On 12/5/2013 1:03 PM, Chuck Norcutt wrote:
> I've recently subscribed to NetFlix and Amazon streaming video services
> and loving it. ...
>
> But when I go to Florida I'll still have an HDTV set to use and a router
> not far away but the TV there has no built-in streaming capability.
> What external device do I need to buy to keep NetFlix and Amazon coming
> in?
My sons say AppleTV. Certainly it works well at one son's house
> I think the Panasonic Blu-Ray player I have will do that in some
> fashion or other but that seems an odd way to receive video.
You make the old fart mistake of thinking of it as a disc player. It's a
computer designed to acquire video and send it
to a TV. Why should it matter whether it reads it from a disc or receives it
from WiFi?
That said, the firmware that does these things varies a lot in capability. When
our DVD player died, I bought a Panny BR
player, It went back in a couple of days for a Samsung. The Panny's ability to
play videos from anything other than a
disc was pitiful. A call to support made it clear they had no plans to improve
it. The Samsung is very good. I do a fair
amount of that.
For example, a recent TOP mentioned a documentary about photographer Saul
Leiter. I downloaded it from the web and can
watch it on my TV. When our DVR went blooie during a trip and when there's a
power outage, I simply jump on the web and
grab the missed episodes. Even with Netflix and Hulu+, there are a lot of shows
not available, or not available in a
timely fashion.
OTOH, the Sammy is very slow with Netflix, much slower and clunkier than the
AppleTV. But that's likely mostly poor
firmware for that function. This subject just reminded me that there is now a
wifi router acting as repeater right above
it. I ran a cable to the router. That's made Netflix more responsive, but not
yet great.
'Twere me, I'd try the Panny BR player. If it works, you're home free. If not,
then you can add a dedicated streaming
device.
Slow Stream Moose
--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
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