The Internet – coming soon to a TV screen near you
The Internet – coming soon to a TV screen near you
For a long time it has been possible to connect your computer to your TV using a variety of cables or, more commonly these days, via some kind of wireless connector. This is great, you can watch films you’ve downloaded off the internet without the hassle of burning them to a DVD or you can, of course, play your favourite computer games on a glorious 42 inch high definition screen – you can even play them in 3D. What you haven’t been able to do is watch one of your favourite websites, for instance YouTube, on your TV.
The advantages of being able to view the web on your TV are considerable. For starters, forget Freeview with its measly 50 channels, there are around 2400 free internet TV channels available, though admittedly many of them are foreign language or of limited appeal. If you want some higher quality TV output, you have all the more popular recent TV programs available through the likes of iPlayer, Four OD and ITV player. This frees you from the shackles of TV schedules and allows you to watch whatever you want at a time that suits you – the latest edition of Top Gear at four in the morning? Not a problem! You don’t even have to remember to set your recorder.
Then there’s the ubiquitous YouTube. Even if you subscribe to the appropriate Sky TV package and have 7 or 8 music channels available, you still have to watch whatever videos or interviews Sky are choosing to broadcast at the time. There is now a Sky channel available that allows you to choose from several thousand music videos and stream whatever you want to watch but it costs £4.99 per month. Compare this to YouTube where you can watch virtually any music video ever made, people filming themselves doing ludicrous things and much more besides completely free. All the online movie rental outfits such as Love Film now offer video streaming services so you can watch whatever film you choose without having to wait for the DVD to turn up in the post.
The big TV manufacturers are now offering internet ready models and these are starting to pick up a fair chunk of market share. However, the path they have gone down is to set up partnerships with the giant websites rather than simply make the whole of the internet available through your TV. Hence, a Sony Bravia IRTV will provide access to iPlayer, YouTube, Love Film and Sony’s in-house video channel. If you haven’t got an IRTV, you can achieve the same result using a PS3.
But what if you just want to view whatever is on your computer on your TV screen? The best device I have found is a Veebeam which retails for £99. This connects your PC or laptop wirelessly with the TV and operates in two modes. In desktop mode you just see whatever is on your computer screen. As well as all the advantages I’ve described above, this is also very handy for giving presentations at a venue where the only facility available is a television set. In play-to mode you can play a downloaded film from your computer in HD quality while still continuing to work on the laptop at the same time – handy when working from home and trying to keep the kids entertained.
There is an increasing concern about the convergence of TV sets and the internet. The main worry is children being exposed to adult material while just watching TV in the living room. The government is trying to introduce legislation where you have to actively opt in to view adult content rather than using parental controls to screen it out. I think this makes a lot of sense but, in the meantime, with a Veebeam the parental controls you’ve set up on your laptop also apply to your TV.
Computer advice atricle provided by Recommended, Sutton Coldfield community magazine advertising local business to the Sutton Coldfield public.
thinkbigpublishing 