www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

I don't have a smart TV but fancied streaming films, I also don't like watching things on the laptop or tablet for any length of time so I got a google Chromecast last week.

It costs £30, plugs into your TV via HDMI and then I use either my phone or my tablet as the remote. You call something up on the tablet, then select play on chromecast and it does. You can then carry on using the tablet/phone for something else. Essentially the tablet becomes a clever remote.

It has some way to go in terms of licencing as it only supports youtube, google movies, netflix and chrome browser but for £30 it is a nifty little toy. You can get most things in the browser but it would be good to play things like BBC iplayer from the app rather than the browser.

someone-else wrote:

big-all wrote:modern audio video appliances are less than 1w on standby so not worth bothering about as 10 appliances on standby will waste around 15w a day or 100w a week a massive whole 1.5p or 6p for 4 weeks or 75p a year
just not worth any spending at all

Money aside, that is not the reason I want an on / off switch. Have you ever seen a TV catch fire? Not supposed to but they can.
Yes, it is unlikely, but even if its one in a million, that does once every 10 years, it won't be my TV.

old tvs would have large parts off the electronics power up on standby now its only the control circuits hence the 1w

put them on a say 4 gang trailing socket and unplug that

DIY_Johnny wrote:I have a fancy TV with all the gadgets too.

I find it most of it a bit useless. Unless you have a keyboard, trying to type something into a TV web browser takes forever with a remote control

One good thing is to have a media server on your PC and have a home cinema system. It means you can watch movies, listen to music via your wifi. Handy if er, … you might have an inclination for download movies …

I also have no interest in 3D TVs, but the manufacturers seem to be pushing them. You need a 3D bluray player and subscribe to sky 3D

i am not in the least interested in any gadgets on a tv but i am so so pleased they are there as you can now buy flat screens for around £100 to replace my steam powered tvs

big-all wrote:

DIY_Johnny wrote:I have a fancy TV with all the gadgets too.

I find it most of it a bit useless. Unless you have a keyboard, trying to type something into a TV web browser takes forever with a remote control

One good thing is to have a media server on your PC and have a home cinema system. It means you can watch movies, listen to music via your wifi. Handy if er, … you might have an inclination for download movies …

I also have no interest in 3D TVs, but the manufacturers seem to be pushing them. You need a 3D bluray player and subscribe to sky 3D

i am not in the least interested in any gadgets on a tv but i am so so pleased they are there as you can now buy flat screens for around £100 to replace my steam powered tvs

It's not the lack of gadgets BA that reduce the cost, it's the cheap electronics, substandard display panels (low graded), poor software (for things like EPG and tuning) and terrible speakers/amps.

Spending 100 quid on a cheap TV is like throwing cash away, when branded sets can be had for a small increase in budget.

The 'home brand' sets that I see people walking out with from Tesco, Asda and electronic retailers make my head shake in despair.

You pays your money and you take you chances.

BG

it can be in black and white most off the time for all i care
the tv is on in the back ground it is never my main task
if it catches my attention i watch the item till i loose interest
it is a source off knowlege and amusement
dont care about hd or 3D
i never go for the lowest standard i go for the decent make end off line

Ta dah.......... told ya, told ya.... what did I say????

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... wners.html

kellys_eye wrote:Ta dah.......... told ya, told ya.... what did I say????

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... wners.html

Do try to keep up Kellys...

wine~o wrote:Smart TV ?

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/you-think-you- ... ml#cRg3RZE

He confirmed this had been the case by creating a mock video clip that he had named "midget porn", which had then showed up in unencrypted traffic sent back to LG, he said.

I think he just got caught

wine~o wrote:Do try to keep up Kellys...

Sorry wine~o, I blame the slow interweb up here in the wilderness

But, then again, your link is via Yahoo.... who the heck uses Yahoo?????

It just reminded me S_E, what broadband do you have??

BG

Ordinary up the open reach copper cable, supplied by BT with that "bad boy" router the kid goes on about in the TV ad.

Turn it off at night?

Yes, sadly I have to. I am waiting to get a new one of these.

Just been reading up on ADSL/Fibre tech used in current implementations and found an interesting tidbit that relates to your on/off'ing.

If you have a modem or a router (with modem built in), turning it off can adversely impact the speed of your broadband. They use a technology called DLM that monitors the line for a number of things (signal, noise, attenuation, etc). If you turn your router off over night or several times a day, DLM steps in because sync is lost between you and the DSLAM/Exchange and can potentially reduce your connection profile trying to establish a more stable connection!!

If you leave it on, without it being turned off, then this varies, but should raise backup in 3 days if no events are detected. Not sure what speed you pay for, but worth looking at if you suffer slow speeds. This doesn't happen with cable.

Also, your PING may be raised if you are a gamer - the DLM might turn on interleaving to help with the "line dropouts" which can raise your ping by 20/30ms which is a lot when playing games.

BG