Connecting My Smart TV.

Minas_Bryandor

Thought I would share my experiences with people as asking round my friends and colleagues lots of people have these SMART TVs and are not using the features that made them buy the TV in the first place.

I like many others have bought a Smart TV in recent times and I got home set it up but I had no way to connect it to the internet - save for a long ethernet cable across the lounge. So effectively all those features which I had paid for were not accessible.

I tried the manufacturers wifi USB dongle, which is like the ones you can get for your PC, which did work with a limited degree of success, but the connection was not stable and I often experienced buffering and occassionally the signal would drop out altogether. So I took this back and got a refund.

Speaking to a techy friend of the family I asked could I get a wired connection without running an ethernet cable as when I had run the cable the experience was great, but not practical as a long term solution - for obvious safety and appearance reasons. He suggested powerline and at first I had visions of pylons, but after looking them up on the internet I saw they were potentially a neat and tidy solution to my issues. So I decided to buy one as they did exactly what I wanted a wired connection in another room without a massive cable.

The product uses the electrical wiring in the house to send the internet signal and I can tell you I have never looked back. NO more buffering and NO more drop outs. I started off with this

pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/devolo-dlan-200mbps-avmini-starter-kit-2x-home-plug-av-adapters-00939204-pdt.html

and just connected my Samsung Smart TV with no setting up or CDs to run. One cable went from my router to the nearest plug socket and then the other cable went from the plug behind my TV to the ethernet port on my TV. Happy Days.

I was so chuffed with the quality I have recently replaced this plug with another product that has 3 ethernet outputs - so now I have the best connection on my Sky+HD Box, PS3 and TV.

pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/devolo-1721dlan-500-avtriple-starter-kit-11953986-pdt.html

I would love to hear about peoples experiences and generally what people are doing to connect their Smart TVs, consoles etc. And hey if anyone is having a similar problem I hope this helps you.

penrhyn

It would seem from other postings that a lot of people are not aware of Homeplugs.
They can be obtained from around £25/ pair.
The YouView box I recently trialled came with a pair of Devolo units which worked faultlessly.

doelani

we also use powerline adapters for a smarttv and also a pc in a room that was not getting a good wireless signal and did not want to have to put in a ethernet cable, they are a good job and have come down in price a lot since we first bought them a few years ago and paid about £80 for them

Neil49

I've used powerlines for some years now with great success.

My girlfriend has got a smart tv and lives in a 3 storey town house. I have used them to connect her tv on the first floor to the internet router on the ground floor and also added connections to the second floor where the wifi signal is a bit weak.

[Deleted User]

penrhyn wrote: »

It would seem from other postings that a lot of people are not aware of Homeplugs.
They can be obtained from around £25/ pair.
The YouView box I recently trialled came with a pair of Devolo units which worked faultlessly.

I use Develos too.
I have to say that, at £180, the Develo 500's I use in my set up are considerably more expensive than the £25 you quote!

HoolyNI

Hello, i'm just looking to get enough "power" to my freeview hd box to be able to view bbc i-player on lounge tv.....would a 200mbps set up be enough for my needs?

My latest speedtest shows my router only gives me 7.45mbps

[Deleted User]

HoolyNI wrote: »

would a 200mbps set up be enough for my needs?

As long as you don't want to view in HD (or 3D) the Develo 200 Homeplugs are suitable.

VoucherMan

I've heard of homeplugs as they're often mentioned on here but I must be one of the few tight @rses who's laid an Ethernet cable around the edge of the room (and made quite a good job of it though I say so myself).

Even so I rarely use it. It wasn't one of the reasons I bought the set, it was just an extra feature.

pullenuk

My setup....

Room 1
Phone line - modem - Router
Laptop sometimes connects via Ethernet to router unless used elsewhere
Router - Powerline

Living Room
Power line - Switch

The switch connects to all below
Smart TV
Blu-Ray / 5.1 System
Sky
Xbox


I'm running fibre, so the power line makes sure I get all of my speed. I have no problem with watching HD off thee internet. Even when I'm going other things online. We have two tablets and two phones conneting wirelessly.

Power line is very good, you can move it to different sockets.

Orange_King

The set up in our house is -

Room 1 - Smart TV which has a Freeview Aerial and a split cable to the old Sky Dish for the Freesat channels (we don't subscribe to Sky).

Room 2 - the other part of the split cable from the Sky dish goes into the old Sky box for the second normal TV.

At present we don't have anything to record TV progs, unless the Smart TV has this capability perhaps to USB/Hard drive? So, what would be the best option in terms of linking up a Recorder? Does this need just the Freeview aerial or if it needs the old sky cable does it need both parts?

Minas_Bryandor

pullenuk wrote: »

My setup....

Room 1
Phone line - modem - Router
Laptop sometimes connects via Ethernet to router unless used elsewhere
Router - Powerline

Living Room
Power line - Switch

The switch connects to all below
Smart TV
Blu-Ray / 5.1 System
Sky
Xbox


I'm running fibre, so the power line makes sure I get all of my speed. I have no problem with watching HD off thee internet. Even when I'm going other things online. We have two tablets and two phones conneting wirelessly.

Power line is very good, you can move it to different sockets.

I like the idea of using a switch. Could be a cheaper alternative to a multiport powerline....