posted
I was hoping to lean on some of the smart technophobes that can be found on DSU.
Alas, it is time to upgrade my 78 y/o Mom to HDTV. As she has recently found herself to be a widow, she is now finding more time to watch movies (as opposed to constant NASCAR and politics). Of course I will be getting her a first blu-ray DVD player, but I wanted to set her up also for streaming movies, though she has no exposure to that currently.
I am wondering what the best approach is for that. It seems the options are to get an internet-ready TV (which most I think require a hard-wired connection) or a wi-fi enabled DVD player. One important consideration is the location of the TV is VERY inconvenient to running an ethernet cable from the internet router - wi-fi would be much preferred.
I'm just curious - are the wi-fi blu-ray DVDs pretty easy to navigate? Again, 78 y/o Mom is not terribly skilled at switching inputs/outputs and navigating menus and such.
Maybe it is futile to try to set her up for that and just leave her at the mercy of DVDs, but if there is something that works well for the technology-challenged it is worth the try!
Reading some specs a bit more. I am now seeing that some TVs are being called "wi-fi ready". I am gathering what that means is that a USB wi-fi adapter can be plugged into it to connect to a wi-fi network.
If that is the case, wondering what the difference in user experience would be with that versus having a DVD player with built-in wi-fi.
posted
Honestly, get her an AppleTV or a Roku. Both have Wifi built in, and good track record of software updates. I don't trust any of the BD players to actually keep up on the software front. And the TV companies don't have that good a record either.
joe
-------------------- Cradlepoint MBR95, Sierra USB-250U (Sprint WiMax) 2008 Newmar King Aire 4562, 2012 Jeep Liberty Limited Jet We're here! Posts: 729 | Registered: Nov 2007
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Joe Keenan: Honestly, get her an AppleTV or a Roku. Both have Wifi built in, and good track record of software updates. I don't trust any of the BD players to actually keep up on the software front. And the TV companies don't have that good a record either.
joe
Probably good advice. I remember back in the mid-90s when she said she wanted a computer, I had her get a Mac though I had never owned one and had only used a friend's sparingly. I just knew the early Windows machines were more than she could deal with and the same I suspect applies to this connected TV tech.
Amazingly, I could help her remotely with the Mac, just verbally over the phone, though I did not have one of my own - I could just ask her what menus and options she saw and we could figure it out together.
I have since moved her through a couple of Wintel machines, but alot of time has been spent through remote sessions keeping things working smoothly. Finally with Windows 7 things are not quite as horrible!
posted
You might want to look into the Samsung Smart TV's also. You can use wireless with it. It has a built in browser with several different apps for downloading movies.
-------------------- Larry 99 34Q Discovery & 08 HHR LT2 Banks Powerpack F1 | D3 3.8.9 | HN7000S | 117/1070 |Hardwired through 8 Port Switch with WRT54 |Trav'ler Slimline SWM |Wilson SOHO Click here to see where I am Posts: 1171 | From: Homestead, FL | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
TK - I have both. Short form is, the AppleTV UI is more polished and is the only one that can show content from the iTunes Store. Both show Netflix. The Roku can't really do iTMS content, but it can do Amazon Prime video, plus Hulu and Crackle and way more sources than I can list. Hardware is similar size.
joe
-------------------- Cradlepoint MBR95, Sierra USB-250U (Sprint WiMax) 2008 Newmar King Aire 4562, 2012 Jeep Liberty Limited Jet We're here! Posts: 729 | Registered: Nov 2007
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
