Internet TV at home is a DIY reality!
I’m hearing a lot about services that, for a fee, let you play computer videos, like Hulu and YouTube, on your TV. Is this a necessary expense? How hard is it to do yourself? I talked to Shawn DuBravac, a head honcho at the Consumer Electronic Association, and learned that, for many TVs, you can buy a cable for about $45 that will eliminate the need for a pricey service. This interview has been edited and condensed.
How hard is it to stream videos from your computer to your TV? If you want to play YouTube videos on a television, you have to have some type of computer object connected to that television: a browser in essence.
What is an Internet TV? About 20% of televisions are Internet-enabled. If you have one of those televisions you really don’t need to do anything.
What about a non-Internet TV that has an HDMI input? If you have an HDMI port, then all you have to do is
get a computer with a video card and an HDMI port and then you run a single HDMI cable between the two.
How common are the HDMI inputs? A large screen television over $1,000 probably has Internet capabilities. Most televisions circa 2005 started to integrate HDMI.
And all HD TVs have HDMI inputs? Yes.
How hard would you rate this project doing it yourself? With an Internet television, it’s zero. You just have to flip to the YouTube channel. If you’ve got an older television, it’s a 10. I’ve done it. I’ve hooked a computer up to a television that didn’t have HDMI, it was a circa 1999. It’s not impossible, but for the average person they’re not going to be able to deal with it. You have to get the right video card, and do all this other stuff. If your television is made out of wood, do not try this at home. If it has any wood or if it has the appearance of wood on it, you are not going to be happy.
What is the advantage of a service that does it for you, like Apple TV? Apple TV lets you access iTunes and you can buy movies and you used to be able to buy TV shows. You can push things from iPads and iPods and things like that. If you have a computer hooked up to your television, it’s just a regular old computer and anything you can do on that computer, you can do on the television. You’ve turned the monitor into a bigger television.
Is Internet connectivity a feature that TVs will soon all come with – like cameras on cell phones? Possibly. Larger TVs and screen sizes? Yes. Smaller televisions? Debatable. I just flipped to Best Buy’s website. Smart TVs is what they call them. Total televisions for sale, 180. Under the Smart TV category, they have 92. 51% of the TVs they are offering are some degree of smart. Last year, through the first half 2010, 7% of the televisions being sold were smart. In the first half of 2011 , it was 20%. Internet connectivity is a very large trend. Everything is increasingly being connected to the Internet.
Is there a website you recommend to walk people through connecting their TV to the Internet? We have a site called DigitalTips.org that will walk you through a couple different devices.
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price. 
Wow, at first I was excited by this, then thought I spend too much time on my computer as it is, and now I’ll be spending my computer time on my couch? Don’t get me wrong, I’ll look into it…just trying to avoid becoming TOO comfortable… 🙂
My husband and I tried this for a few years and also have a Roku box for Netflix and Hulu. Problem is that the cap that is placed by many internet providers on the amount of bandwidth you use in uploading or downloading. If you go over this cap, they shut your internet off. Many times there is no way you can upgrade to a higher cap either. Until there is a solution, we are stuck and limited to cable with brief internet viewing. Sadness.
@Laney Interesting, I’ve never run into this problem. My husband and I have been streaming Internet videos and webpages for more than a year without hitting a cap. We have high-speed Internet service through a cable company. Maybe your Internet provider is part of the issue. Are you using satellite, DSL, fiber optics, cable?
If you have any HDTV without Internet apps , try the Logitech Revue Companion Box with Google TV and Keyboard Controller
by Logitech at Amazon for around $99 . It’s an add-on box that gives you YouTube , Twitter , Pandora, plus many more apps and a wireless keyboard with complete Internet access . This originally sold for $300 ! Requires only an Internet connection . Link :
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Companion-Google-Keyboard-Controller/dp/B0040QE98O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316111549&sr=8-1
Right now, with the economy as it is , I really dont need anymore expenses. I use what money we have for food and utilities, plus, I get all I need right here on my computer!!
P.S. I would much rather invite friends over for a few games of Euchre, or maye some nickel , dime poker!!!
My family ditched cable a year ago(Aug.2010) To stream tv…It’s not all completely free(Hulu plus and Netflicks do cost) The start up with a Cinema Tube Box and PlayOn(Google these 2) cost us about what 2-3 months of cable was costing. But we cut the cable the next month after we started . And have not reggretted it. More choices. Better shows. NO, yes I said NO commercials(Maybe a few 30 seconds ones every once in a while) So for us it is much better. IMO, it is much easier to just buy a media player, like Roku or Cinema Tube, and a server program like PlayOn, than the way explained here. But that’s just my experience.
With the economy still in the toilet, most people can’t afford to do this. I would rather put that money towards paying a bill or donating to a charity. We spend way too much on the computers now. Just my thoughts and opinion *.*
very interested article. I’ve always wondered how this works. COOL!
I have a roku box, but prefer watching moies on my computer. The picture is so good and crisp. My older sony TV does a nice job when the grandkids are over, so both ways work for me!
Yes we have comcast internet and cable. There is another company that also does a bandwidth cap but I am not sure what it is. With the monopoly of cable companies, we have a very limited choice to what we can subscribe to.