Broadband, iPlayer, wireless TV/ router connections

Fire_Fox

I hope this is an OK place to post, my question is about telecoms/ techie stuff in general, not just one aspect of that IYSWIM.

I am presently paying £15 a month for 15GB mobile broadband with Three, and £12 a month for a TV license in order to watch Freeview. Don't watch much live TV at all and don't really want to pay for a landline as my mobile phone is perfectly adequate. Although I want my monthly outgoings to be minimal I am prepared to spend some money on technology in order to declutter my flat - I would like as few gadgets as possible and as few wires as possible.

What I want is to be able to watch BBC iPlayer etc. wirelessly through my new TV which is a Samsung LED 6000 series. I *think* I need a £50 Samsung dongle to plug into the TV so it will communicate with my computer wirelessly. Is this correct? I would then need a 'proper' broadband connection - so this means BT or Virgin tho there is no fibre optic cable here. I then would have a BT home hub or Virgin router: can this communicate wirelessly directly with the TV or does the information need to go via my laptop?

I am also thinking of getting a new laptop as my Fujitsu-Siemens is rubbish. Is there anything over and above a laptop with wi-fi capability that I should look for? Should I get a Samsung so it can work with my TV better? Can I use a laptop with DVD writing capabilities instead of the standalone DVD recorder I have at present?

Thanks for any help: as you can tell I am struggling to understand all this new technology!!

Fifer

You can get last years version of the dongle (b/g instae of draft n) for £14.90 plus postage on Amazon.

You'll need a broadband connection and a wireless router/modem. You need to use something to stream iPlayer programmes to your TV. There's a program called TVersity which is supposed to do it (but I can't get it working on my PC) or you can use a hardware media streaming box. Linsys, Netgear and Zyxel do iPlayer comaptible ones (they can cope with the iPlayer DRM).

Ideally, Samsung would launch an iPlayer widget for its DLNA TVs, then we could stream straight from a router with no PC or streaming device.

Fire_Fox

Thanks for pointing out the cheaper dongle :T the description says for 8 and 9 series, and LCD elsewhere on the net. Will this still work with my 6 series LED? I don't really want a separate box for streaming, I'd rather just watch on the laptop. Do I need this extra box if I connect the laptop to the TV using wires?

Fifer

I'm pretty sure it works on all Samsung DLNA TVs. I've ordered one for my B650 so I'll let you know if it works.

If you just hook up your laptop via HDMI (if it has one) or VGA and sound cables, you don't need a dongle. Just switch the TV input (via menu) to the appropriate HDMI input or PC if you use a VGA and sound cable. You'll need to switch the video output of your laptop to external (usually by pressing Fn + F8 or something similar).

Fifer

Well, I ordered the adapter from Amazon on Tuesday evening and it was waiting when I came home today (Thursday). Plugged in in, went through the very simple and straight forward installation menu and 3 minutes later, I was streaming "Mock the Week" wirelessly from my PC upstairs. It works perfectly with my B650.

The only slightly annoying thing is that it sticks out very slightly from the edge of the TV and you can see the activity LED on the end flickering. However, I might plug it into a short USB extension cable and tuck it out of the way at the back of the TV.