Internet TV

[Lawrence]

I've been looking at the thread about connecting a TV to a wireless network with interest. For those of us without an internet-ready TV, what is the cheapest/best way of giving a TV (with HDMI) a network connection? I've seen some media players but it is difficult to compare when not really knowing what you are looking for. I suppose minimum would be ability to browse and Iplayer compatible . MP4(H.264) would also be useful. Thanks for any advice. Lawrence

[polygonum]

I wonder if the Apple TV would do for you?

Mind, I've never quite got to the bottom of what might be Mac/IOS only and what works fine on a PC.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Probably a puter and a card that will drive the telly?

[dennis]

A wii does iPlayer and plays music, but at low resolution, no HDMI. A sony play station does music, dvds, and may do iPlayer (I don't know if its out) no HDMI AFAIK but HD over component. I have a Sony blu-ray that does iPlayer + other internet stuff (in fact I use that rather than the PC) and DNLA. The PC will do anything you can buy accessories to do. You can even get surround sound amps that will do internet radio, music, etc.

[airsmoothed]

Yeah, the Apple TV is surprisingly one of the cheapest ways of streaming wirelessly to the telly. I'm not sure what formats it'll play out of the box either, I'm fairly sure ti does support iPlayer, many people hack them and run XBMC, although that's not a trivial exercise if you're not PC savvy.

[John Rumm]

A WD Live TV HD box will play either from local USB drive (flash or hard) or via its network interface. It can talk to ordinary CIFS (aka SMB) network shares or DLNA media servers, and can also stream stuff direct from the internet. About the only thing it does not play yet is iPlayer...

[Vic]

A PS3 will do all that and play Blu-ray DVDs as well. Oh, and it does games too.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I have a Humax HDR-FOX T2. An HD PVR with internet connection via a cable. Not checked how easy it would be to use wireless - I already had a convenient outlet from the router.

[Lee]

+1 for PS3, though expensive option if all you want is the media player. It does DLNA, iplayer and 4od, plus it has a browser so can do youtube and other stuff. Has the advantage of built in wi-fi too. Obviously it will also play files from a usb stick or HDD (FAT32 only though).

Sad that I use mine more for its media capacities than its gaming ones ;) I do have a decent PC for gaming though. :)

Lee

[Roger Mills]

I also have an HDR-FOX T2 - but no convenient LAN connection. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has succeeded in connecting one wirelessly. Humax's default solution seems to be ethernet over mains - but that is relatively expensive.

[Staffbull]

type "android 2.3 tv box wifi" into ebay and take a look! they run iplayer itv player and the like and you get all the free android apps and browsers - top kit for the price - connect a wireless KB for full functionality