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Mr. Luddite[_4_]

On 2/26/2018 2:01 PM, Its Me wrote:
On Monday, February 26, 2018 at 1:32:32 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Mon, 26 Feb 2018 11:26:30 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 2/26/2018 11:18 AM, wrote:
On Mon, 26 Feb 2018 08:00:25 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 2/26/2018 7:48 AM, justan wrote:
"Mr. Luddite" Wrote in message:
On 2/25/2018 10:33 PM, wrote:
I am really serious about cutting the cord. My wife says after the
olympics but that was today.
I am already transitioning to streaming, I am working my way through
the Amazon Prime documentaries They have just about anything that PBS
ever aired. I talked about the American Experience show about the MLK
assassination the other day. Today I am watching Frontline season 27
ep 8. This is contemporary with the 2009 crash and it is pretty
interesting, carving through some of the myths we may have.

I occasionally watch something from Amazon Prime's inventory. My large
HD TV is not "smart" (connected to the Internet) so I use the Sony PS4
to stream stuff from Amazon. Their prime account entitles you to many
movies and archived shows as you mention for free.

I can also access Hulu, Netfix and other sources but I don't watch
enough to bother with them.

Smart tvs are cheap nowadays. I paid 800 for a 60 inch smart
plasma tv at good old Walmart. A side benefit is that I can heat
the house with it.

Mine can become "smart" if I buy a Roku wireless streaming stick that
plugs into the TV's USB port. It's a 65" and I bought it before having
Internet connectivity became built-in on most TVs. Accessing the 'net
via the PS4 is just as effective and it works fine. I just don't watch
TV enough to warrant buying another TV just for built-in Internet
connectivity. Most of the time I just use a little 23" HD TV that sits
on my desk beside my computer monitor.

Just hook an old PC to it. With a 2.4gz wireless mouse you end up with
a TV that is a whole lot smarter than the ones sold as smart. We have
both here. The PC connected wins every time in every category.
The best combo seems to be my "travel" laptop connected to some no
name TV. When the lap top turns off the TV goes to sleep and I have it
set to hibernate when you close the lid. Open the lid, the pc comes to
life and the TV comes on.
You can get to any streaming service that way along with being able to
play music or look at your pictures using whatever PC app you like.

I don't collect or save old PCs. When they crap out or become so
obsolete they can't run current apps efficiently I buy a new one. I
"do" have an older Win 7 laptop that I no longer use regularly but I
keep it as a backup or possible traveling computer. Somewhere I have an
old XP laptop as well but it is painfully slow compared to Win 7 and Win
10. I wouldn't even bother with it.

Those are plenty fast enough to stream TV and if you reloaded it back
to what it was when you bought it, it would be as fast as it was then.
Most "old and slow" PCs are just slow because they are loaded up with
useless software, spyware and other barnacles you collect over the
years. PCs make TVs smart and I have been doing it for close to 20
years. At first you needed a TV-out card but these days TVs have VGA
ports and newer PCs have HDMI ports. They are naturals for each other.
I would suggest your travel lap top for the TV. Then once you have
that all set up, when you travel, you can hijack the TV wherever you
go.
The only time it is a problem is in a "Lodge Net TV" hotel. They have
special TVs that I have not been able to hack into. You also find out
the free WiFi is not fast enough to stream.
When we rent houses, that is never a problem.

Back in the days when I traveled and did system installs, I was staying in hotels and always had my traveling toolkit with me. Typically, the hotel TV's picture looked like crap and the adjustments were behind a screwed-down door to prevent the average joe from messing with them. I took care of that issue on the first night.

Me too. Used to drive me nuts. Seems like they set them up in "Vivid"
or store display mode.