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Electronics Repair (sci.electronics.repair) Discussion of repairing electronic equipment. Topics include requests for assistance, where to obtain servicing information and parts, techniques for diagnosis and repair, and annecdotes about success, failures and problems. |
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#1
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What is smart about a smart DVD player?
What is smart about a smart DVD player?
What is wifi about a DVD player with Wifi? My friend bought a smart tv, and she says the remote has a keyboard in it, and it's like a computer. She can iiuc navigate to any webpage and play any video she finds there. The descriptions of smart dvd players don't sound like anything that good. The smart DVD with Wif sounded like just what I needed*** until I read descriptions, reviews, and thought about it some more. Now I have big doubts. I can't find pictures of the remotes, and at the store they're probably hidden? Do they have alphanumeric keyboards? If they only play Netflix and a couple other sources like that, it's of no use to me. It seems to me my brother's big almost new tv had one screen that mentioned only Netflix. and he could use it for Netflix, using only the remote. But there was no keyboard, and I assume, no web browser in it. If I can't go straight from the DVD to the net to get what I want, could I use the DVD's WiFi to receive what is playing on my computer. amd watch that on the TV? I normally don't care about picture quality but would it be less? I normally don't care about audio quality, but the tinnitus in my ear doubled recently, (and when I watch Leave it to Beaver, recorded at the lowest quality, he speaks so fast sometimes I can't understand him. Going to the highest quality, I couldnt tell if that helped.) ***I can't use a smart TV, because afaict, none have outputs except for external speakers. I have a network of TVs throughout my house (that I've told you about in the past. I use Powermid to control the DVD.) and they all must show the same thing, so if I move to another room, I can turn off one tv and turn on the other. They get their output from the DVDR with digital tuner through an RF modulator. Or from the VCR that is installed parallel to the DVDR. I would plug the DVD with Wifi in parallel to those two, and be able to watch everything it will receive in any room that has a tv. Thanks a lot. |
#2
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What is smart about a smart DVD player?
Per micky:
The smart DVD with Wif sounded like just what I needed*** until I read descriptions, reviews, and thought about it some more. Now I have big doubts. You're on the right track with the big doubts. I bought a high-end LG for somebody a few months back. Sounds impressive at first: WiFi, web browser, reads every format you can think of...and so-on. Then one gets to the remote.... sheesh!... it's just begging for a keyboard what with the web browser... but it doesn't even have a dedicated skip button... and it's operation is totally unlike any other DVD player's remote. Gotta wonder what the people who sent something like that to market were thinking of. -- Pete Cresswell |
#3
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What is smart about a smart DVD player?
On Sat, 14 Dec 2013 13:19:39 -0500, micky
wrote: (and when I watch Leave it to Beaver, recorded at the lowest quality, he speaks so fast sometimes I can't understand him. Going to the highest quality, I couldnt tell if that helped.) It's not just the Beaver. Tonight I watching one my highest quality recordings, and I couldn't understand one sentence his mother said. (So I'm going back to low quality because high fills up my harddrive too fast.) |
#4
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What is smart about a smart DVD player?
