Smart TV Problem

Cloth_of_Gold

I have a 5 year old Sony smart TV and it works fine as a TV and I can also use pre-installed apps such as Youtube without difficulty, so I assume that the internet connection to it is ok. In fact you can do a dignostic check to see if that is ok, which I did and it reported no problems. I also did 3 internet speed checks using my laptop whilst I was sitting next to the TV (the router is in an adjacent room) and the  'ping' was about 10 or 11 seconds (if that's relevant) and the download speed was about 60 Mb/s and the upload about 40 Mb/s. 

Those aren't amazing speeds, and not as fast as we are supposed to be getting I don't think, but they ought to be good enough to access a straightforward website, which is where the problem lies. I don't normally use the TV to access the internet but as a birthday present someone gave us a subscription to the National Theatre streaming service where you can watch recordings of plays that they have put on. I struggled to access the site or move between pages and it would often just freeze for ages and then crash. When I did get to the log-on page and input the email address and clicked on 'Next' nothing happened. I tried the BBC website as a comparison but that was also painfully slow. 

Does anyone have any ideas what the problem might be? I would happily buy a new TV given how cheap they are these days but that's not very 'green' and in any event we watch very little TV and would only really use the browser to access the NT site.

Rodders53

NONE of the TV internet browsers are any good in my albeit limited experience of them to the sets I own.

Connect your laptop to the TV as a second or mirror screen (via hdmi cable) to play the NT stuff that way?

flaneurs_lobster

What @Rodders53 said. Can you access the NT streaming service OK on your laptop? 

If your TV has Chromecast built in (check here https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/articles/00135368 ) then you may be able to "send" the stream to the TV without the need for a cable.

Cloth_of_Gold

flaneurs_lobster said:

What @Rodders53 said. Can you access the NT streaming service OK on your laptop? 

If your TV has Chromecast built in (check here https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/articles/00135368) then you may be able to "send" the stream to the TV without the need for a cable.

Yes, the NT site works fine on my laptop.

Your link doesn't work I'm afraid.

Neil_Jones

Take the close bracket out - https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/articles/00135368 should get you there

But yes TV browsers are generally crap.

The other option could be something like a Firestick which allows you to mirror your laptop:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=ToUjwyfVuffzVfbR6b

It would be useful when app support falls through on your device.

Cloth_of_Gold

Neil_Jones said:

Take the close bracket out - https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/articles/00135368 should get you there

But yes TV browsers are generally crap.

The other option could be something like a Firestick which allows you to mirror your laptop:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=ToUjwyfVuffzVfbR6b

It would be useful when app support falls through on your device.

Thank you but when I follow the link half is in Serbian or something and the rest might as well be as I don't understand it at all. I looked at the firestick but I really don;t want to spend £50 or £60 when I haven't got the time to watch this and my partner will problably end up falling asleep 5 minuntes after I put a play on. I think I'll just let him watch it on my laptop if he wants to. I wish they'd just bought us a box of chocolates or a bunch or flowers or something, not something that involves a lot of work and expense.

Thanks for your help though - I don't mean the above to sound rude.

Murmansk

As others have suggested I think smart TVs are a bit of a waste of time, better to stream to them via Chromecast or a plug-in device and just use the TV as a monitor for the other devices(s). And a 5 year old smart TV is probably well past it in terms of software updates 

Cloth_of_Gold

Murmansk said:

As others have suggested I think smart TVs are a bit of a waste of time, better to stream to them via Chromecast or a plug-in device and just use the TV as a monitor for the other devices(s). And a 5 year old smart TV is probably well past it in terms of software updates 

Thanks, but I'm just going to let him watch it on my laptop - I don't have the energy to wressle with it any more.

SimplyBetter

Cloth_of_Gold said:

Murmansk said:

As others have suggested I think smart TVs are a bit of a waste of time, better to stream to them via Chromecast or a plug-in device and just use the TV as a monitor for the other devices(s). And a 5 year old smart TV is probably well past it in terms of software updates 

Thanks, but I'm just going to let him watch it on my laptop - I don't have the energy to wressle with it any more.

If the laptop has an HDMI Out, plug it into the TV https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164774424282 Less than a fiver and he can watch/listen on the big screen TV.

Cloth_of_Gold

SimplyBetter said:

Cloth_of_Gold said:

Murmansk said:

As others have suggested I think smart TVs are a bit of a waste of time, better to stream to them via Chromecast or a plug-in device and just use the TV as a monitor for the other devices(s). And a 5 year old smart TV is probably well past it in terms of software updates 

Thanks, but I'm just going to let him watch it on my laptop - I don't have the energy to wressle with it any more.

If the laptop has an HDMI Out, plug it into the TV https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164774424282 Less than a fiver and he can watch/listen on the big screen TV.

No it doesn't  - it's a Macbook and it has two Thunderbolt 3/USB 4 ports.

SimplyBetter

Cloth_of_Gold said:

SimplyBetter said:

Cloth_of_Gold said:

Murmansk said:

As others have suggested I think smart TVs are a bit of a waste of time, better to stream to them via Chromecast or a plug-in device and just use the TV as a monitor for the other devices(s). And a 5 year old smart TV is probably well past it in terms of software updates 

Thanks, but I'm just going to let him watch it on my laptop - I don't have the energy to wressle with it any more.

If the laptop has an HDMI Out, plug it into the TV https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164774424282 Less than a fiver and he can watch/listen on the big screen TV.

No it doesn't  - it's a Macbook and it has two Thunderbolt 3/USB 4 ports.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Highwings-Thunderbolt-Anti-Interference-Gold-Plated-Compatible-Grey/dp/B0CKSCSGX8/ref=sr_1_5

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