Turn your idiot box into a smart TV
Instead of buying an expensive smart
TV, you can convert your existing set into a web-enabled entertainment centre
by just spending a few thousands of rupees
PORTABLE MEDIA PLAYERS
If you're working on a tight budget, you might
want to consider an ultra-portable media player. These thumb-sized sticks,
which resemble USB pen drives, are capable of streaming content pictures,
music, videos wirelessly from a PC, smartphone or tablet to your TV screen
(provided you have a Wi-Fi router set up at home).
Now there are quite a few brands
available in the market, but these are either from companies that have almost
no presence in the country, or have been tried by only a handful of people.
However, Google's Chromecast (`3,999) is available online (unofficially at
http://www.ebay.in, http://www.amazon.in) and it's also easy to use...
Simply plug in the device into the free HDMI port on your television.
Simply plug in the device into the free HDMI port on your television.
At the other end, Chromecast also ha
a micro USB port which needs to be connected to a free USB port on the TV (or
an alternative source) to power itself.
Then, switch to that HDMI source
(using the TV remote) and follow the set up instructions to connect to the
existing Wi-Fi network in your home. Now, install the Chromecast app on your
mobile device or PC/laptop and connect to the same wireless network.
Run the app and follow the
instructions to link the device to the adapter. Once the process is complete,
you will be able to `throw' Full HD videos from YouTube onto your television
screen (at present, Chromecast comes with video-on-demand channels like Netflix
and Hulu that aren't available in India). However, if you have subscribed to
local VoD services like BigFlix, BoxTV, Spuul, NexGTv, you can stream their
shows to your big screen. For this, you need to install the Google Cast
extension in your Chrome browser which will let you send the tab you are
currently watching to your TV.
Also, there are quite a few free (and premium) mobile apps like EZCast, LocalCast and RealPlayer Cloud that let you stream personal content from your own smartphone and tablet.
Also, there are quite a few free (and premium) mobile apps like EZCast, LocalCast and RealPlayer Cloud that let you stream personal content from your own smartphone and tablet.
APPLE TV
The Apple TV (`8,295) is a network
media player that can be used to stream videos, pictures and music from your
iOS or Android device. For the latter, you need to your iOS or Android device.
For the latter, you need to first install an app like Plex, PlayTo or Apple TV
AirPlay Media Player on the handset or tablet. While you can subscribe to
channels, buy or rent movies on iTunes via this rent movies on iTunes via this
player, you cannot store any thing on it. Like the Chromecast, it doesn't
include a USB port either, in case you would like to play a movie off a pen
drive.
BOX-TYPE MEDIA PLAYERS
While Chromecast is the simplest and the
cheapest way to Wi-Fi-enable your television, it does not come with any
internal memory or expandable memory slot to store any data. For a complete
solution, you can opt for a set-top box media player. All you need is a TV with
a free HDMI port and an active internet connection to tap into.
Such media players support Full HD
content from a variety of sources on the internet.
Also, these boxes sport USB ports
for your flash drives and external hard disks and a memory card slot for SD
cards, letting you view the content you have stored on them.
Additionally, you could opt for
boxes with internal storage for your movies and music, especially since these
support a wide range of audio-video formats like DVD (VOB files), high-def MT2S
videos, Windows Media files and high-quality audio standards like OGG and FLAC.
Plus, you get the option to connect
to a wired network and the ability to stream content from mobile devices.
You can consider the one-terabyte WD
TV Live Hub (`12,500) and iOmega ScreenPlay DX HD (`12,000) media players.
These use a proprietary interface and come with a built-in hard drive. The
former is ideal for playing personal content and to access pre-loaded web
services like YouTube, Flickr and TuneIn. The iOmega player also includes a
browser to surf the web and a miniature keyboard to make typing a little
easier. The Amkette evoTV series (available in four versions from `5,500 to
`10,500), on the other hand, is an Android-based box. Not only does this player
come with a web browser, it also gives you access to the apps on the Google
Play store. This lets you add your own preferred applications to the
preinstalled web services in the player. You can even attach a USB keyboard to
such media players to make typing easier.
However, unlike the proprietary
players, these do not get any firmware upgrades. And while it is possible to
install and play Android games on the box, they may not play as smoothly or
respond as well as they do on a touchscreen device.
ashutosh.desaiTL140615
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