On Sat, 14 Dec 2013 17:22:16 -0500, "(PeteCresswell)"
wrote: Per micky: The smart DVD with Wif sounded like just what I needed*** until I read descriptions, reviews, and thought about it some more. Now I have big doubts. You're on the right track with the big doubts. I bought a high-end LG for somebody a few months back. Sounds impressive at first: WiFi, web browser, reads every format you can think of...and so-on. Then one gets to the remote.... sheesh!... it's just begging for a keyboard what with the web browser... but it doesn't even have a dedicated skip button... and it's operation is totally unlike any other DVD player's remote. Gotta wonder what the people who sent something like that to market were thinking of. I couldn't learn to much from the web, so I went to Best Buys. I hate to waste their time, because it will, I know, be months before I buy anything, and I might buy from the web anyhow. I wasn't going to use any time of the clerks but I couldn't even find the smart dvds. That took her 10 seconds to point me, and a total of 3 or 4 minutes from 2 other guys. The first guy said even a smart DVD won't do what i want (go to any place on the web) and he uttered the word Roku, but when we got to that aisle he didn't actually look at the Roku. It seemed to be a choice between the Sony Internet Player with Google TV and the Vizio Costar. One used the term full screen browser. What I want is a full browser, I don't much care if it's full screen. But it seems,- although I don't guuarantee it -- that one can go to any webpage, if you can get the remote to work for you. Places like NBC.com won't work but that is because of NBC's rule, not the device's limitation. So I'm trying to decide which I would prefer. There are 500+ reviews on Amazon for each of them , and I might just read them all. Different people want different things, The second guy said, Oh no. There are DVD recorders with web brosers, but the only one he pointed to was.... get this, and expensive LG, 200 marked down to 110 called clearance. That's probably the one you bought, or close to it. The remote isn't there, but there is a picture of it on the plastic imitation device, and it has hardly any buttons, far fewer than the Costar. Plus I already have a DVD writer connected to the tv now, so it's back to the Internet Players. I'm going to try to find the manuals online and read them. For me that is always the best way short of buying one to know if something I want. One review seemed to say that Hulu wont' work with Costar. Even reading the owne4rs manyal won't give me a list of every site that won't work. Right now hulu is not high on my list. Actually I'm overwhelmed with tv to watch now, mostly from MeTV. And I haven't even tried to find out if I can take the output of these new things and put them through my own dvd recorder with hard drive. Do you know? That's pretty important because I keep getting sleepy and would like to record what I haven't yet watched. Anyhow, Just wanted to report a what little I learned. Despite the one mistake the one clerk seems to have made, maybe it wasn't a mistake. Maybe even though LG claims to do internet browsing, he knows it doesn't do it well, becaues of the remote? Even if not, there's a lot for those guys to learn and they seemed to know quite a bit. I think 2005 was the last time I'll understand everything I need to know. |
#5
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What is smart about a smart DVD player?
On 12/15/2013 06:10 PM, micky wrote:
On Sat, 14 Dec 2013 17:22:16 -0500, "(PeteCresswell)" wrote: Anyhow, Just wanted to report a what little I learned. Despite the one mistake the one clerk seems to have made, maybe it wasn't a mistake. Maybe even though LG claims to do internet browsing, he knows it doesn't do it well, becaues of the remote? Even if not, there's a lot for those guys to learn and they seemed to know quite a bit. I think 2005 was the last time I'll understand everything I need to know. Google doesn't let you browse? I had WebTV 14 years ago, it had a keyboard, but was still not the same experience as surfin' with your face in the monitor. |
#6
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What is smart about a smart DVD player?
Per micky:
Maybe even though LG claims to do internet browsing, he knows it doesn't do it well, becaues of the remote? The one that I bought was an "LG-BP 730" and I would say that the remote is the problem. Try entering a URL sometime using a point-and-click on-screen keyboard... it's maddening, especially when you have a low-end Vizio TV whose remote includes a slide-out Blackberry-style keyboard... so you *know* it can be done. OTOH, looking back, I just read that the manual seems to imply that the BP 730 accepts a USB keyboard/mouse. Having read that, now I need to go down to where this thing lives and see if it will work with a USB wireless like one of my Microsoft Multimedia keyboard/mouse combos. Other than the goofy remote, this thing *is* nice - especially the breadth of formats that it can handle. -- Pete Cresswell |
#7
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What is smart about a smart DVD player?
