloud account. 
So, phones will just be screens with a speaker (processing done in the cloud), same with PC’s and TV’s. Games too!  Why make loads of different versions of a computer game for each platform, when you can make one and stream it to any device. 
Its the future kids!

Remember in the 70’s, computers were just terminals - a screen and keyboard linked to a central processor, it’ll be like that again, but in the cloud. 

thumpingrug

strumjoughlamps said:

Roku

Thread over

This.   Had an amazon firestick thing for a while but it stopped working. now have a Roku and it has a much nicer interface.  Still get netflix and amazon but just easier to use and cheaper too if I remember correctly 

stimpsonslostson

I use a chrome chromecast and iPad, my parents saw my 7 year old use it & now have the same. It just works- I just wish it could screen mirror the iPad so I could work using the setup. 

If if it’s a “box” you could get one of MANY freeview recorders with netflix/iplayer etc built in. My DVD player has it & works fine- the interface is a bit clunkier than the chromecast/iPad which is why we favour the cast option. 

vasselmeyer

Get a Roku box. The UI is completely wife-friendly and has apps for pretty much everything you'd want.

Lestratcaster

Right, TV removed from VM package bringing it down to £49 per month. They even upgraded our broadband to 100mb!

So a month to sort out what they'll be doing for TV....

I think our best option is a new box thing with a plug in and play type set up approach

crunchman

They might call back in a a couple of weeks offering you the TV channels for a reduced amount.