Sony unwraps built in HD Freeview TV
 

"Michael Chare" wrote in message
news:gMydnb6rM-

With a Freesat receiver you can press the red button, enter a code (at the
moment) which gives you the iPlayer initial menu if your receiver is
connected to the internet and supports this function.

That's right, and it's quite confusing at first glance. The iPlayer feed
comes down your broadband, as it always has. Your TV just acts as an
interface to it, provided it is connected to your home network.

Thus, it has nothing at all to do with Freesat or Freeview broadcasts. I
bet loads of people will get mixed up over this.

The only reason for not seeing iPlayer on Freeview sets or PVRs is that
internet connectivity was never specified as a requirement for
Freeview-branded equipment. If a manufacturer wants to use the Freesat
brand, they must meet various requirements, which includes internet
connectivity.

SteveT

Sony unwraps built in HD Freeview TV
 

In article , Roger R wrote:
I agree, it gets even more complex when you start to enquire what the
Wifi/Ethernet ports can be used for.

Well technogeeks might be hoping that they will be able to watch
YouTube videos and surf the web directly on the TV via the network port.

Why worry, when it can already be easily done with any TV set using an
external computer via the HDMI port?

Can it ?
I have this notion that the signal on the HDMI cable is in encrypted form -
is not that the idea of it - and that it is decoded in the set/terminating
port. If so, then it would be necessary to suitably encode the signal from
the computer. Can you do that ?

I don't know about any special encoding or decoding. I built my media centre
round a motherboard that has an HDMI output, I just plugged my TV display
into it, and it works, just like any other computer monitor. The HDMI output
is 1920x1080 and looks great. Didn't even need a separate graphics card.

A "media centre" is just a computer with a big screen, the only difference
being that instead of standing the screen on a desk, sitting in front of it
in a swivel chair and calling it a monitor, you hang it on the wall, call it
a TV set and sit on a comfy sofa. Otherwise it's a computer. Anything you can
watch on a computer - video files, DVDs, Blu-ray disks, family photos, you-
tube clips, BBC i-player, internet TV, internet radio, audio CDs, etc etc,
you can watch on the big screen as if it were proper telly. Some of it
actually looks better than proper telly (or is that just another way of
saying that some proper telly is pretty dire?).

My screen, like most of them these days, has traditional RGB and YUV
composite inputs as well as HDMI, so I can continue to use the SCART outputs
from my Freeview recorders as normal until I decide whether I want to replace
those with a TV card for the computer - sorry, I meant "media centre".

I'm experimenting with the best way to control everythimg, but so far my
favourite is just a common or garden cordless optical mouse on the coffee
table. I'm not using this computer for word processing or email, just playing
audio and video, so I very rarely need to type anything, and Windows 7 has an
excellent on-screen keyboard which is just fine for that. There is an actual
keyboard as well, but I think it's probably going to gather dust on a shelf
while I stay on that comfy sofa.

Rod.
--
Virtual Access V6.3 free usenet/email software from
http://sourceforge.net/projects/virtual-access/

Sony unwraps built in HD Freeview TV
 

"Roderick Stewart" wrote in
message

I don't know about any special encoding or decoding. I built my media
centre
round a motherboard that has an HDMI output, I just plugged my TV display
into it, and it works, just like any other computer monitor. The HDMI
output
is 1920x1080 and looks great. Didn't even need a separate graphics card.


Do you have one or more tuner cards, and do you use it as a PVR?

--
Michael Chare

Sony unwraps built in HD Freeview TV
 

"Roderick Stewart" wrote in
message .myzen.co.uk...

A "media centre" is just a computer with a big screen, the only difference
being that instead of standing the screen on a desk, sitting in front of
it
in a swivel chair and calling it a monitor, you hang it on the wall, call
it
a TV set and sit on a comfy sofa. Otherwise it's a computer. Anything you
can
watch on a computer - video files, DVDs, Blu-ray disks, family photos,
you-
tube clips, BBC i-player, internet TV, internet radio, audio CDs, etc etc,
you can watch on the big screen as if it were proper telly. Some of it
actually looks better than proper telly (or is that just another way of
saying that some proper telly is pretty dire?).


Out of interest, can you say how you use the media centre to record a
programme.

Roger R

Sony unwraps built in HD Freeview TV
 

In article , Michael Chare
wrote:

I don't know about any special encoding or decoding. I built my media
centre
round a motherboard that has an HDMI output, I just plugged my TV display
into it, and it works, just like any other computer monitor. The HDMI
output
is 1920x1080 and looks great. Didn't even need a separate graphics card.


Do you have one or more tuner cards, and do you use it as a PVR?

I don't, yet, as I already have a couple of Freeview recorders that do the
job very nicely, but adding a suitable card to the media centre is something
to be considered for the future. As it's fundamentally a standard PC with the
usual expansion slots, I expect there will be opportunities to experiment. I
might wait till somebody produces an HD-capable PCI card.

Rod.
--
Virtual Access V6.3 free usenet/email software from
http://sourceforge.net/projects/virtual-access/

Sony unwraps built in HD Freeview TV
 

In message , Michael
Chare wrote
With a Freesat receiver you can press the red button, enter a code (at
the moment) which gives you the iPlayer initial menu if your receiver
is connected to the internet and supports this function.

The same facility is not available on Freeview. - at the moment.


But it's nothing to do with Freesat either. It's just that the some box
manufacturers have made an Internet connection to the Iplayer possible
without having to go through another piece of equipment.

--
Alan
news2009 {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

Sony unwraps built in HD Freeview TV
 

"Alan" wrote in message
...

But it's nothing to do with Freesat either. It's just that the some box
manufacturers have made an Internet connection to the Iplayer possible
without having to go through another piece of equipment.

Are you sure? Certainly, network connectivity is part of the Freesat
branding requirement.

SteveT

Sony unwraps built in HD Freeview TV
 

On Sat, 06 Mar 2010 09:18:25 +0000, Alan wrote:

It's just that the some box manufacturers have made an Internet
connection to the Iplayer possible without having to go through
another piece of equipment.

PEDANTIC MODE

It still has to go through many other pieces of equipment -- the
first being either an ethernet switch connected to a router,
or directly to a router, or via a wireless access point connected
to a router.

/PEDANTIC MODE