On Mon, 16 Dec 2013 05:54:40 -0800, dave
wrote: On 12/15/2013 06:10 PM, micky wrote: On Sat, 14 Dec 2013 17:22:16 -0500, "(PeteCresswell)" wrote: Anyhow, Just wanted to report a what little I learned. Despite the one mistake the one clerk seems to have made, maybe it wasn't a mistake. Maybe even though LG claims to do internet browsing, he knows it doesn't do it well, becaues of the remote? Even if not, there's a lot for those guys to learn and they seemed to know quite a bit. I think 2005 was the last time I'll understand everything I need to know. Google doesn't let you browse? I don't understand. I think some of these devices have google chrome (but I havennt' checked on the LG DVD recorder, because I think it's the one (Pete didn't like) but if the remote has as few buttons as this one, the LG, did, it seems like it will be require picking out one letter at a time, and with no mouse or mouse substitute. That would let me goi to a webpage but "browse" the way I use it means to wander though the web, reading articles and watching video when I see something I like. Come to think of it, maybe none of these things smaller than a TV do that. I had WebTV 14 years ago, it had a keyboard, but was still not the same experience as surfin' with your face in the monitor. Sure. I can see that. BTW, the Vizio remote had many more buttons than the LG and iirc the Sony, including a touchpad, and what they called a keyboard. It had all 10 numbers but no letters. It might work like texting, which i don't like, but it's been my experience the more buttons the better. I'm wondering, if I wait another year or two, there will be fancier remotes included with the Sony internet Player or the Vizio. One of the Amazon raters of Vizio said it was pretty bad out of the box, but after several upgrades, that I think it did automatically over time, it was worth 5 starts. Now all those upgrades might happen as soon as one turns it on. |
#8
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What is smart about a smart DVD player?
Per micky:
One of the Amazon raters of Vizio said it was pretty bad out of the box, but after several upgrades, that I think it did automatically over time, it was worth 5 starts. Now all those upgrades might happen as soon as one turns it on. My problem with Vizio has been parts availability. The mobo on my XVT323SV failed in such a way that I can still get OTA, but none of the HDMI ports are available. Looked and looked for a replacement - even ordered one - but it turns out that everybody is out of stock and I'm guessing no more are being made. Somewhere I read that part of Vizio's methodology for their low prices is using components that fail to meet the specs of other brands. Truth or Fiction?... either way, the next TV I get will not be Vizio. Maybe Best Buy's house brand... -- Pete Cresswell |
#9
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What is smart about a smart DVD player?
On Mon, 16 Dec 2013 09:42:39 -0500, "(PeteCresswell)"
wrote: Per micky: One of the Amazon raters of Vizio said it was pretty bad out of the box, but after several upgrades, that I think it did automatically over time, it was worth 5 starts. Now all those upgrades might happen as soon as one turns it on. My problem with Vizio has been parts availability. The mobo on my XVT323SV failed in such a way that I can still get OTA, but none of the HDMI ports are available. Looked and looked for a replacement - even ordered one - but it turns out that everybody is out of stock and I'm guessing no more are being made. Somewhere I read that part of Vizio's methodology for their low prices is using components that fail to meet the specs of other brands. Hey, just yesterday on Amazon, I needed a 2016 battery, a coin battery, and one of them, whose picture was of two in a bublbe pack, the raters said they came with no packaging, and were apparently used. Some gave it 1 star, but it also got 5 stars including iirc from those who said they didn't last long but were only a dollar apiece. http://www.amazon.com/Energizer-Lith...owViewpoints=1 Truth or Fiction?... either way, the next TV I get will not be Vizio. Thanks. I'll definitely bear this in mind. Maybe Best Buy's house brand... |
#10
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What is smart about a smart DVD player?
"(PeteCresswell)" wrote in message
... Somewhere I read that part of Vizio's methodology for their low prices is using components that fail to meet the specs of other brands. I could sit here and explain why buying components that don't meet spec is A Very Bad Idea, no matter how much money you think you're saving. I would refer you instead to a biography of a famous industrial engineer whose name I can't remember. Would someone fill me in? I've owned a 32" Vizio for five or six years, and it's perking away fine. It even has a 178-degree viewing angle. |
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