Electronics idiot needs help with TV

drkelly

drkelly

Dipstick who put two vehicles on jack stands
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Location
Oak Ridge/Stokesdale, NC
We have a plasma TV that is probably a 2007 model. I would like to be able to use it like a 'Smart TV'. We cut the cord several months back or more, and have two other Samsung 'Smart TV's' in the house. This plasma TV is currently in our bedroom, but we never watch it. I want to move it to my son's play room which is also our exercise room and be able to use it like a smart TV to access Hulu, Amazon etc so he can watch cartoons while we exercise. I have no idea if this is possible or how to do it. I'm an idiot with electronics. Any advice would be great.

Thanks,
Danny
 
Snag an apple tv and that will make it a smart tv...
 
2007? What kind of inputs do you have?
Honestly I'd buy a Roku. You can can watch/stream just about anything through it. Much more universal than a "smart" DVD player etc.

Do you watch overt he air TV? There are some cool options for getting that streamed everywhere too.
 
Second vote for Roku. We have two and love them both. One is the small box and the other is the USB.
 
Roku. The stick would be sufficient, but keep an eye out for a refurbished Roku 3. All the reviews I see still say a standalone roku is better than a smart TV. The interface is faster, works better, etc. Plus, although I don't use it often, being able to use your phone as a remote is handy.
 
RatLabGuy said:
2007? What kind of inputs do you have?
Honestly I'd buy a Roku. You can can watch/stream just about anything through it. Much more universal than a "smart" DVD player etc.

Do you watch overt he air TV? There are some cool options for getting that streamed everywhere too.
Click to expand...

I know it has HDMI, not sure what else.

I do not have an antennae to watch air TV. The BIL has one, and likes it.
 
Or pay $35 for a Chromecast and then you can beam pretty much anything from your smartphone or laptop to the TV. (IF the tv has an HDMI port in the back)
 
ChromeBox. Anything you can do in a web browser, you can do on it. It's basically the guts of a Chrome laptop (netbook/Chromebook) without the screen, and your TV becomes the screen. It's slightly less than 5x5x2 inches, almost identical to a small stack of CD cases.

So it's a computer, that you can watch TV with. It's not the least expensive option (mine was maybe $130, plus a $20 wireless keyboard with touchpad) but there's no content limitations like Chromecast/Roku/whatever. If you can watch it on a laptop, you can watch it on a Chromebox. Then you can use your laptop for other things while you watch TV.
 
I have an Apple TV. The remote gets lost, it doesn't have a web browser and it doesn't pick up Amazon prime. It does however let me view anything on my iPhone and jump it to the screen. That's how I watch KOH.

That's said has anyone tried the Amazon Prime one? Can it do any of these missing things?
 
Wow, I am surprised that there are so many different ways to accomplish this.
 
I use a chromecast attached to a 2008 Samsung plasma. The integration is great, and I have yet to finds a gap in the functionality for my needs.

The roku I think is more geared to the traditional TV user that sits down just to watch "TV"
 
All teh review's I've read say teh
catfishblues said:
Roku. The stick would be sufficient, but keep an eye out for a refurbished Roku 3. All the reviews I see still say a standalone roku is better than a smart TV. The interface is faster, works better, etc. Plus, although I don't use it often, being able to use your phone as a remote is handy.
Click to expand...
All the reviews say the stick is notably slower than the box.
Plus, note if you use the stick, you are limited to only being able to use the Roku remote or some Wifi devices. W/ the box, it can receive IR also like most remote controls.
This matters if late you want to get a universal remote.
I use a Logitech Harmony to control everything. Very highly recommended.

re: getting live TV - if you don't want to worry about running antennas etc, look into a device like this
https://us.simple.tv/roku
Pretty slick, it plugs into an antenna, then changes the feed over to your home network. From there you can watch TV from any device.. Roku, tablets, PC, phone, whatever.
I have an HDHomeRun, it is similar but cheaper... unfortunately dosn't have a native Roku app though, so I watch it through a PC I have hooked up to the TV (use Windows Media Center to watch it).
 
If it makes a difference on which option to go with, this TV will primarily be used for my son to watch cartoons and kid movies on using Hulu and Amazon. I may also occasionally watch a supercross or motocross race on it via some website like promotocross.com.
 
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Roku and forget it. I'd be skeptical to hand an Apple TV remote to a child for fear of him or her breaking it/losing it/thinking it's a stick of chewing gum.
 
You said the word "Amazon." That's going to be a limiting factor. Maybe less these days, but since Amazon sells their own streaming device, they limit their licencing. A lot of DVD players and smart TVs won't stream Amazon. Roku will. And it's simple enough that my 4-year old (now 5) had no problems figuring out the ins and outs of it.
 
It's been said a million times already, but Roku is where it's at. The Apple/Chrome/Prime devices will all access multiple services, but they're biased toward their own product line. Roku treats them all equally, and will search and notify across all of them.

Our kids watch Netflix and AMZN Prime almost exclusively.
 
On a related note, we've been using Sling TV for a few months now. For those that want *some* channels (e.g. tnt, TBS, cartoon network, food, some others) w/o all the BS it's great. Only $20.
And you can stream it not only on Roku but any device, anywhere.
https://www.sling.com/

and btw you can get a free Roku stick if you sign up for a couple of months
 
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